# Business Model Canvas
# Phase: 🎨 Problem shaping
Focus: Converge
IN BRIEF
Time commitment: 2-3 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Materials needed: Meeting space (physical or virtual), whiteboard and stickies (physical or virtual), participants from a variety of technical and cultural perspectives (the more of these, the more useful), business model canvas worksheets (opens new window)
Who should participate: User experience designers, product/project owners, community specialists
Best for: Keeping the business model or product-market fit front and center when aligning on potential solutions
# About this tool
The business model canvas is a tool typically used more often when strategizing on high-level ideation on a company idea, but it can also be very helpful in user experience design as a tool for keeping business viability or product-market fit at top of mind when ideating on potential solutions. It's a templated sheet (opens new window) for fleshing out business ideas based on the following parameters:
- Key partners
- Key activities
- Key resources
- Value propositions
- Customer relationships
- Customer segments
- Communications and distribution channels
- Cost structure
- Revenue streams
When conducting a business model canvas workshop, it's possible for the entire time to complete one template together, but you'll usually get more varied insight by asking each individual to fill out one or more templates and then discuss them together as a group. Then, you can combine the best aspects of each into a master canvas that you can then use to make decisions on your next steps or determine potential solutions you may wish to prototype.