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Business Modeling

A business model is not a business plan. It is a set of hypotheses about how your business creates, delivers, and captures value. These articles cover how to design, stress-test, and iterate on your business model using the Lean Canvas.

17 articles · 10 videos

A Lean Canvas is NOT Enough to Replace a Business Plan

Let me know if this sounds familiar… Say you have a promising new idea. To get the green light to move forward, you are often asked to write an elaborate 30-page business plan, complete with a 5-ye...

Reorder your Chain of Beliefs with a leaner Lean Canvas

Sketching an idea on a [Lean Canvas](/tools/lean-canvas) is akin to stacking a chain of beliefs. Later links rely on earlier links, and cracks in your early links have a ripple effect. This is why ...

Stop Wasting Time on Unviable Business Ideas

Too many entrepreneurs prematurely rush to launch their product, join an incubator/accelerator, or hit the pitching circuit only to realize months (or years) later that they were chasing too small ...

Traction is the One Metric to Rule Them All

Walk into any investor’s office with the beginnings of a hockey-stick curve, and you’ll create a Pavlovian response where they’ll sit you down and try to understand your business model.

What is a Lean Canvas?

A Lean Canvas is a 1-page [business modeling](https://www.leanfoundry.com/topics/business-modeling) tool that helps you deconstruct an idea into key assumptions or beliefs.

What is the Right Fill Order for a Lean Canvas?

A question I get a lot is: **Why isn’t the Lean Canvas laid out more logically?** Anyone that has attempted to fill one can relate. You must jump around from box to box in seemingly random order.

Why and How to Model a Non-profit on the Lean Canvas

Several variations of the lean and business model canvases are now floating around for non-profits and social ventures. However, the lean canvas is still the best way for a non-profit to understand...

Your Product is NOT “The Product”

Entrepreneurs are typically more passionate about their solution than any other part of the business model, which, left unchecked, can become a problem. While building a product is what you do best...

What is the Right Sizing for Early Adopters?

It’s easy to see the perils of going too broad with a new product: When you try to market to everyone, you reach no one. This is why the customer segment box on the Lean Canvas is further broken in...

Why Lean Canvas versus Business Model Canvas

I often get asked why I created a different adaptation from the original Business Model Canvas by Alex Osterwalder. Lately, this question has bubbled up in frequency which is why I decided to take ...