Lean Canvas & Startup Glossary
Twenty terms every founder bumps into while filling a Lean Canvas. Each page is a quick read (2 minutes), written for someone about to build their first business plan, not for textbook readers.
What is the Problem block in a Lean Canvas?
The top 1-3 problems your target customer actually struggles with — the starting point of every Lean Canvas.
What are Customer Segments in a Lean Canvas?
A clear definition of who you're building for, including early adopters who feel the problem most acutely.
What is a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)?
A single compelling sentence that explains why you're different and worth buying — not just another option.
What is the Solution block in a Lean Canvas?
The 1-3 simplest features or services that solve the top problems you identified — not a full product spec.
What are Channels in a Lean Canvas?
The free and paid paths you use to reach customers — the route between your solution and the people who need it.
What are Revenue Streams in a Lean Canvas?
How you actually charge money — pricing model, units, and the math of your business.
What is Cost Structure in a Lean Canvas?
The fixed and variable costs required to operate your business — everything that consumes cash.
What are Key Metrics in a Lean Canvas?
The 1-3 numbers that actually tell you if your business is working — not vanity metrics.
What is an Unfair Advantage in a Lean Canvas?
Something about your business that cannot be easily copied or bought by competitors — your real moat.
What is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)?
The smallest version of your product that delivers real value and lets you learn from real customers.
What is a Pivot in startup strategy?
A structured change in your business model when your original hypothesis fails — not giving up, but changing course.
What is Traction in a startup?
Measurable evidence that customers want what you're building — the one thing investors actually care about.
What is Product-Market Fit (PMF)?
The moment when customers are pulling your product from you faster than you can push it — the goal of every early-stage startup.
Who are Early Adopters in a Lean Canvas?
The subset of customers who feel the problem so strongly they'll buy an imperfect solution today.
What are Existing Alternatives in a Lean Canvas?
How your customers solve the problem today without you — often duct tape, spreadsheets, or just living with it.
What is a High-Level Concept in a Lean Canvas?
A short analogy that explains your idea in one line — "YouTube for X" or "Uber for Y".
Lean Canvas vs Business Model Canvas — what's the difference?
Ash Maurya's Lean Canvas replaces 4 blocks of Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas to fit early-stage startups.
What is Problem-Solution Fit?
The milestone before product-market fit — evidence that your solution addresses a real, painful problem people will pay to fix.
What is Validated Learning in Lean Startup?
Progress measured by what you learn from real customers, not by features shipped or lines of code written.
What is the Build-Measure-Learn loop?
The core engine of a lean startup — ship an experiment, measure the result, learn, repeat.