Business Model Canvas: What It Is and 3 Full Examples

Table of Contents

• Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas
• Example 1: specialty coffee shop in Medellín
• Example 2: clothing store on Instagram in Lima
• Example 3: freelance designer in Mexico who charges in dollars
• Mistakes when filling in a Canvas
• Build your own Canvas

The Business Model Canvas is a map of your business on a single page: nine blocks that run from the customer to the costs and show, at a glance, how who buys from you, what you offer them and how you make money fit together. Seeing a filled-in one teaches more than its definition, which is why here are three complete examples you can open and edit in our editable Canvas template, free and with no sign-up.

This page does not teach you how to build yours from scratch; for that there is the step-by-step guide to building a business model. Here we look at three finished canvases, one per type of business, and for each one we see what it reveals, where it is weakest and which cheap test would put it to the proof before you spend any money.

Business Model Canvas vs Lean Canvas

The examples come in both versions because they answer different moments. The Business Model Canvas describes how a business that already exists, or is already well defined, operates. The Lean Canvas, adapted by Ash Maurya, is meant for an idea that still has to be validated: it swaps four operating blocks for four learning blocks. If you already sell, start with the first; if you are testing an idea, start with the second.

Business Model Canvas	Lean Canvas	Difference
Customer Segments	Customer Segments	Same: defines who buys first
Value Propositions	Unique Value Proposition	Boiled down to one short, clear message
Channels	Channels	Same in both
Revenue Streams	Revenue Streams	Same in both
Cost Structure	Cost Structure	Same in both
Key Partners	Problem	Moves from who you work with to what hurts the customer today
Key Activities	Solution	Moves from what you do to the least that solves the problem
Key Resources	Key Metrics	Moves from what you have to the numbers you must watch
Customer Relationships	Unfair Advantage	Moves from how you keep the customer to what cannot easily be copied

Example 1: specialty coffee shop in Medellín

Café La Loma has a shop in an office district, roasts its coffee every week and wants to add recurring income by selling beans on subscription. It is the case of a business that already operates and wants to grow without opening a second location.

Business Model Canvas

Block	Content
Customer Segments	Office workers aged 25 to 40 in El Poblado · People who brew coffee at home · Tourists looking for single-origin Colombian coffee
Value Propositions	Single-origin coffee roasted in-house every week · Fresh beans delivered to your door by subscription · A coffee bar where you learn your favorite brew method
Channels	Street-level coffee shop · Instagram and Google Maps · Bean orders via WhatsApp
Customer Relationships	Baristas who remember your order · Subscriber club with monthly tastings
Revenue Streams	Drinks at the bar · Monthly bean subscription · Brewing equipment sales
Key Resources	5 kg roaster · Shop in an office district · Two trained baristas
Key Activities	Roasting and packing every week · Making drinks with consistent quality · Posting content about origin and brewing
Key Partners	Three farms in southwest Antioquia · Local courier for the subscription · Supplier of valve bags
Cost Structure	Shop rent · Green coffee and packaging · Barista payroll

Lean Canvas

Block	Content
Problem	Supermarket coffee has been roasted for months · It is hard to know which farm the coffee comes from · Today's alternative: coffee chains and mass-market coffee
Customer Segments	People who brew coffee at home every day · Early adopters: people who already buy beans online
Unique Value Proposition	Farm coffee roasted this week, at your door every month · Concept: "the wine club, but for coffee"
Solution	Subscription with weekly roasting · Label with farm, altitude and roast date · Brewing guide in every shipment
Channels	Instagram with recipes · Tastings at the shop · Subscriber referrals
Revenue Streams	Monthly subscription of 2 or 4 bags · Drinks at the bar
Cost Structure	Green coffee · Shipping · Instagram ads
Key Metrics	Active subscribers · Cancellations per month · Cost per new subscriber
Unfair Advantage	Direct relationship with three farms · A community that comes to the tastings

What this canvas reveals. The subscription shows up in three blocks of the first canvas (value propositions, relationships and revenue), so much of the model depends on someone agreeing to pay every month for something they now buy one bag at a time. That is where the risk lies: subscribers may cancel soon and the cost of winning them may never be paid back. A cheap test is to offer the subscription for one month to the regulars at the bar, with limited spots, and count how many pay and how many stay into the second month, before buying packaging or putting money into ads.

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Example 2: clothing store on Instagram in Lima

Moda Barranco sells locally designed clothes almost entirely through social media and chat, because its customers prefer to order by message rather than on a website. Every sale starts with a conversation.

Business Model Canvas

Block	Content
Customer Segments	Women aged 20 to 35 in Lima · Shoppers who prefer ordering by chat over using a website
Value Propositions	Locally designed clothes at an affordable price · Weekly drops in limited quantities · Pay with Yape and get delivery in 48 hours
Channels	Instagram and TikTok · Orders via WhatsApp · Own delivery in Lima and courier to other regions
Customer Relationships	Chat replies in under an hour · Broadcast list with pre-sales
Revenue Streams	Clothing sales · Shipping fees to other regions
Key Resources	Instagram account with 15,000 followers · Partner sewing workshop · Our own product photos
Key Activities	Designing and launching short collections · Handling orders by chat · Coordinating shipments
Key Partners	Sewing workshop in Gamarra · Courier for other regions · Fashion micro-influencers
Cost Structure	Sewing and fabrics · Delivery and courier · Instagram advertising

Lean Canvas

Block	Content
Problem	Cheap clothes are often poor quality · Buying from an unknown website breeds distrust · Today's alternative: going to Gamarra or big chains
Customer Segments	Young women in Lima who shop through social media · Early adopters: followers of local micro-influencers
Unique Value Proposition	Lima design in limited editions: pay with Yape and get it in 48 hours · Free size exchanges and chat support within minutes
Solution	Short collections every week · Support via WhatsApp · Free size exchanges
Channels	Reels of people trying on the clothes · Collaborations with micro-influencers
Revenue Streams	Direct sales with an average ticket of S/ 120 · Shipping fees to other regions
Cost Structure	Production by batch · Shipping · Ads
Key Metrics	Orders per week · Repeat customers · Chats that end in a sale
Unfair Advantage	Loyal community that buys on pre-sale · A workshop that quickly produces small batches

What this canvas reveals. The Instagram account is at once a key resource, a channel and the front door of the customer relationship, so the whole business hangs from a platform it does not control. The other sensitive point is production: the partner workshop makes small batches, which allows quick launches, but a piece that sells out means waiting for another batch. To test it safely, launch a short collection as a pre-sale through the broadcast list and measure what share of chats ends in a sale and how many buyers come back, producing only what is already paid for.

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Example 3: freelance designer in Mexico who charges in dollars

Estudio Ana Ruiz is one person who designs interfaces for US startups and charges in dollars. Here the business and the professional are the same thing, and the canvas makes that visible.

Business Model Canvas

Block	Content
Customer Segments	US startups without a design team · Agencies that outsource design
Value Propositions	Interface design in your own time zone · Dollar rates lower than a local designer · Weekly deliveries with revisions included
Channels	Portfolio on Behance and own website · LinkedIn · Client referrals
Customer Relationships	Weekly check-in call · Slack support throughout the project
Revenue Streams	Fixed-price projects · Monthly retainer of hours
Key Resources	Portfolio with real case studies · Fluent English · Figma and other tool licenses
Key Activities	Designing and prototyping · Finding and serving clients · Updating the portfolio
Key Partners	Platform to receive payments in dollars · Freelance developers for full projects
Cost Structure	Software licenses · Fees for receiving payments · Equipment and internet

Lean Canvas

Block	Content
Problem	Hiring design in the US is expensive and slow · Cheap freelancers miss deadlines · Today's alternative: generic freelance marketplaces
Customer Segments	Seed-stage startups · Early adopters: founders who already work with remote teams
Unique Value Proposition	Senior product design in your hours, paid in dollars at half the price · Concept: "your design team, without hiring one"
Solution	Two-week design sprints · Retainer with fixed hours per month
Channels	LinkedIn · Startup communities · Referrals
Revenue Streams	Retainer of USD 2,000 per month · Projects starting at USD 3,000
Cost Structure	Software · Payment fees · Unbilled time spent finding clients
Key Metrics	Billed hours per month · Clients on retainer · Effective hourly rate
Unfair Advantage	Success stories with well-known startups · Same time zone as the US

What this canvas reveals. The most important resource and activity is Ana's time, so her income has a ceiling: the hours in the month. The Lean Canvas also lists as a cost the unbilled time she spends looking for clients, something that is easy to forget. The risk is depending on a few clients, since each one who leaves opens an immediate gap. A cheap test is to offer a current client a retainer of fixed hours instead of a fixed-price project, and to work out the effective hourly rate counting the prospecting hours too.

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Mistakes when filling in a Canvas

These three mistakes are not about choosing the right model but about how the canvas gets filled in.

Writing paragraphs instead of single ideas. A block full of long sentences hides several mixed hypotheses, and you cannot test any of them on its own. Look at the examples above: each note is a short, checkable idea, and no block goes past three.

Mixing segments that need different offers. You can have several segments on one canvas if they share the value proposition and the channels, like the office workers and the home brewers in the first example. If each group needs a different offer, make one canvas per segment: a single canvas for everyone ends up saying nothing about anyone.

Not connecting revenue to costs. The two bottom blocks tend to get filled in as independent lists, and nobody does the math. "Monthly subscription" and "shipping" only mean something once you turn them into figures per unit sold. You can use the profit margin calculator for that and check whether what you charge leaves anything after costs, fees and taxes.

Build your own Canvas

Pick the example closest to your business, load it into the editable Canvas template, replace each note with something you know about your customers and, when you are done, download it as a PNG or PDF. If you are unsure how to organize the work, the step-by-step guide to building a business model takes you from the idea to the first validation.