The Business Model Canvas is a one-page template that describes how a business creates, delivers and captures value in nine building blocks: Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure. Alexander Osterwalder proposed the nine blocks in 2005, and the canvas spread through the 2010 book Business Model Generation by Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur (Wikipedia). Strategyzer publishes the official template, free to download and share.
Most canvases get filled in once, in a workshop, and then go stale. This guide covers what each block means, how to fill the canvas in, and how to attach a live number to the blocks that have one, so the canvas changes when the business does.
What the Business Model Canvas is
The canvas fits one business model on one page. In Strategyzer’s own description, the nine blocks cover who you serve, what you offer, how you deliver it, what it costs and what it earns. The right side of the canvas is the market. The left side is what it takes to serve that market. Value Propositions sit in the middle, between the two.
Two points from that page are worth keeping. Fill one canvas per business model, not one for the whole company. And treat it as a claim, not a plan: Cost Structure and Revenue Streams only hold if the seven blocks above them are right, so date and version the canvas and redraw it as evidence comes in.
The nine building blocks
| Block | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Who are we creating value for? Which groups, with which needs? |
| Value Propositions | What do we offer each segment, and why would they choose it over the alternatives? |
| Channels | How do we reach each segment and deliver the offer? |
| Customer Relationships | How do we get customers, keep them and grow what they buy? |
| Revenue Streams | What are customers paying for, and how do they pay? |
| Key Resources | Which assets does the model need: people, money, physical or intellectual? |
| Key Activities | What must we do well for the model to work? |
| Key Partnerships | Who outside the business do we rely on, such as suppliers and partners? |
| Cost Structure | What does running this model cost? |
Block names and meanings follow Business Model Generation, as summarized on Wikipedia.
How to fill in a Business Model Canvas
- Pick one business model. One offer or product line per canvas.
- Start on the right side. Customer Segments first, then the Value Proposition for each segment, then Channels, Customer Relationships and Revenue Streams.
- Then fill the left side. The Key Activities, Key Resources and Key Partnerships it takes to deliver what you wrote on the right.
- Finish with Cost Structure. Most of your costs come from the left side, so it is easier to list them last.
- Be specific. One short item per line. “Owners of small online stores who sell on Instagram” is more useful than “small businesses”.
- Mark what you know and what you assume. An item with evidence behind it is known. Everything else is an assumption, and the assumptions are what you check first.
- Date it. When the evidence changes a block, redraw it and keep the old version.
Why most canvases go stale
The best-known criticism of the canvas is that it is static: it does not capture changes in strategy or how the model evolves (Wikipedia). In practice the blocks are written from memory in one afternoon, and nobody checks them against what the business did last month. A Revenue Streams box that says “subscriptions” tells you nothing about whether subscriptions grew.
A new template does not fix that. What helps is putting a current number next to every block that has one, so each block can be checked against evidence instead of memory.
Attaching live numbers to each block
Five of the nine blocks have a number that already lives in a tool you use. Take each number from the system that records it, not from a copy in a spreadsheet. If two tools show the same number, decide which one is the record first (see which system should own each business number).
| Block | Live number to attach | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Streams | Revenue for the last 30 days by product or plan; monthly recurring revenue (MRR) if you sell subscriptions | Your payment processor or store: Stripe reporting, Stripe Billing analytics (MRR), Shopify default reports |
| Customer Segments | Who buys: customers per segment, new versus returning; for a website, users by country or device | Store or CRM customer records; GA4 dimensions and metrics |
| Channels | Sessions and key events by channel (Organic Search, Email, Referral and so on) | GA4, grouped by the session default channel group (GA4 dimensions and metrics) |
| Customer Relationships | Open deals by stage and deals going cold; repeat customers; messages waiting for a reply | Your CRM pipeline (HubSpot pipelines), your store, your inbox |
| Key Activities | Overdue and due-this-week tasks for the activities you listed | Your task tool (Trello, ClickUp, Notion) |
| Cost Structure | Monthly costs by category, and the break-even point they imply | Your accounting tool, or a cost list you keep current |
| Value Propositions, Key Resources, Key Partnerships | Usually no live number | Written notes you review on a set date |
Links checked September 28, 2026.
Building a live canvas in Vexlynk
Vexlynk has no Business Model Canvas template. You build one from ordinary pieces on the board:
- Lay out nine regions with Title labels, one per block, in the usual canvas arrangement.
- Write each block’s items in a note card. The AI agent reads notes, so it can work with what you wrote.
- Connect sources and place each live card in its region: Stripe or Shopify under Revenue Streams, Google Analytics (GA4) under Channels, HubSpot under Customer Relationships, Trello, ClickUp or Notion under Key Activities.
- Under Cost Structure, write your costs in a note or a spreadsheet card (“rent $2,000, salaries $8,000”).
- Install the ROI & Break-Even Vlynk. It takes revenue from the Stripe, Shopify or HubSpot cards and costs from the notes and spreadsheets on the board, and writes the break-even point, ROI, cost breakdown and runway. It is rule-based: no AI call, and the same board always gives the same result (Vlynks).
Source cards refresh on their own, so the Revenue Streams and Channels regions show current numbers each time you open the board. Most sources are read-only; a few (WhatsApp, Trello, ClickUp, Google Calendar) let you act from the card, only when you do it yourself — sending a message, or archiving, completing or deleting something, asks you to confirm first. Value Propositions, Key Resources and Key Partnerships stay as notes you update yourself. The Free plan connects up to 5 sources and holds 3 Vlynks, enough for a first live canvas.
Related guides
- A single source of truth: which system should own each business number
- Business dashboard examples by business type
- How to see your business numbers at a glance
- What Vexlynk is and how it works
Frequently asked questions
What are the 9 blocks of the Business Model Canvas?
Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Customer Relationships, Revenue Streams, Key Resources, Key Activities, Key Partnerships and Cost Structure. The right side describes the market, the left side what it takes to serve it.
Who created the Business Model Canvas?
Alexander Osterwalder, who proposed the nine building blocks in 2005 based on his PhD work supervised by Yves Pigneur. The two published Business Model Generation in 2010, and Strategyzer publishes the official template.
Is the Lean Canvas the same thing?
No. The Lean Canvas is Ash Maurya’s adaptation of the Business Model Canvas for startups (Wikipedia). The original canvas is the one described here.
How often should I update my Business Model Canvas?
Whenever evidence changes a block. Strategyzer’s advice is to date and version the canvas and redraw it as evidence comes in. With live numbers next to the blocks, a short monthly review is usually enough to spot the block that no longer holds.
Does Vexlynk have a Business Model Canvas template?
No. You build it from Title labels, note cards and live source cards, as described above. Vexlynk’s templates cover other setups.
Where does the data live?
On the desktop app, it lives on your machine — Vexlynk is local-first, so your board isn’t sitting on someone else’s server, and cloud sync is off by default. The web workspace keeps boards in the cloud (desktop vs web).
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Vexlynk Team