Business Model Canvas for digital projects
The Business Model Canvas shows whether a digital product can pay for itself before development starts.
Background
Many projects start with a feature list and never settle who pays, and why. The product works, but the business model fails. The canvas puts the whole model on one page and exposes its assumptions.
The nine building blocks
Customer segments and value proposition
Channels and customer relationships
Revenue streams
Key resources, key activities and partners
Cost structure
Typical weak points
one value proposition for several audiences
untested willingness to pay
underestimated hosting, maintenance and support costs
dependence on a single partner or platform
Approach
Management, sales and product owners fill in the canvas in a workshop, marking each statement as evidenced or assumed.
We test the critical assumptions with customer interviews, a landing page with an enquiry form or a clickable prototype.
From canvas to delivery
The canvas then yields the product requirements: features, interfaces to existing systems and operating costs. That gives a sound basis for budget and architecture.
After every test the canvas is updated, so management can see which assumptions still carry risk.