Generate a Startup Canvas combining Product Strategy (9 sections) and Business Model (costs + revenue) for a new product. An alternative to BMC and Lean Canvas that separates strategy from business model. Use when launching a new product or evaluating a startup concept.
Installs just this skill. Get the whole plugin for auto-invocation.
⚡ How it fires
How this skill gets triggered: by you, by Claude, or both.
Fires itselfClaude auto-loads it when your prompt matches the work.
You can call itInvoke it directly when you want it.
Slash command/startup-canvas
👁️ Context preview
The summary Claude sees to decide when to auto-load this skill.
Generate a Startup Canvas combining Product Strategy (9 sections) and Business Model (costs + revenue) for a new product. An alternative to BMC and Lean Canvas that separates strategy from business model. Use when launching a new product or evaluating a startup concept.
---name: startup-canvas
description: "Generate a Startup Canvas combining Product Strategy (9 sections) and Business Model (costs + revenue) for a new product. An alternative to BMC and Lean Canvas that separates strategy from business model. Use when launching a new product or evaluating a startup concept."
---# Startup Canvas
## Metadata
- **Name**: startup-canvas
- **Description**: Generate a Startup Canvas for a new product. Combines the 9-section Product Strategy Canvas with a Business Model (Cost Structure + Revenue Streams). Designed specifically for startups and new products.
- **Triggers**: startup canvas, new product canvas, startup strategy, startup business model
## Domain Context
### Startup Canvas vs Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas
Popular approaches like Business Model Canvas (Strategyzer) and Lean Canvas (Ash Maurya) mix strategy and business model into one artifact. The **Startup Canvas** (Paweł Huryn) separates them: 9 strategy sections from the Product Strategy Canvas + Cost Structure & Revenue Streams.
**Why not Business Model Canvas?**
- No vision — why should your team wake up every day?
- No Can't/Won't test — what stops competitors from copying you?
- No trade-offs — what you choose NOT to do creates focus
- No key metrics — how do you know the strategy is working?
- Key Partnerships and Key Resources are rarely useful for early-stage products
**Why not Lean Canvas?**
- Introduces redundancy: "Problem" overlaps with Market Segments (markets are defined by problems), "Solution" overlaps with Value Proposition (which by definition includes features)
- No vision, no trade-offs, no relative costs
- "Unfair Advantage" is too narrow — the entire strategy should be hard to copy, not just one element
- Doesn't address the holistic fit of strategic choices reinforcing each other
**When to use which:**
- **Business Model Canvas**: Established businesses, corporate strategy, investor materials
- **Lean Canvas**: Quick hypothesis testing when you just need speed
- **Startup Canvas**: New products where you need both strategic clarity AND a business model — the recommended approach
## Instructions
You are a product strategist and startup advisor designing a Startup Canvas for $ARGUMENTS.
Your task is to create a comprehensive Startup Canvas that covers both the strategic choices and the business model for a new product.
## Input Requirements
- Product or startup idea
- Target market and customer insights
- Competitive landscape
- Founder/team constraints and resources
## Startup Canvas Template
### Part 1: Product Strategy (9 Sections)
**1. Vision**
- How can we inspire people? What are we aspiring to achieve? What values do we uphold?
- Start simple. Your vision will evolve alongside the strategy.
**2. Market Segments**
- The market is defined by the problems people have (not demographics).
- Jobs to Be Done (JTBD), desired outcomes, constraints.
- What will be your first customer segment? Why this one first?
**3. Relative Costs**
- Do you optimize for low cost (like Southwest Airlines) or unique value (like Starbucks)?
- Low costs don't necessarily mean low prices.
**4. Value Proposition**
For each market segment:
- **What before**: Existing, problematic state
- **How**: Features and capabilities that change the situation
- **What after**: The benefits and outcomes
- **Alternatives**: Your unique value vs. competitors and substitutes (consider a Value Curve)
**5. Trade-offs**
- What will you NOT do? Trade-offs create focus and amplify value.
- Especially important for startups where it's tempting to chase every opportunity.
**6. Key Metrics**
- A few key metrics to measure if the product and strategy are working.
- North Star Metric and One Metric That Matters (OMTM) for this quarter.
**7. Growth**
- Product-Led Growth or Sales-Led Growth?
- Preferred channels: Social Media, SEO, Influencers, Resellers?
**8. Capabilities**
- What competencies and resources do you need to acquire?
- What do you build vs. partner for?
**9. Can't/Won't**
- What makes you think competitors can't or won't copy your strategy?
- The entire strategy should be difficult to copy — not just one element.
- Do all elements fit together and reinforce each other?
