The Business Model Canvas

Use the Business Model Canvas to develop and test entrepreneurial ideas

The Business Model Canvas is

  • an invention tool that is used by entrepreneurs to develop business propositions (aka business theses)
  • a model of core business processes
  • a drafting tool
  • an empirical method you can use to investigate the viability of business opportunities and entrepreneurial processes.

Venture Design is a model of entrepreneurial processes developed by Alexander Cowan, a serial entrepreneur and professor at UVA.

To learn more about Venture Design, see

The Business Model Canvas was developed by Alex Osterwalder during his graduate school years when he was working on his Ph.D in Management Information Systems. Osterwalder is a co-founder of Strategyzer, a consultancy firm.

Osterwalder changed the conversation. Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas has inspired a generation of scholars, researchers, entrepreneurs, developers, and business strategists.

Source httpswwwstrategyzercom<br>Copyright <a href=httpscreativecommonsorglicensesby sa10 target= blank rel=noreferrer noopener>CC BY SA 10<a>

Over the past decade, The Business Model Canvas has proven to be exceedingly popular among entrepreneurs and incubators for start-ups.

Steve Blank has produced widely used videos on the BMC. The NSF (NSF iCorps and NSF SBIR) uses Blank’s training materials for its business development work.

Read More: