Lean Canvas

What it is

Ash Maurya's adaptation of the Business Model Canvas for early-stage ventures, replacing four blocks that presuppose an operating business with four that capture where a new venture actually dies. Designed to be rewritten weekly rather than completed once.

Problem

The top three problems the customer has, stated without reference to your solution, plus what they currently do instead.

Customer segments

Who has the problem — and separately, the early adopters within that group who feel it acutely enough to tolerate a rough answer.

Unique value proposition

A single clear sentence saying why you are different and worth attention. Hard, and worth the time it takes.

Solution

The smallest thing that could address the problems. Deliberately one small box, to resist the gravity of building.

Channels

Your path to customers. For most early ventures this is the second-riskiest block after the problem.

Revenue streams and cost structure

How money comes in and goes out. Rough, but present — a venture that has not thought about it is not yet a business.

Key metrics

The few numbers that indicate whether it is working, chosen before the dashboard exists.

Unfair advantage

What cannot be easily copied or bought. Usually genuinely empty at the start, and honesty here matters more than filling it.

How you run it

1. Start with the problem, not the solutionTop three problems for a specific customer. If you cannot state them without describing your product, you are solution-first and the canvas will not save you.
2. Name the early adopters preciselyNot the eventual market — the people desperate enough to try something unfinished. This is the single most useful block.
3. Write the unfair advantage honestlyMost first drafts say "our team" or "first mover", neither of which is one. An empty box is more useful than a false entry.
4. Mark every block as fact or assumptionAlmost all of it is assumption at the start. Labelling it is what stops the canvas hardening into a plan.
5. Identify the riskiest assumption and test thatOne canvas, one test, then rewrite. A canvas that is not being revised is a business plan with better formatting.

The prompt

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