Strategy & Planning

Lean Canvas

Your business idea on one page: problem, customers, solution and the numbers that tell you if it works.

How to use this worksheet
  1. Work through the boxes in numbered order. The layout on the page follows the canvas; the order follows the logic.
  2. Write for one customer segment only. If you have several, make one canvas per segment.
  3. Treat every box as a hypothesis. Mark the riskiest ones and plan how to test them with customers.
  4. Be brief: a few lines per box. Use "- " at the start of a line for lists.
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Who exactly has the problem? Name the early adopters.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Who feels the pain most and is already looking for a solution?
  • Can you name ten of them?

Example

Early adopters: managers of independent restaurants with 10 to 50 staff and rotating shifts.

Top 1 to 3 problems your customer has, and how they solve them today.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Which problem hurts enough that people pay to solve it?
  • What are the existing alternatives?

Example

- Weekly shift planning takes a manager 4 hours - Spreadsheets break when people swap shifts Today: spreadsheet + group chat

A single clear message: why you are different and worth attention.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Can a stranger understand it in five seconds?
  • What is the high-level concept ("X for Y")?

Example

Plan a week of shifts in ten minutes. High-level: "Calendly for restaurant shifts".

Your top features that address the top problems. Keep it to three.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Which feature solves which problem?
  • What is the smallest version you could build?

Example

- Drag-and-drop weekly planner - Automatic conflict and overtime check - Staff swap requests via link

How do you reach your customers? Path to customers.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Where do early adopters spend time already?
  • Which channel can you test this month?

Example

- Direct outreach to 50 local restaurants - Hospitality Facebook groups - Newsletter of a food supplier

How do you make money? Pricing and revenue model.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • What would customers pay now?
  • Who pays: user or company?

Example

29 EUR per location per month, 2 months free on annual plan. Target 150 locations in year one.

Your fixed and variable costs, and the cost of acquiring a customer.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • What is the burn rate per month?
  • What is the cost to acquire one customer?

Example

Fixed: 2 developers, 1 part-time support, hosting (about 14k EUR/month). Variable: payment fees, SMS.

The few numbers that tell you whether the business works.

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Which number would make you pivot if it stayed low?
  • Which metric shows learning, not vanity?

Example

- Trial to paid conversion - Locations still active after 8 weeks - Hours saved per week (survey)

What cannot easily be copied or bought?

Prompts and example

Ask yourself

  • Be honest: it is fine to leave this empty today.
  • What do you have that a well-funded competitor could not buy?

Example

Co-founder ran a restaurant group for 12 years; 40 warm introductions.

Before you finish

About the Lean Canvas

Ash Maurya adapted the Business Model Canvas for startups, replacing partners, activities and resources with problem, solution, key metrics and unfair advantage.

It is designed to be written in minutes and rewritten often. The first version is a hypothesis; customer conversations turn it into knowledge.

Recommended reading

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