FreeNo sign-upYour canvas stays on your computer
Lean Canvas Tool
Put a business idea on one page, list the assumption in each box, and find the riskiest one: the one that would kill the idea and that you are least sure of.
This tool also runs as a stage in a playbook, which takes you through several tools in order:
- Validate a business idea Stage 3 of 5: what must be true for the idea to work? Start at stage 1
Not following the playbook?
Fills the empty Problem and Customer segments boxes from your earlier stages. Edit them freely.
Nine boxes, numbered in the order to fill them. Start with the problem and the customers. Write one item per line: each line becomes an assumption to rate in the next step.
Your canvas never leaves your browser
The canvas and your assumptions stay on your computer and in your progress file. To write the diagnosis, only which boxes are filled and how you rated each assumption are sent to our server. How it works
What must be true?
Each line on your canvas is listed below as something that must be true. Reword any of them, and answer two questions for each: if it is wrong, does the idea die? And how sure are you?
The canvas
The highlighted box holds the assumption to test first.
The assumptions, ranked by risk
Risk is how bad it is if the assumption is wrong, times how unsure you are. To test a different one first, choose it in the last column.
Save your progress
Download your progress file to continue from this point any time, on any computer: choose it under "Coming back?" at the start of the tool. Each new file includes everything so far, including the earlier stages when they are connected, so keep the latest one. Your work stays in this browser only until you close it.
Not saved yet.
Take your results with you
A PDF of the canvas, the assumptions ranked by risk and the one to test first. Ready to share.
About the tool
Why it exists
Every box on the canvas is a guess until it is tested
A Lean Canvas puts a business idea on one page in nine boxes: the problem, the customers, the solution, how you reach them, how you get paid, what it costs, the numbers that show it works, why you are different, and what can't be copied. It is built to test whether a business model exists, not to describe one that already works.
The useful step comes after filling it in: ranking the assumptions. This tool works on its own, and as stage 3 of our playbook for validating a business idea, where the Problem and Customer segments boxes start from stages 1 and 2. For the method, see our guide to the Lean Canvas.
The method
How the tool works
The canvas. Fill the boxes in the numbered order, each with a short hint on when it is done. In the playbook, the tool can fill the Problem and Customer segments boxes from your earlier stages.
The assumptions. Each line on the canvas becomes a row, worded as what must be true; reword any of them, or add your own. Rate each on two questions: if it is wrong, does the idea die, hurt, or barely matter? And how sure are you: sure, with evidence; fairly sure, with some; not sure, on a hunch or mixed signs; or no idea yet, because nobody has checked? Not knowing at all counts as riskier than a hunch.
The ranking. Risk is the first rating times the second. The riskiest assumption would kill the idea and is the one you are least sure of. You can choose to test a different one first, and the diagnosis will say so.
What leaves your computer. The canvas and the wording of your assumptions stay in your browser and your progress file. To write the diagnosis, the page sends our server only which boxes are filled and how each assumption is rated, and the server keeps nothing.