Business Model Canvas
Finding an idea and wanting to start a business, these principles are relatively easy to understand for a person foreign to the entrepreneurial world. But very quickly, the vocabulary specific to this universe becomes an obstacle. Like the Business Model Canvas, abbreviated BMC. This term appears as a pop-up window, impossible to bypass. Because it is a must for anyone who wants to create a start-up.
But what is it?
It is a model, a pattern, if you want to use fashion jargon, created to help start-ups and companies build and summarize their economic model on a small surface. The BMC is presented in tabular form with numbered boxes. Each box in this table corresponds to a data segment to be taken into account in developing its economic and marketing strategy. Thus, the customer segments, value proposals and Key partners cases rub shoulders with cost structures and revenue streams. No matter the sector of activity or the size of the market, each project can be found in this model and fill in the boxes in its own way.
This tool was created by Alexander Osterwalder, a Swiss entrepreneur, and is released under a Creative Commons license. It is therefore made available to the general public and can be downloaded from this address. For those who understand English, this video should clear your mind.
The first draft of this Business Model Canvas must be initiated as soon as possible in the process of launching a start-up. And this first draft is of course intended to constantly evolve as the project progresses.
When the BMC did not exist, the business plan of a start-up was presented in a paper document of at least ten pages. Impossible, therefore, to share its content in three minutes to someone who had not read this text. Today, the modeling of a business plan is possible thanks to the BMC and to work it, several alternatives are possible. The paper model is obviously an option, but too rigid when it comes to making the first changes. Advocating post-it notes then seems a much more effective solution. The BMC of a start-up (in the first months of its creation) can then look like this.
Another way to work on this model is the Tuzzit collaboration tool, launched by a Belgian start-up. This tool allows you to complete pre-recorded outlines, create new ones and pin post-its, photos or links to them. A range of tools for different media is also available on the Business Model Generation site.
Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas
The Business Model Canvas, as described above, can fit into any box. Even a company that has been in existence for a few years can complete this table to get a global overview of its activity, its customers, its sources of income, in short, its business.
Another model exists which, for its part, only targets start-ups. This is the Lean Canvas, created by Ash Maurya. The principle is identical to that of the BMC: a table and boxes to be completed. But the titles of the boxes differ. The approach is much more lean, that is to say based on a problem / solution axis.
Lean Canvas by Ash Maurya
Lean Canvas is therefore an adaptation of the Business Modeal Canvas imagined by Alex Osterwalder. It is suitable for early stage start-ups because it allows them to get started, to know what problem the project tends to solve and how. Then they can evolve step by step by testing new things, one at a time, so that they are able to measure the impact of each change. On the BMC, the first boxes that will be filled will be the value proposition and the customer segment, while on the Lean Canvas, we will start with the problem boxes and the customer segment.An article on Ash Maurya’s blog details his journey from BMC to Lean Canvas. This article is two years old, during which time he launched Lean Canvas.
Neither model is better than the other, it all depends on the needs and specifics of each company or start-up that uses it. But if there’s one thing to remember, it’s that these tables are must-have tools, free, downloadable, and editable. Using and abusing it is therefore allowed, friend advice.