How to Create a Business Model Canvas: Fill Order, Questions and an Example
Draw nine boxes on one page. Fill them in this order: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners, and last the cost structure. That is how you build a business model canvas. Write one idea per sticky note and mark each note as checked or as an assumption. Then test the riskiest assumption before you spend money on it.
What a business model canvas is and how to read it
A business model canvas is a one-page map of a business model: who you serve, what you offer, how you reach buyers, how money comes in and what running it costs. Alexander Osterwalder proposed it in 2005, building on his PhD work with Yves Pigneur1. The two set it out in the book Business Model Generation in July 2010, where the section on the building blocks starts on page 162.
Nine boxes make up the canvas: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships and cost structure3. This guide calls the partnerships box key partners.
Value propositions fill the center column. To its right sit the customer boxes; segments take the outer edge, and the other two customer boxes sit between segments and the center. To its left sit the infrastructure boxes; partners take the outer edge, and activities and resources sit between partners and the center. Costs and revenue share a strip across the bottom.
These nine boxes fall into four areas. Customers holds the three right-hand boxes and infrastructure the three left-hand ones; offer is the value proposition box, and finances holds revenue and costs. On the right side, you see who buys and why. On the left side, you see how you deliver. Along the bottom, you see whether the money works. A box on the right with nothing behind it on the left is a promise you cannot keep yet.
When a canvas helps, and when another tool fits better
Use a canvas to see how a whole business will work on one page. It fits three jobs:
- choosing between two ways to earn from one idea;
- showing a co-founder the whole model at once;
- finding which parts of a plan rest on guesswork.
Published criticism says the canvas is static and leaves out competitors and the market environment4. Date each version and redraw it when a test changes a box. Keep a note on competitors beside the sheet, since no box holds them.
| Tool | Use it when | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Canvas | the idea is clear | nine boxes, one page |
| Lean canvas | first idea stage | one-page startup variant |
| Business plan | a funder wants reasons | prose and numbers |
Choose the canvas if you can already name your customers and your offer. Choose a lean canvas if you are still testing the first idea. Learn how to write a business plan when someone funding you asks for the full argument. If you cannot yet state the idea in a sentence or two, write the business concept first and return to the canvas.
Before you start, set up the sheet
Get a blank canvas one of three ways:
- Draw nine boxes on paper or a whiteboard, placed as described above.
- Download the official canvas, a free PDF from Strategyzer5 licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.06.
- Start from a business model canvas template with the boxes numbered in fill order.
Label every copy with the business name and date. Add a version number so you can see what a test changed. Mark every sticky note C for checked or A for assumption. To compare two models, draw two canvases side by side.
How to create a business model canvas in 9 steps
Four rules run through all nine steps:
- Fill order. We fill the right side (who and why) before the left side (how). Costs come last, because you read them off steps 6 to 8.
- The split rule. A segment gets its own line if it needs a different offer or price, or its own channel. It gets its own canvas if it changes how the whole business makes money.
- One note, one idea. A sticky note with “and” in it holds two ideas, so split it in two.
- The mark. A note is checked when evidence from sales or interviews backs it, or when a test does. Otherwise it is an assumption.
Step 1. Customer segments
Customer segments are the groups you create value for, whether they pay, use the product or both. Osterwalder’s types are mass market, niche market, segmented, diversified and multi-sided platforms7.
- Who pays, and is it the person who uses the product?
- Which group feels the problem often enough to act?
- Does this group need its own offer? Its own channel or price?
The last question is the split rule: a yes gives the group its own line in every later box. A full profile goes in an ideal customer profile; the canvas keeps one line per segment.
The example business is a mobile bike repair service in a mid-size US city. Its segments are commuters who ride daily (B2C) and office parks with bike storage (B2B), both assumptions.
Step 2. Value propositions
A value proposition is the job you do for a segment, or the pain you ease or gain you add for it. Write one per segment, in one line. “Mobile bike repair” is a feature. “Your bike fixed at your door before work” is a value proposition.
- What job is this segment trying to get done?
- Which pain do you remove, and which gain do you add?
- Why would it pick you over what it does today?
We tag each note as quantitative (price, time saved) or qualitative (convenience, trust), because a quantitative claim is faster to test. The research behind the line sits outside the box: jobs to be done for the job, customer pain points for the pains, and value proposition examples for finished wording.
Example: commuters get a tune-up at home with no shop trip, and office parks get staff bikes fixed on site as a tenant perk. Both are assumptions.
Step 3. Channels
Channels are how a segment hears of you, judges you, buys, receives the product and gets help afterward. The five phases are awareness, evaluation, purchase, delivery and after-sales8. Fill each phase for each segment.
- Where does this segment first hear about offers like yours?
- Where does it buy, and who delivers?
- Who handles a problem after the sale?
Mark each channel owned (full margin, your pace) or partner (faster reach, a share of each sale).
In our example, we assume five commuter channels: flyers at bike racks, reviews on the booking page, online booking, the van visit itself, and a text follow-up afterwards. The office segment got no channel in the first draft. The coherence check below catches it.
Step 4. Customer relationships
Customer relationships describe how you win each segment and how you keep it growing. From least to most contact, the usual options start with self-service and automated services such as reminders. Next come communities and co-creation such as reviews; personal assistance follows, with dedicated assistance from one named contact at the far end.
Pick one or two per segment.
- How much contact does this segment expect?
- Which contact keeps it buying?
- What does that contact cost per customer?
Every personal relationship returns in step 9 as staff time. A dedicated contact for a low-paying segment loses money on each customer.
Example, as assumptions: commuters book online on their own, and each office park gets a named mechanic.
Step 5. Revenue streams
Revenue streams state what each segment pays and for what, and how the payment works. The original framework lists seven ways to earn: asset sales, usage fees, subscription fees, lending, renting or leasing, licensing, brokerage fees and advertising9. Write one line per segment and mark it transaction (paid per sale) or recurring (paid on a schedule).
- What does this segment pay for?
- Does it pay once or on a schedule?
- Is the price fixed? If not, is it negotiated per deal or set by usage?
In our example, both prices are assumptions:
| Segment | Pays for | Price | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commuters | at-home tune-up | $89 per visit (assumption) | transaction |
| Office parks | on-site repair days | $450 a month per site (assumption) | recurring |
A price on paper is a guess about willingness to pay. Test whether one customer covers its cost with unit economics, or run your own numbers in the Unit economics calculator.
Step 6. Key resources
Key resources are the assets the value proposition cannot exist without: physical, intellectual, human and financial. You own or lease them, or you get them from partners10. List the supplying partner in step 8.
- Which assets does each value proposition need?
- Do you own each one? If not, who leases it to you, or lends it?
- Which one stops the business if you lose it?
Example, all assumptions: the resources are a leased van with tools and the booking site with its customer list; the mechanics and cash for parts complete the box.
Step 7. Key activities
Key activities are the tasks the value proposition depends on. Some businesses mainly produce or solve problems; others run a platform or network. List only what the value proposition fails without; bookkeeping stays off unless it is the product.
- What must happen for each value proposition to reach the customer?
- Which activity, done badly, loses the customer?
- Which activity could a partner do instead?
Example, all assumptions: repairs at the door and van route scheduling, plus selling office contracts.
Step 8. Key partners
Key partners are the outside firms the model relies on. Osterwalder names four types: strategic alliances between non-competitors, strategic partnerships between competitors, joint ventures to develop new businesses, and buyer-supplier relationships. His first reason to partner is optimization and economy of scale; the others are reduction of risk and uncertainty, and acquisition of resources and activities11.
- Which resource or activity from steps 6 and 7 does someone else supply?
- Which of the three reasons applies?
- What happens if this partner leaves?
Example: a bike parts wholesaler, a buyer-supplier partner for resources (assumption).
Step 9. Cost structure
Cost structure is the money needed to run the model. Give a cost line to each resource from steps 6 to 8, and to each activity and partner there, plus the staff time from step 4. Mark each line fixed (paid at any volume) or variable (grows with each sale).
- What does each resource cost per month, and what do the activities and partners cost?
- Which costs rise with each customer?
- Which cost could you cut without changing the value proposition?
In our example, the van lease is an assumed $700 a month, a fixed cost; parts are a variable cost. As a rough first cut in our example, with both prices assumed, a $89 tune-up means the $700 lease alone needs 8 tune-ups a month ($700 ÷ $89 ≈ 7.9, rounded up). Parts and mechanic wages push that number higher. A break even analysis gives the full volume you need, and a startup financial model spreads the costs over months.
A worked example for a mobile bike repair service
No interviews or sales stand behind this example, and no tests either, so every note is an assumption. The figures show the layout, not market data.
| Block | Notes (all assumptions) |
|---|---|
| Customer segments | Commuters who ride daily (B2C); office parks with bike storage (B2B) |
| Value propositions | Commuters: tune-up at home, no shop trip. Offices: staff bikes fixed on site as a tenant perk |
| Channels | Commuters: rack flyers, local search ads, online booking, van visit, text follow-up. Offices: building and facility managers, added after the check |
| Customer relationships | Commuters: self-service booking. Offices: a named mechanic per site |
| Revenue streams | Commuters: $89 per tune-up (assumption). Offices: $450 a month per site (assumption) |
| Key resources | Leased van and tools; booking site and customer list; mechanics; cash for parts |
| Key activities | Repairs at the door; van route scheduling; selling office contracts |
| Key partners | Bike parts wholesaler |
| Cost structure | Van lease, $700 a month (assumption), fixed; mechanic wages, fixed; parts, variable |
The riskiest assumption is that office parks will pay a monthly contract. Without that contract, single tune-ups have to pay for the van and the mechanics.
Check the finished canvas
Run this check after step 9. Each line passes or fails:
- Every segment has a value proposition and a revenue line, plus at least one channel and a relationship.
- Every revenue line names who pays and for what.
- Every key activity and resource serves a value proposition.
- Every cost traces back to a resource or an activity, or to a partner.
- Nothing on the right side lacks a “how” on the left.
- Every note carries one of two marks: checked or assumption.
The example’s first draft failed the first line, because the office segment had no channel. The fix was to sell through building and facility managers, who control bike storage and tenant perks. That fix also added contract sales to step 7.
Next, take the assumption that would end the business if it were wrong, and test it first. In the example, you would ask facility managers about a monthly contract using customer interview questions, or offer the contract on a page before hiring mechanics with a fake door test. The guide on how to validate a business idea turns the canvas into a test plan, and the Guides cover each test one by one.
Mistakes that make a canvas useless
- Several segments mixed in one line. Fix: one line per segment, or one canvas per business model.
- Features in the value proposition box. Fix: rewrite each note as the job it does, or as the pain or gain it answers.
- Every team task listed as a key activity. Fix: keep only what the value proposition fails without.
- No note marked as an assumption. Fix: mark every note without evidence as an assumption.
- Costs filled before steps 6 to 8. Fix: tie each cost to a resource or an activity, or to a partner.
FAQ
What order do you fill in a business model canvas?
Customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partners, cost structure. Costs come last because they follow from the left-side boxes.
Do I need a separate canvas for each customer segment?
No, if the segments share one way of making money. Give each its own line in every box. Draw a separate canvas when a segment changes how the whole business earns, such as an advertiser-paid free tier.
What is the difference between key resources and key activities?
Resources are assets you have: physical, intellectual, human or financial10. Activities are what you do with them. A van is a resource, and driving the repair route is an activity.
How is a business model canvas different from a lean canvas or a business plan?
The canvas maps one model on one page. The lean canvas is a one-page variant for early startups. A business plan explains the business model in prose and numbers to outsiders who might invest or join.
Can I use the business model canvas for free?
How do I know my canvas is good enough to act on?
It is ready when every line of the coherence check passes and you can name the riskiest assumption. Test that one before you spend money on the rest.
Sources
- shuffleplay.no, 10/24/2026
- wiley.com, 10/24/2026
- en.wikipedia.org, 10/24/2026
- simonstapleton.com, 10/24/2026
- strategyzer.com, 10/24/2026
- strategyzr.s3.amazonaws.com, 10/24/2026
- goodreads.com, 10/24/2026
- sustainabilitytoolkit.digitalprinciples.org, 10/24/2026
- en.wikipedia.org, 10/24/2026
- probm2.cti.ugal.ro, 10/24/2026
- ecommerce-digest.com, 10/24/2026
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