What is a Business Model Canvas?

A Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a one-page template that shows how a business creates and captures value. Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur developed it. The canvas covers 9 building blocks: Key Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Proposition, Customer Relationships, Channels, Customer Segments, Cost Structure and Revenue Streams.

What are the 9 building blocks of the Business Model Canvas?

The 9 blocks of the Business Model Canvas: (1) Key Partners, the people and organisations you work with; (2) Key Activities, what your business must actually do; (3) Key Resources, what you need to operate; (4) Value Proposition, the problem you solve; (5) Customer Relationships, how you stay in touch; (6) Channels, how you reach customers; (7) Customer Segments, who you serve; (8) Cost Structure, your main costs; (9) Revenue Streams, how you earn.

What are Key Activities in the Business Model Canvas?

Key Activities are the things a company must do to deliver its Value Proposition. There are a few types: production work (building and shipping a product), problem-solving work (consulting or custom services) and platform work (running a marketplace or software). What counts as a Key Activity depends entirely on your model. A SaaS company codes and maintains its product. A consultancy delivers workshops and advice.

What is Key Partners in the Business Model Canvas?

Key Partners are the suppliers and collaborators your business model depends on. Companies build partnerships to get access to resources they don't own, to reduce operational risk or to scale faster. The four common partnership types are: strategic alliances, coopetition (working with competitors on shared goals), joint ventures and buyer-supplier relationships.

Is mybmctool free to use?

Yes. mybmctool is free for up to 3 canvases. No credit card needed to start. Pro and Team plans give you AI features, unlimited canvases and tools like an investor readiness score and pitch deck generator.

Can I share my Business Model Canvas with clients?

Yes. Every canvas gets a shareable link. Add a password if needed. Clients open the link directly without creating an account.

What AI features does mybmctool have?

Pro and Team users can paste a website URL to fill the canvas automatically, upload photos of whiteboards or documents and use voice input. The AI sorts everything across the 9 blocks for you.

Key Resources: what assets power your model?

Key Resources are the most important assets required to make a business model work. From people and technology to brand and intellectual property, learn how to identify and protect what matters most.

Key Resources: what assets power your model?

Key Resources are the most important assets a business needs to create and deliver its value proposition, reach markets, maintain relationships and earn revenue. Every business model requires resources. The question is which ones are truly critical, and that answer is different for every organisation.

Four types of key resources

Physical Manufacturing plants, machinery, vehicles, buildings and distribution networks. Capital-intensive businesses like logistics companies or retailers depend heavily on physical resources.

Intellectual Brands, proprietary knowledge, patents, copyrights and customer databases. Hard to build and hard to copy, which makes them often the most valuable. A software company's codebase, a consulting firm's methodology, a publisher's content library.

Human People with specialised skills or knowledge. Critical in knowledge-intensive industries. A research company lives and dies by its scientists. A creative agency by its designers. This is the category clients most often underestimate.

Financial Cash, credit lines, stock options and financial guarantees. Needed to fund operations, invest in growth or offer customer financing. Particularly important in businesses with long sales cycles or high upfront costs.

What makes a resource "key"

Not all resources are key resources. A key resource is one that enables the core value proposition, is difficult to replace or replicate quickly and would cause real harm to the business if lost. If losing it would not hurt much, it is not key.

Protecting key resources

Once identified, key resources need protection:

Intellectual resources: patents, trademarks, non-disclosure agreements and employment contracts
Human resources: retention strategies, knowledge transfer and succession planning
Physical resources: maintenance, insurance and redundancy
Financial resources: cash reserves, credit facilities and financial controls

Questions to explore with clients

What single resource, if lost tomorrow, would most threaten your ability to serve customers?
Which of your resources are truly proprietary, hard for competitors to replicate?
How dependent are you on specific individuals? What happens if they leave?
Is your brand a key resource? How are you actively building and protecting it?
What resources do you currently rent or borrow that you might need to own as you scale?
Are there underutilised resources you could turn into an additional revenue stream?

Key Resources: what assets power your model?

Key Resources: what assets power your model?

Four types of key resources

What makes a resource "key"

Protecting key resources

Questions to explore with clients

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