What is a Business Model Canvas?

A Business Model Canvas (BMC) is a one-page template that shows how a business creates and captures value. Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur developed it. The canvas covers 9 building blocks: Key Partners, Key Activities, Key Resources, Value Proposition, Customer Relationships, Channels, Customer Segments, Cost Structure and Revenue Streams.

What are the 9 building blocks of the Business Model Canvas?

The 9 blocks of the Business Model Canvas: (1) Key Partners, the people and organisations you work with; (2) Key Activities, what your business must actually do; (3) Key Resources, what you need to operate; (4) Value Proposition, the problem you solve; (5) Customer Relationships, how you stay in touch; (6) Channels, how you reach customers; (7) Customer Segments, who you serve; (8) Cost Structure, your main costs; (9) Revenue Streams, how you earn.

What are Key Activities in the Business Model Canvas?

Key Activities are the things a company must do to deliver its Value Proposition. There are a few types: production work (building and shipping a product), problem-solving work (consulting or custom services) and platform work (running a marketplace or software). What counts as a Key Activity depends entirely on your model. A SaaS company codes and maintains its product. A consultancy delivers workshops and advice.

What is Key Partners in the Business Model Canvas?

Key Partners are the suppliers and collaborators your business model depends on. Companies build partnerships to get access to resources they don't own, to reduce operational risk or to scale faster. The four common partnership types are: strategic alliances, coopetition (working with competitors on shared goals), joint ventures and buyer-supplier relationships.

Is mybmctool free to use?

Yes. mybmctool is free for up to 3 canvases. No credit card needed to start. Pro and Team plans give you AI features, unlimited canvases and tools like an investor readiness score and pitch deck generator.

Can I share my Business Model Canvas with clients?

Yes. Every canvas gets a shareable link. Add a password if needed. Clients open the link directly without creating an account.

What AI features does mybmctool have?

Pro and Team users can paste a website URL to fill the canvas automatically, upload photos of whiteboards or documents and use voice input. The AI sorts everything across the 9 blocks for you.

SaaS Business Model Canvas: a Complete Example

What does a typical SaaS business model look like in a canvas? We walk through all nine blocks.

SaaS stands for Software as a Service: software delivered as a subscription via the cloud. The model differs fundamentally from traditional software or services. That shows up clearly in the canvas.

The nine blocks for a SaaS product

Customer Segments

SaaS businesses almost always target a specific group. Horizontal SaaS for everyone is hard to sell without a huge marketing budget. Pick a vertical instead: HR software for hospitals, project management for construction companies, invoicing tools for freelancers.

The sharper your segment, the easier it is to articulate your proposition.

Value Propositions

SaaS propositions usually come down to a few things: time saved, fewer errors or better visibility. But say it concretely. Not "work more efficiently", but "your month-end close takes ten minutes instead of two hours".

For B2B SaaS: the buyer isn't always the user. The CFO buys, the accountant uses it. Make sure your proposition works for both.

Channels

Most SaaS businesses grow through organic search, product-led growth and direct sales for enterprise accounts. Which channel dominates depends on your segment and pricing model.

Worth noting: channels aren't static. What works at 100 customers often doesn't work at 10,000.

Customer Relationships

SaaS is largely self-service. The onboarding experience determines whether someone stays or cancels after two weeks. Invest in a good first five minutes inside your product, not just on the purchase page.

For higher-priced subscriptions (500+ euros per month), customers expect a named contact.

Revenue Streams

Monthly or annual subscriptions are the standard. Annual plans are better for cash flow, but monthly is easier to sell. Offer both.

Key Resources

The platform itself: the codebase, the data, the infrastructure. But also the team. At a SaaS company, engineers and product people are your most critical resources. Development delays are the most expensive cost factor that doesn't show up on your balance sheet.

Key Activities

Development is the core. But don't overlook customer success. Preventing churn is cheaper than acquiring new customers. As your MRR grows, managing existing customers becomes a significant activity in its own right.

Key Partners

Cloud infrastructure, payment solutions and integration partners. Many SaaS companies also build a partner network: implementation partners who deploy the product for clients. That's a scalable channel you don't have to staff yourself.

Cost Structure

Headcount dominates. Engineers, sales, support. Then cloud hosting, tools and marketing. SaaS companies typically run at a loss early on. The unit economics improve once you have enough customers to spread the fixed costs.

What makes a SaaS model vulnerable?

Churn. Every month, customers leave. If your acquisition doesn't outpace your losses, your base shrinks. Churn is visible in the Customer Relationships block: if that block is thin, your retention is probably thin too.

A second vulnerability: one dominant channel. If all your new customers come through Google Ads, you're exposed to price increases or algorithm changes. Always build toward a second channel, even if it's slower.

Working on a SaaS business model? mybmctool lets you map and iterate on this canvas directly.