The Business Model Canvas: Five Common Mistakes

There are a lot of frameworks out there for launching a business or product ranging from lean startup to design thinking to jobs-to-be-done to the business model canvas and permutations of it such as the lean canvas. To be honest, I find all of these frameworks to be useful in their own way. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to innovation. Try all of them out and cater them to your specific needs.

As I’ve used these frameworks — and mentored students / new entrepreneurs, I’ve observed that there are a few areas of the Business Model Canvas that, if overlooked, make it less useful. Fiona Macaulay, my co-professor at “Launching Entrepreneurial Ventures” at Georgetown University, asked me to share some of the common mistakes entrepreneurs make when filling out the Business Model Canvas during class this week. I thought it might be good to write about them as well. Below you’ll find a quick breakdown of Five Common Mistakes that entrepreneurs make when using the Business Model Canvas.

Mistake #1: Customer Segments

When starting a Business Model Canvas, the Customer Segments section is a great place to start. The number one mistake new entrepreneurs make when describing their customer segments is to define the customer segments either too narrowly or too broad. On the one extreme…