Lean Canvas Training for Spiralation Teams

By Reeza Zarook

14th and 15th August 2014

• The Lean Canvas WILL NOT guarantee success • It WILL minimise areas of risk • Start-ups fail for the following main reasons:-

• Lack of Focus • Not understanding the market • Making Assumptions • Not understanding the value driver

What is Lean Canvas?

• The question is not "Can this product be built?“ BUT "Should this product be built?"

• "Can we build a sustainable business around this set of products and services?“

• The start-up is a grand experiment. • By the time that product is ready to be distributed widely, it will

already have established customers. It will have solved real problems and offer detailed specifications for what needs to be built.

• Created by Ash Maurya, which in itself is a morphication from Alex Osterwalder’s Business Plan Canvas

• Aim is not to create the perfect business model on the first attempt.

Lean Canvas 1 2 3 4

5

6

7

8

9

Customer Segment: What’s the Problem (Box1)

• What’s the problem you are solving? • ONE PROBLEM = ONE SEGMENT = ONE CANVAS • Unless there is a very close functional correlation in the solving the

two sub-problems, keep them separate. • List in the lower half, existing alternatives.

• How are customers solving their need today? • Maybe there is no alternative – but make sure. • What about substitutions?

Customer Segment: Who are your customers? (Box 2)

• So who exactly is your audience? Narrow it down as much as possible.

• Who are early adopters? The early adopter’s will test and help you refine the product.

• You don’t need lots – just a handful of great customers. • Deliver Value to customers BEFORE growth. • Lifecyle

• Broad to Narrow. • Customers vs. Users • Paid or Non-paid.

Solution Segment: What’s the Solution (Box 3)

• Note the size of the box. This is not meant to be the code. • If you can’t fit the solution into this box you are heading into dark

territory. • Key here is MVP or Minimum Viable Product.

• The smallest solution that you can launch • Deliver Value

Solution Segment: What’s the USP (Box 4)

• “How do I get noticed?” • Connect this to your number 1 problem • What’s “finished story benefit”.

• Add a time component and rebuttal to main objections E.g. Hot Pizza delivered within 30mins or your money back.

• Use real statements not superlatives that can’t be proven i.e. “fastest”, “largest”, “best” are not good UVPs.

• Further break this down further with a High Value Concept e.g. Something that movies use a lot to pitch their storylines. Aliens = Jaws in Space.

Selling Segment: Channels (Box 5) and Revenue (Box 6)

• What is your path to customers.? • Outbound or Inbound. • Which ones are scalable?

• Pricing is part of your product – Your product is your whole canvas. • Pricing determines customers • Price your solution for what it delivers • Keep pricing structures as simple as possible.

Post Launch Segment: Metrics (Box 7 or 8) and

Unfair Advantage (Box 9)

POST LAUNCH KPIs – Measuring Success • “You can only focus on one metric” • Metrics only show you what has happened not why. So, yes, you might need other

metrics to assist in understanding what exactly is going on. • Try not to get drowned in the measurement process. As the company gets bigger add to

the dashboard – not at the beginning.

POST LAUNCH: Unfair Advantage • “How will you defend against competitors?” • “1st to market” is cited as a barrier – it’s not. Facebook and Apple were not 1st movers! • It’s ok to leave blank