Business Model
The Business Model template helps you visualise the essential ingredients of a business model as a future scenario on one page. Read more about key elements, usage scenarios, and Q&A — and download the template for your team.
1. Overview
The canvas is split into three zones. The left side helps you understand how you reach and serve your customers and users — channels, relationships, and brand. The right side describes how your organisation creates and delivers value internally — resources, processes, and partners. At the bottom, the Profit Formula asks the hard questions: how do you earn, and what does it cost?
Start with the "Business DNA" — the very essence of your model. If you had 60 seconds to pitch your new business, the DNA is all you need. Three questions: What job are your customers trying to get done? What core value do you create? And what is your unfair advantage?
When you fill in the canvas, think in scenarios. There are always multiple ways to serve your customers, structure your organisation, and charge for your offerings. Be as concrete as possible — and don't just scratch the surface. A canvas full of vague statements is not a business model. Imagine how this actually works on day one.
2. Layout & Download
Download the template via the Templates page.
3. Key Elements
Element | Question | Comments |
Target groups | Who are our sales targets and who will be using our offerings? Primary target group: What is our primary customer and user segment that unlocks the most value in our business and is easily accessible? | Good criteria to select a primary target group:
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Brand & messages | How do we want our brand to be perceived and what is our story to sell the offerings? | Do this box last. Think of it as the verbal summary — the words you'd use to pitch your model in 60 seconds. If you can't formulate it cleanly here, your model isn't clear enough yet. |
Channels (to primary target group) | Through which channels do our customers and users want to be reached? | Keep in mind: every Post-it in this section usually costs real money. Identify no more than 1–2 key marketing and sales channels — and make sure they match how your target group actually behaves. |
Relationships | What kinds of relationships do our customers and users expect? | Use this field to describe relationship attributes — e.g. personal, anonymous, self-service, community-led. Think about what your customers actually expect, not what sounds appealing on paper. |
Offerings | What bundle of products and services do we offer to our customers and users? | This section differs from the original Business Model Canvas. It's not about fancy words — describe a very concrete picture of what your team is actually going to offer. |
Resources | What (internal) key resources do we need to create and deliver the offerings? | Don't list everything. Focus on the resources that must stay internal — the ones that drive your competitive edge. This is your make-or-buy decision, so be strategic about it. |
Processes | What (internal) key processes do we need to create and deliver the offerings? | Same principle as Resources. No exhaustive list — only the processes that are strategically non-negotiable to keep in-house. If a process can be outsourced without losing your edge, it probably should be. |
Channels (to partners) | Through which channels do our partners want to be reached? | Not always required. Use this only for platform businesses where you need efficient channels to manage a large number of partners (e.g. a partner conference or an API portal). |
Partners | Who are our (external) key partners to create and deliver the offerings? | Distinguish between R&D partners (needed once to build the product) and delivery partners (needed every time a customer buys). The distinction matters for cost structure and risk. |
Profit formula |
| If you are at the very beginning of your innovation journey, postpone this discussion to a later stage. |
DNA |
| Do the DNA at the end — and fill all three boxes together in one exercise. A good "Job(s) to Get Done" statement follows this structure: "When __, they want to __, so they can __." |
4. Usage Scenarios
Visualising today's business model. Use this when you're mapping your current reality — before designing anything new. It gives your team and sponsor a shared baseline and surfaces assumptions that are often taken for granted.
Creating high-level future scenarios as business models. Use this in the Design Workshop to compare multiple future directions on a single page. Two or three filled canvases side by side make trade-offs visible immediately — and help the sponsor make an informed Decide decision.
Analysing customers' or competitors' business models. Fill in a competitor's canvas as a team exercise. It reveals hidden assumptions and blind spots in the market — and often sparks ideas you wouldn't have found otherwise.
WARNING: The Business Model template is a great tool for a high-level overview. At the same time, it is the perfect invitation to compile a collection of "bullsh*t bingo" statements with almost no meaning. There is more to do to literally design and understand a new business.
5. Q & A
What if the team has a hard time finding clear answers to the template questions? It's a sign that you have either skipped the Discover phase or not executed it properly. New and surprising insights are what make a meaningful business model possible.
What if the space on the template isn't enough for some elements? The Business Model template is designed for a first draft — high-level and directional. Use other tools for more detailed content (e.g. Job(s) to Get Done).
What if the canvas has been filled properly but — honestly — it's boring? Use the Business Model Inspirator, the Big Data Inspirator, or other creativity tools to push beyond the obvious. A boring canvas usually means a lack of surprising insights from the Discover phase.
You can also use a reduced version of the Business Model template to create and visualise early business ideas — already with a clear customer focus. Try it when you want to move fast in ideation without filling every field.