Common Misconceptions and Mistakes When Working with the Lean Canvas
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2025 7:06 am
The most common difficulties that arise are:
The Lean Canvas is perceived as a ready-made final business plan that must be strictly followed to be successful. In reality, it is a flexible model that allows you to see the strengths and weaknesses of your idea and take the necessary steps to improve it.
The template is completed individually. Each section of the Lean Canvas should be discussed by the team to gain fresh perspective and develop new ideas.
Those who are just starting to use the Lean Canvas template to manage their product make 6 common mistakes:
Selecting the wrong consumer segments
Beginning businessmen often malta email list make a very narrow or, conversely, very broad definition of their client segments. The audience should be narrow, that is, not 5 million users, but, for example, 150 thousand.
Providing numbers rather than cost and income structure
The lower blocks of the table (cost structure and profit flows) should indicate indirect ways to achieve sustainability and viability of the product, since the template is not a tool for quantitative indicators. Excel tables, business cases, financial plans are used for these purposes.
Lean Canvas Mistakes
Source: shutterstock.com
Balance of expenses and income
If the target audience and consumer segments are initially described as accurately as possible and their main problems or benefits are defined, then the cause of the gap can be identified for these customers. Moreover, it is possible to select specific features and functions of the product or service that will help the target audience cope with the problem.
In the early stages, new businessmen often cannot determine the real cost of all stages of work. Especially when the approach "product - market" or "client - solution" is used. It is very easy to forget about the cost of each stage, reasoning with such matrices.
It is necessary to consider the funds and time invested in the business. In the "cost structure" block, it is necessary to take into account not only obvious but also hidden expenses, for example, the personal time of the business owner.
Using irrelevant channels
The “channels” block in the canvas is usually the most underestimated and often poorly implemented, although channels play a key role in the global success of the product and the entire business as a whole.
Vagueness
When you first try to create a business model canvas, it can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know much about your customers, market, service, or product. Start with ideas. Write down a few, then analyze your customers to fill in the blanks. As you learn more, the canvas will fill in more.
The Lean Canvas should not contain complex terms or unclear definitions. The value proposition must be clearly articulated and a business model developed, on which the product will be built.
The Lean Canvas is perceived as a ready-made final business plan that must be strictly followed to be successful. In reality, it is a flexible model that allows you to see the strengths and weaknesses of your idea and take the necessary steps to improve it.
The template is completed individually. Each section of the Lean Canvas should be discussed by the team to gain fresh perspective and develop new ideas.
Those who are just starting to use the Lean Canvas template to manage their product make 6 common mistakes:
Selecting the wrong consumer segments
Beginning businessmen often malta email list make a very narrow or, conversely, very broad definition of their client segments. The audience should be narrow, that is, not 5 million users, but, for example, 150 thousand.
Providing numbers rather than cost and income structure
The lower blocks of the table (cost structure and profit flows) should indicate indirect ways to achieve sustainability and viability of the product, since the template is not a tool for quantitative indicators. Excel tables, business cases, financial plans are used for these purposes.
Lean Canvas Mistakes
Source: shutterstock.com
Balance of expenses and income
If the target audience and consumer segments are initially described as accurately as possible and their main problems or benefits are defined, then the cause of the gap can be identified for these customers. Moreover, it is possible to select specific features and functions of the product or service that will help the target audience cope with the problem.
In the early stages, new businessmen often cannot determine the real cost of all stages of work. Especially when the approach "product - market" or "client - solution" is used. It is very easy to forget about the cost of each stage, reasoning with such matrices.
It is necessary to consider the funds and time invested in the business. In the "cost structure" block, it is necessary to take into account not only obvious but also hidden expenses, for example, the personal time of the business owner.
Using irrelevant channels
The “channels” block in the canvas is usually the most underestimated and often poorly implemented, although channels play a key role in the global success of the product and the entire business as a whole.
Vagueness
When you first try to create a business model canvas, it can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know much about your customers, market, service, or product. Start with ideas. Write down a few, then analyze your customers to fill in the blanks. As you learn more, the canvas will fill in more.
The Lean Canvas should not contain complex terms or unclear definitions. The value proposition must be clearly articulated and a business model developed, on which the product will be built.