# Business Model Canvas: [Business or product]

> A structured description of how one business creates, delivers and
> captures value, written as nine building blocks, then turned into a
> list of risky assumptions and a test plan. The nine-block idea comes
> from the Business Model Canvas by Alexander Osterwalder and Strategyzer
> (Business Model Generation, Osterwalder and Pigneur, Wiley, 2010); the
> section structure and wording here are original. Replace every
> `[bracketed]` value and every row marked *Example*.

<!--
Guidance: How to use this template
- Describe one business model per document. If two customer segments
  need different channels, prices or partners, copy the template.
- Work through the blocks in the order given: customers and value
  first, then delivery, then the economics.
- Mark every statement as E (evidence: observed, measured or paid for)
  or A (assumption: believed but untested). Version 1 is mostly A.
- Sections 10 and 11 turn the canvas into work: rank assumptions and
  test the riskiest one first.
- Common pitfall: filling the blocks with features and internal
  activities instead of what the customer gets and pays for.
-->

## Document control

<!-- Guidance: Record which version of the model this is. A canvas changes after every test, so the revision history is the record of learning. -->

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Document ID | [BMC-YYYY-NN] |
| Business or product | [Name] |
| Customer segment covered | [One primary segment] |
| Version | [0.1] |
| Status | [Draft / Testing / Validated / Retired] |
| Owner | [@owner] |
| Reviewers | [@reviewer, @reviewer] |
| Last updated | YYYY-MM-DD |
| Classification | [Internal / Confidential] |

### Revision history

| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | YYYY-MM-DD | [@author] | First canvas from team workshop |
| 0.2 *(Example)* | YYYY-MM-DD | [@author] | Price block updated after 8 sales calls |

The worked example throughout is **Pellwick Repair Co.**, a fictional
firm that offers small offices a monthly subscription to keep their
chairs and desks repaired and refurbished on site.

## 1. Scope and decision

<!-- Guidance: Say what decision the canvas supports (launch, pivot, new segment, investor review) and the time horizon. A canvas without a decision tends to become a poster. -->

| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Decision this canvas informs | [For example: launch in a second city next year?] |
| Time horizon | [For example: next 12 months] |
| Current stage | [Idea / Pilot / Revenue / Scaling] |
| Inputs used | [Customer interviews, sales data, competitor scan] |

*Example:* Pellwick decides whether to hire a second technician team
after a six-month pilot with 40 offices.

## 2. Customer segments

<!-- Guidance: Who the business serves and who pays. Name segments narrowly enough to find ten of them this week. If users and payers differ, list both. -->

| ID | Segment | Size estimate | Who pays | E / A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS-1 | [Segment] | [Number of customers] | [Role] | [E / A] |
| CS-1 *(Example)* | Offices of 10 to 80 staff that own their furniture | 1,900 in the home city (business register count) | Office manager budget | E |
| CS-2 *(Example)* | Shared co-working spaces | 60 in the home city | Operator | A |

## 3. Value propositions

<!-- Guidance: The outcome each segment gets, in the customer's words, and why it beats what they do today. Use the value proposition canvas for the detail. -->

| ID | For segment | Outcome promised | Current alternative | E / A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VP-1 | [CS-n] | [Outcome] | [What they do today] | [E / A] |
| VP-1 *(Example)* | CS-1 | Every chair and desk works, with no purchasing or disposal effort | Buy new furniture every few years, discard broken items | A |

## 4. Channels

<!-- Guidance: How customers hear about, evaluate, buy, receive and get support for the offer. Be specific: "LinkedIn" is a platform, "posts to office manager groups in the home city" is a channel. -->

| Phase | Channel | E / A |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | [Channel] | [E / A] |
| *Example:* Awareness | Referrals from facilities firms that clean the same offices | A |
| *Example:* Purchase | Online quote and direct debit sign-up | E |
| *Example:* Delivery | Quarterly on-site visit by a technician with a van workshop | E |
| *Example:* After-sales | Report-a-fault form, next-week visit | E |

## 5. Customer relationships

<!-- Guidance: The kind of relationship each segment expects (self-service, personal, automated, community) and what it costs to keep it. -->

| Segment | Relationship type | How it is kept | Cost driver |
|---|---|---|---|
| [CS-n] | [Type] | [Method] | [Driver] |
| CS-1 *(Example)* | Personal, low touch | Named technician, visit report emailed after each visit | Technician time |

## 6. Revenue streams

<!-- Guidance: What customers pay for, how, and how much. A price nobody has been asked to pay is an assumption. -->

| ID | Stream | Pricing mechanism | Price | E / A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RS-1 | [Stream] | [Subscription / usage / one-off] | [Amount] | [E / A] |
| RS-1 *(Example)* | Furniture care subscription | Per seat per month | 4.50 | E (pilot) |
| RS-2 *(Example)* | Refurbished chairs sold to existing customers | One-off sale | 90 each | A |

## 7. Key resources

<!-- Guidance: The assets the model cannot work without: people, physical, intellectual, financial. -->

- [Resource and why it is essential]
- *Example:* Trained upholstery and mechanism technicians.
- *Example:* A van fitted as a mobile workshop, and a spare-parts stock.

## 8. Key activities and key partnerships

<!-- Guidance: The few activities that must go well, and the partners who supply what the business should not do itself. Note the risk of each partner. -->

| Type | Item | Why it matters | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | [Activity] | [Reason] | [Risk] |
| Activity *(Example)* | Scheduling visits to fit office hours | Drives technician utilisation | Low utilisation if routes are poor |
| Partner *(Example)* | Parts wholesaler for gas lifts and castors | Cheaper parts than retail | Single supplier |
| Partner *(Example)* | Facilities cleaning firms | Referral channel | Partner may start its own service |

## 9. Cost structure

<!-- Guidance: The main fixed and variable costs at the planned scale, and the break-even point. Compute numbers once and reuse them everywhere. -->

| Cost | Fixed or variable | Monthly amount |
|---|---|---|
| [Cost] | [Fixed / Variable] | [Amount] |
| *Example:* Two technicians | Fixed | 6,400 |
| *Example:* Van, workshop and insurance | Fixed | 1,800 |
| *Example:* Scheduling software | Fixed | 200 |
| *Example:* Parts per seat | Variable | 1.20 per seat |

*Example calculation:* fixed costs are 6,400 + 1,800 + 200 = 8,400 per
month. Contribution per seat is 4.50 - 1.20 = 3.30. Break-even is
8,400 / 3.30 = 2,545.5, so about 2,546 seats. The pilot covers 40
offices with an average of 30 seats (1,200 seats), earning 5,400 per
month in revenue and a monthly contribution shortfall of
1,200 x 3.30 - 8,400 = -4,440. Reaching break-even is the main risk.

## 10. Assumptions ranked by risk

<!-- Guidance: Pull every A from sections 2 to 9. Rank by impact if wrong, then by how little evidence there is. -->

| ID | Assumption | Block | Impact if wrong | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS-001 | [Assumption] | [Section] | [Fatal / High / Medium] | [Low / Medium / High] |
| AS-001 *(Example)* | One technician pair can keep 2,546 subscribed seats serviced with quarterly visits | 9 | Fatal | Low |
| AS-002 *(Example)* | Facilities firms will refer customers | 4 | High | Low |
| AS-003 *(Example)* | Customers buy refurbished chairs | 6 | Medium | Medium |

## 11. Test plan

<!-- Guidance: The smallest test that could prove the top assumption wrong, with the pass rule written before the test starts. -->

| Assumption | Test | Pass rule | Owner | Deadline | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [AS-NNN] | [Test] | [Observable threshold] | [@owner] | YYYY-MM-DD | [Pass / Fail / Pending] |
| AS-001 *(Example)* | Time-and-motion log of 4 weeks of visits | Average under 6 minutes per seat per quarterly visit | [@ops-lead] | YYYY-MM-DD | Pending |
| AS-002 *(Example)* | Referral offer to 3 cleaning firms | 5 or more qualified leads in 6 weeks | [@founder] | YYYY-MM-DD | Pending |

```mermaid
flowchart LR
    A["Describe the 9 blocks"] --> B["Mark evidence and assumptions"]
    B --> C["Rank assumptions"]
    C --> D["Test the riskiest"]
    D --> E{"Pass rule met?"}
    E -- Yes --> F["Record evidence, next assumption"]
    E -- No --> G["Change the model, new version"]
    F --> C
    G --> A
```

## 12. Related templates

<!-- Guidance: Link the detailed work that feeds each block instead of repeating it here. -->

- [Value proposition canvas](./value-proposition-canvas.md) for the detail behind section 3
- [Lean canvas](./lean-canvas.md) for an earlier-stage, problem-first view
- [Customer discovery](../startup/customer-discovery.md) to gather evidence for sections 2 to 5
- [Unit economics analysis](../finance/unit-economics-analysis.md) once section 9 has real numbers
- [SWOT analysis](./swot.md) and [PESTLE analysis](./pestle-analysis.md) for the competitive and external context
- [MVP experiment plan](../startup/mvp-experiment-plan.md) to run the tests in section 11

## Glossary

- **Building block:** one of the nine areas the canvas describes.
- **Contribution per unit:** price minus variable cost per unit.
- **Break-even:** the volume at which contribution equals fixed costs.
- **Evidence (E):** something observed, measured or paid for.
- **Assumption (A):** a belief that has not been tested.

## Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with the nine building blocks of the Business Model
Canvas, created by Alexander Osterwalder and published by Strategyzer
AG, described in Business Model Generation (Alexander Osterwalder and
Yves Pigneur, Wiley, 2010). Copies of the canvas diagram carry a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported notice. This
template does not reproduce the canvas layout or its box prompts: the
blocks are named and the section text, the assumption ranking and the
fictional Pellwick example are original, so the template keeps the MIT
licence. For the official canvas and its current terms, see
https://www.strategyzer.com/library/the-business-model-canvas. Check the
current version before use. Template licence: MIT.