Business Model Canvas Examples: 6 Filled-In Canvases
Updated · First published
TL;DR
The best business model canvas examples fill in all 9 blocks with real customers, prices and costs, so here are six complete canvases as tables: Airbnb, Spotify and Netflix with figures from their own 2025 and 2026 reports, plus three small startup samples you can copy. The canvas comes from Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, and Strategyzer, the company Osterwalder founded, publishes the free template. Then fill in your own with the 60-minute method below.
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What is the business model canvas, and who created it?
I'm Violetta Bonenkamp, founder of Fe/male Switch and CADChain. I have filled in canvases for my own companies, and with founders in our startup game I see the same pattern again and again: the canvas looks easy, so people fill it with slogans.
The Business Model Canvas is a one-page chart with 9 boxes that describe how a business creates, delivers and earns money. Strategyzer says Alex Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur introduced it in 2005. It became famous through the book Business Model Generation (Wiley, 2010), which Strategyzer describes as co-created by 470 practitioners from 45 countries and available in 36 languages. Osterwalder is founder and CEO of Strategyzer.
Two things to know before you start:
- It is free to use. The official canvas PDF carries a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence. You can print, share and adapt it if you credit Strategyzer and share adaptations under the same licence.
- The block names are fixed. The official PDF uses slightly longer names for the three left-hand blocks; the tables below shorten them to Partners, Activities and Resources.
What are the 9 building blocks of the business model canvas?
Here is each block with the question it answers, my plain-English version of Strategyzer's definitions.
| # | Block | The question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Customer Segments | Which groups do you serve, and which one matters most? |
| 2 | Value Propositions | What problem do you solve, and why pick you over the alternatives? |
| 3 | Channels | How do customers find you, buy and receive what they paid for? |
| 4 | Customer Relationships | Is the contact personal, self-service, automated or community-based? |
| 5 | Revenue Streams | Who pays, for what, how much and how frequently? |
| 6 | Resources | Which assets (people, money, brand, software, licences) must you have? |
| 7 | Activities | What must you do every week for the model to work? |
| 8 | Partners | Which suppliers and allies do work you can't or won't do yourself? |
| 9 | Cost Structure | What are the biggest costs, and which ones grow with every sale? |
The right side (blocks 1 to 5) covers customers and money coming in, the left side (6 to 9) the engine and money going out. A model works when the right side pays for the left.
What does a business model canvas look like for a big company?
The three canvases below use facts from each company's own filings and help pages. Each one earns money differently: Airbnb takes a fee on a marketplace, Spotify runs freemium (a free tier paid for by ads plus paid subscriptions), and Netflix sells subscriptions with a cheaper ad-supported plan.
Business model canvas example 1: Airbnb
Airbnb reported $12.2 billion of revenue in 2025, up 10%, on 533 million nights and seats booked and $91.3 billion of gross booking value, according to its 2025 annual report (Form 10-K). The same filing counts over 5 million hosts in over 220 countries and regions.
| Block | Airbnb |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Two sides: travellers booking stays, services and experiences; hosts who rent out homes or sell experiences |
| Value Propositions | Guests: a huge choice of homes and local experiences. Hosts: income from space they already have, with payments handled |
| Channels | Airbnb apps and website, search, social media, word of mouth |
| Customer Relationships | Self-service booking, reviews on both sides, customer support, AirCover protection for hosts |
| Revenue Streams | Service fees on each booking. Airbnb is moving home hosts to a single fee of typically 15.5% deducted from the host payout; older split-fee bookings charge hosts about 3% and guests 14.1% to 16.5%. On experiences and services Airbnb earns a host fee only |
| Resources | The brand, the two-sided network of hosts and guests, review data, booking and payment software |
| Activities | Building the product, trust and safety checks, support, marketing |
| Partners | Payment processors and banks, insurers behind AirCover, hosts and co-hosts |
| Cost Structure | 2025 figures: sales and marketing $2.59 billion, product development $2.35 billion, cost of revenue $2.09 billion, G&A $1.34 billion, operations and support $1.33 billion |
The lesson: there are no rooms in Airbnb's Resources block. Its biggest resource is the network, and its biggest cost is marketing, because a marketplace dies when either side stops growing.
Business model canvas example 2: Spotify
In its second-quarter 2026 report Spotify counted 777 million monthly active users, 300 million Premium subscribers and €4.78 billion of revenue for the quarter. Premium brought in €4.33 billion of that and ads €446 million, so about 91% comes from paying subscribers.
| Block | Spotify |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Free listeners (494 million ad-supported users in Q2 2026), paying Premium subscribers, advertisers, artists and podcasters who want an audience |
| Value Propositions | Listeners: music, podcasts and audiobooks in one app. Premium: no ads, offline listening, any song in any order. Advertisers: targeted audio ads |
| Channels | Mobile and desktop apps, web player, devices from partner brands, shared playlists |
| Customer Relationships | Automated personalisation (DJ, daylist, Blend), self-service accounts, Family and Duo plans for households |
| Revenue Streams | Subscriptions: in the US Premium Individual costs $12.99 a month, Duo $18.99, Family $21.99 and Student $6.99, with 15 hours of audiobooks a month included. Ad sales on the free tier |
| Resources | Licensing deals for the music catalogue, listening data, recommendation software, the brand |
| Activities | Licensing content, building recommendation features, selling ads, converting free users into paying ones |
| Partners | Record labels, music publishers, podcast and audiobook producers, device makers |
| Cost Structure | Royalties dominate: Spotify says it paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025. Then product development, marketing and staff |
The lesson: the free tier works as a channel that feeds Premium, so read those two blocks together.
Business model canvas example 3: Netflix
Netflix earned $45.2 billion in 2025 with a 29.5% operating margin and crossed 325 million paid memberships in the fourth quarter, says its Q4 2025 shareholder letter. Ad revenue passed $1.5 billion in 2025, and the Q3 2026 letter now expects about $2.7 billion of ad revenue in 2026, down from about $3 billion.
| Block | Netflix |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Households worldwide, price-sensitive viewers on the ad plan, advertisers |
| Value Propositions | Series, films, games and live events on any screen, with no long contract |
| Channels | Netflix apps on TVs, phones and consoles, the website, partner bundles |
| Customer Relationships | Automated recommendations, self-service sign-up and cancellation, profiles per household member |
| Revenue Streams | Monthly subscriptions: in the US Standard with ads $8.99, Standard $19.99, Premium $26.99, plus paid extra members. Advertising on the ad plan |
| Resources | Content library and rights, viewing data, streaming technology, the brand |
| Activities | Producing and licensing content, live events, recommendation software, ad sales |
| Partners | Studios and producers, TV makers, telecom partners, sports leagues such as the NFL, game companies such as Take-Two |
| Cost Structure | Content first: about $17.1 billion added to content assets in 2025 (Q4 2025 letter). Then marketing, technology and staff |
The lesson: a cheaper ad plan added a new segment (advertisers) and a second revenue stream to the same canvas.
What does a business model canvas look like for a small startup?
The three samples below are made-up businesses built as templates: prices and costs are our estimates for a small start in Western Europe in 2027.
Business model canvas example 4: a phone repair workshop
| Block | Local phone and tablet repair |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Students and commuters within 3 km; small offices with 10 to 50 phones |
| Value Propositions | Screen or battery fixed the same day, 90-day warranty on work, cheaper than the brand's own service |
| Channels | Google Business Profile, a weekly market stall, local Facebook groups, pickup for offices |
| Customer Relationships | Personal service at the counter, a reminder message when the warranty ends |
| Revenue Streams | Part plus fixed labour fee (screen swap about €60 to €150 depending on model); yearly service contract for offices |
| Resources | Tools and bench, stock of common parts, the founder's repair skills, reviews |
| Activities | Repairs, buying parts, asking every customer for a review |
| Partners | Parts wholesalers, a courier, a nearby shop that sends customers in return for a small fee |
| Cost Structure | Parts (variable), stall or workshop rent, tools, insurance, ads on local search |
Business model canvas example 5: a B2B software startup
| Block | Booking and reminder software for small physiotherapy clinics |
|---|---|
| Customer Segments | Clinics with 2 to 10 therapists that still book by phone |
| Value Propositions | Fewer no-shows thanks to automatic reminders, patients book online at night, setup in one afternoon |
| Channels | Sales calls, physiotherapy trade fairs, referrals, the physio association newsletter |
| Customer Relationships | Personal setup call, then self-service with chat support |
| Revenue Streams | Monthly subscription per therapist (our estimate: €29), paid setup for clinics that want their old data moved |
| Resources | The software, a developer, patient-data security, the founder's network in physiotherapy |
| Activities | Building features clinics ask for, sales calls, support |
| Partners | Hosting provider, SMS and email providers, a payment provider, the association |
| Cost Structure | Developer salary, hosting and SMS costs (grow with use), trade fair stands, accounting |
Business model canvas example 6: a nonprofit on the mission model canvas
Here is a mission model canvas example. Steve Blank and Alexander Osterwalder adapted the canvas for mission-driven organisations in 2016: Customer Segments became Beneficiaries, Channels became Deployment, Customer Relationships became Buy-in/Support, Cost Structure became Mission Cost/Budget and Revenue Streams became Mission Achievement.
| Block | After-school coding club for girls aged 10 to 14 |
|---|---|
| Beneficiaries | Girls aged 10 to 14 in two city districts; their parents; partner schools |
| Value Propositions | Free weekly coding sessions with women mentors, a project to show at the end of each term |
| Deployment | Sessions in school computer rooms, sign-ups through teachers |
| Buy-in/Support | School heads approve rooms, parents sign consent, the municipality backs the funding |
| Mission Achievement | Number of girls who finish a term and pick a technical subject the next school year |
| Resources | Volunteer mentors, laptops, a lesson plan, school rooms |
| Activities | Training mentors, running sessions, reporting to funders |
| Partners | Schools, a local tech company that lends mentors, the municipality |
| Mission Cost/Budget | Coordinator salary, laptops, insurance, covered by a city grant and sponsorship |
How do you fill in a business model canvas in 60 minutes?
Next steps, in this order, with one idea per sticky note.
- Customer Segments (10 minutes). Name one segment you can reach this month: "freelance designers in Rotterdam", never "women 25 to 40".
- Value Propositions (10 minutes). Write the job you do for that segment and the alternative they use today.
- Channels and Customer Relationships (10 minutes). Name where your first 10 customers come from and how you talk to them.
- Revenue Streams (10 minutes). Write a price. A number you will test beats a blank box.
- Activities, Resources and Partners (10 minutes). List only what the right side of the canvas needs.
- Cost Structure (10 minutes). Mark which costs grow with each sale and which stay fixed. Then plug them into a startup financial template to see when you break even.
Every sticky note is now a guess. Turn the riskiest three into tests: ten customer interviews, a landing page with a price, or a pre-sale. When the canvas survives real customers, move it into a pitch deck and a startup marketing plan.
What are the most common business model canvas mistakes?
These seven show up in almost every first canvas founders bring to Fe/male Switch.
| Mistake | What it looks like | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone is the customer | "Customer Segments: small businesses" | Pick one segment and write a separate canvas for any second one |
| Slogans in Value Propositions | "High quality, great service" | Name the problem and the current alternative |
| No price | "Revenue: subscriptions" | Write a number per month or per sale |
| Channels without a first step | "Social media" | Name the account, group or event where customer 1 comes from |
| Free tier counted as revenue | "Revenue: free users" | Put free users under Channels, like Spotify's funnel |
| Costs without volume | "Hosting, marketing" | Split fixed and per-sale costs |
| A canvas filled in once | Same canvas for a year | Date each version, redo it after every 10 customer talks |
Also beware of copying a famous canvas: Airbnb's model needs millions of hosts and guests, and a solo founder can't buy that network. Borrow the logic and size it to your budget. For ideas that fit a small budget, see our low cost startup business ideas or the business ideas for low investment site.
FAQ
What is a good business model canvas example for a startup?
One with all 9 blocks filled in, one clear segment, a stated price and costs split into fixed and variable, like the phone repair and physiotherapy software canvases above.
What is the business model canvas of Airbnb?
Airbnb serves guests and hosts and earns service fees on bookings, typically a single 15.5% fee taken from the host payout. Its 2025 revenue was $12.2 billion, per its 2025 annual report.
Is the business model canvas free to use?
Yes. Strategyzer publishes the canvas under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence, so you can use and adapt it if you credit Strategyzer and share adaptations under the same terms.
What is a mission model canvas example?
The mission model canvas, adapted by Steve Blank and Alexander Osterwalder in 2016, swaps customers and revenue for beneficiaries and mission achievement. The coding club canvas above is a full example.
What is Business Model You?
Business Model You is a 2012 Wiley book by Tim Clark with Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur that applies the canvas to your career, with you as the business. The method lives on at businessmodelyou.com.
What should you do next?
Print the free canvas, pick one segment, fill in all 9 blocks with prices, and test the three riskiest notes this week. If you want a guided way to do that, play Fe/male Switch, the startup game for women where your AI co-founder walks you from canvas to first paying customer. And if you are still choosing what to build, start with our business idea generation techniques.