Innovation Canvas

Gather the basic assumptions you are making about your project on a single sheet. Get the big picture before jumping into business. You’ll be able to identify all the hypotheses you want to test out.

Start from left to right and fill in the blocks as precisely as possible. Here is what each block means:

CUSTOMERS

What are the different customer segments that are going to use or buy your solution? You want to be as precise as possible and define customer segment not by demographics (ex: 20–25-year-old living in the suburbs) but by behaviors (ex: backpackers traveling twice a year).

EARLY ADOPTERS

Who will be the first customers to use your product? This should be one of the customer segment defined. You might find useful to define a persona for your early adopters.

PROBLEMS

What problems do you want to solve for those customers? List them all. Then, focus on the ones that seems more important for your customer. Stay away from problems such as “no time” or “too expensive”, they don’t express the customer need clearly.

EXISTING SOLUTIONS

How do customers solve those problems today? What other products or solutions are they using to solve their problems/needs? Are they happy with the existing alternatives?

VALUE PROPOSITION

The message that states to the customer what is the offer and the value you will deliver to them. It usually helps to frame the value proposition as the opposite of the problem. If the problem you are solving is “Small businesses have a hard time finding reliable local designers”, your value proposition might be: “Find a reliable local designer for your small business”. An early-adopter should immediately be interested in your offer when prompted with your value proposition.

CHANNELS

How will you get your first customers? Via which channel? You know you need to talk to customers but where to find them, how to reach them? List in this block the channels you can use.

SOLUTION

What is your solution to solve the customer’s problems? You can describe your solution and list the main features.

REVENUE

How will you make money? A percentage of the transaction? A monthly fee? Use this to estimate how many customers or transactions will it take to make the first million in turnover. This will give you a sense of the viability of your idea.

Start your customer interviews. You can use the Customer Interview Sheet to help you shape your learnings.