Ash Maurya is an excellent teacher and provides thought leadership. Anyone trying to build a product or service will benefit from learning about the Lean Canvas.
Pros:A useful adaptation of the Business Model Canvas to bootstrapping startups.
Cons:The time is on 'product-market' fit and I think it needs a shorter process of validating the problem.
Can't live without this. Provides a simple structured approach to implementing lean startup principles.
Pros:Clarifies my thinking around any new idea.
Cons:No. Other systems are too large and expensive.
Lean Canvas has become a universal tool for business planning. It keeps you focused and forces you to answer the hard questions early, but does so quickly without getting lost in the weeds. Keep it clean, keep it focused, keep innovating -- those are just some of the benefits of using Lean Canvas.
Pros:Makes the process of planning a new business or project very focused.
Cons:If I really had to pick something, as others have mentioned, could benefit from added domain-specific materials.
Been using the app for my classes for some time. It's great!
Pros:Great interface for lean and nice improved flow through building beyond the canvas.
Cons:Could use a little UX upgrade
You only acquire the knowledges by practicing and this is what Ash Maurya provide to the community. This is definitely my master tool to defragment and test problem solving ideas since years and I recommend it to friends and entrepreneur around me.
Pros:A must-to-have tool box for anyone looking to test/launch very fast new ideas without falling into the traps of bias. Learning by doing !
Cons:- Provide digital marketing & visual programming min skills to start - give access to free/discounted web service to the community ;-)
"I don't get out of bed in the morning without a Lean Canvas to guide my efforts. It is that good. And valuable." —Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey I have used it since SATX 3DS in Spring 2012.
Pros:This single sheet of paper is pure genius. It helps you do the mental exercises you might otherwise miss or forget to do.
Cons:Zero. None. Zilch. There is no better tool for going from idea to execution. Period.
As a startup coach, I can help multiple entrepreneurs using a single smart, effective, common platform. Ash is a great thinker, and an effective teacher.
Pros:Excellent tool for structuring the critical hypotheses and actions required to figure out if you've got a business idea worth pursuing.
Cons:I can't think of any cons right now. Lean Canvas simply works. It does what entrepreneurs need it to do.
I teach Lean Canvas (and the Leaner Canvas version) to high school students. Agree with others that more domain specific examples, but it's not a Con, just a way to grow it. Could use more guidance on how to formulate a solid value proposition and how to iterate the canvas using experimentation. That content is in the blogs, but you have to search for it.
Pros:Handy tool that compels entrepreneurs to think about their customers/users first, rather than their idea. Very easy to teach and to learn.
Cons:If filled out poorly, can instill false confidence in entrepreneurs. Would like to see a way to grade/rate the canvas.
I started to use it a long time ago and it is still the most effective and simple tool out there for your Lean Canvas creation
Pros:Easy to create and to share with all stackholders
Cons:Nothing so far
This is my go-to tool for business.
Pros:Lean Canvas is like the scientific method for business. It is objective and and the best part is all in one page.
Cons:None.
Our thoughts are biased in themselves. When we have an idea churning and digesting inside the grey matter between our ears. We fall in love with it, we think of ourselves, our idea as unstoppable, it has no faults. With a tool like lean canvas, we are able to birth that idea into the world, without risking large sums of money: capital, or 3 years of grinding a business up the hockey stick curve. We can do it from the saftey of our office, or on the kitchen table. We can within 20 min unravel the lies we tell ourselves. And when faced with the truth, and various realities: Something magical happens, we can pivot and plan and expand upon over and over and over with no risk other than forgoing on our ego's. Going forward: We need more case studies, a collective hive of brains, and of their journeys and what failed and why, and of course what got traction and why. Require acess to a 3rd person to probe, and question our assumptions. Vital, we need someone to challenge our ideas, our thinking. This is a team sport, and lean canvas brings everyone together :)
Pros:Ability to put thoughts to paper (application) and flesh out new ventures, or expand upon old ones.
Cons:We need to ask of ourselves, and each other: Better questions, to derive better answers. And this is challenging for most, in isolation.
I use the Lean Canvas two ways regularly: 1) To evaluate startup companies I'm looking into for investment of time or money; and 2) to help companies I'm mentoring stop thinking obsessively about their product, and think about the *rest* of their business.
Pros:Focuses one on the business, not the product
Cons:Is just the first step of things to do; but Ash covers more in his later books / utilities.
Whenever I get an idea for a business, this is what I start with.
Pros:Keeps me focused on the right areas
Cons:Missing a community
The canvas is the first step of an entire "evidence based entrepreneurism" approach to building a successful sustainable business. To really get the most value out of it you should expect to use the completed canvas as a starting point to be rest of the business model validation process.
Pros:Both intuative to employ and based upon my experience with other modelling canvases, better suited to the realities of first time businesses
Cons:Requires a bit more effort on the part of the person that employs the tool than they might expect.
Highly recommend it
Pros:very easy and intuitive use. Unlocks value when you use it.
Cons:none