Beyond the nine blocks and rectangle…
From the first time I read Business Model Generation in early 2012, it felt like it was missing something. It felt like it was missing half of the business plan.
That feeling remained for the whole next year, in each of a dozen lessons where I taught entrepreneurs how to fill out and optimize the Business Model Canvas. That feeling remained when I discovered Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas, which renames and reorders the blocks to fit the Problem/Solution/Customer form outlined in the previous section. And again this feeling persisted when Steve Blank’s Startup Owner’s Manual embraced the Canvas and merged it with his ideas from The Four Steps to the Epiphany.
Finally, in the summer of 2013, I had my own epiphany, added five new boxes around the Canvas, and created the Business Presentation Pyramid.
After adding these five new boxes, the result is a visual language for describing an entire business plan. With these boxes, it becomes possible to walk an investor or recruit through a business plan in a logical manner.
