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Blueprints

The Strategy Canvas

Your strategy on one page: from your reason for being to this year's priorities.

Fifteen fields in two phases. The foundation sets out who you are and where you play; the planning turns that into objectives and priorities you can track. Made for SMEs with a team who want strategy to be more than a good conversation in January.

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BoldcasterThe Strategy Canvas · fifteen fields
Phase 1 · Foundationwho you are and where you play
DNA
Purpose
Core Values
BHAG
Core Competence
Profit per X
Sandbox
Core Customer
Brand Promise
Phase 2 · Planningwhat you build and measure
3-year goal (3HAG)
Success Strategies
3-Year Objectives
3-Year Priorities
1-Year Objectives
1-Year Priorities

See a completed example

The strategy canvas of a fictional installation company, fully completed. Plus five signs that a canvas actually steers the business, rather than just being filled in. Four pages, PDF.

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What is the strategy canvas?

The strategy canvas boils a company's strategy down to fifteen fields on one page. Phase 1 is the foundation: DNA, purpose, core values, BHAG, core competence, profit per X, sandbox, core customer, brand promise and the value goal on your horizon. Phase 2 is the planning: success strategies, plus objectives and priorities for your horizon and for the year.

The model builds on the thinking of Verne Harnish (Scaling Up, the Rockefeller Habits) and on Jim Collins's work on the BHAG and core values. What we have added is an explicit time horizon for each field (some fields are timeless, some run to your horizon and some are about this year) plus a value goal that is about freedom of choice rather than a sale.

What the canvas does not do: it does not describe a market, the competition or a business model. Combine it with a SWOT for the playing field and a Business Model Canvas for how you make money. And the canvas executes nothing; for that you need quarterly goals, KPIs and a rhythm.

When do you use it?

Use the canvas when you have a team and notice that everyone carries their own version of the plan in their head. It works best with the leadership team in the room, in a single one-day session: the conversation is the real output, and filling it in is how you record it. After that, the canvas is the starting point for every quarterly session.

If you are just starting out and your idea has not been validated yet, the Lean Canvas is a better first step. If you want to map the playing field before you make choices, start with the SWOT analysis.

How to fill it in

Work from top to bottom: first the foundation, then the planning. Each field has its own time horizon. Purpose, DNA and core values are timeless, the sandbox and the objectives run to the horizon you chose (three years by default), and the last two fields are about this financial year.

Phase 1 · Foundation

Ten fields that set out who you are, where you play and what the company needs to be worth. You only come back to this part when you genuinely change course.

01

DNA

What makes this business fundamentally different, and stays the same through growth or an acquisition. It is about who you are rather than what you sell: the reason you do things this way and not the way the rest of your industry does.

Questions that help

  • ·What in your industry makes you angry? What do others do that you would never do?
  • ·Which customer have you ever turned away, and why did that feel right?
  • ·If you stopped tomorrow, what would the market miss that nobody else would simply pick up?

Example

A consultancy: 'We say the uncomfortable thing in the first session, not the third. It costs us work up front and wins us clients who stay.'

Common mistake

Filling in a product feature ('personal attention', 'short lines of communication'). Everyone says that, so it sets you apart from no one.

02

Purpose

The change in the world because this business exists. Impact, not activity. It should last twenty years or more and is meant to carry you when things get hard: after a bad quarter, or when you wonder whether the next investment is worth it.

Questions that help

  • ·What would be worse in your region or market if this business had never existed?
  • ·Why do you do this work and not something that pays better?
  • ·Complete the sentence 'We exist so that …' and cross out everything that is about yourselves.

Example

A healthcare practice: 'We exist so that nobody in our region ends up on medication because the right help came too late.'

Common mistake

Writing down the service instead of the reason. 'Making people fitter' or 'taking the hassle away for clients' is what you do, not why it matters.

03

Core Values

Three to five values, and four things for each one: a name, a definition, the behaviour you want and the behaviour you do not. That last part is what turns it into a rule you can hold someone to. Core values describe today's behaviour, not the behaviour you wish you had.

Questions that help

  • ·Who is the best employee you have ever had, and what behaviour made them so good? And the worst?
  • ·What would you let someone go for, even if they hit their numbers?
  • ·Name a moment last month when this value cost you money.

Example

'Ownership. We take responsibility for the result, not for the effort. Wanted: you spot a problem and fix it without anyone asking. Not wanted: you wait for instructions while you can see it going wrong.'

Common mistake

Words without behaviour. If you cannot write down the unwanted behaviour, the value is too general, and then it is a poster rather than a standard.

04

BHAG

The long view for ten to twenty-five years: the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Deliberately impossible to plan; it is more a direction than a target you calculate. A number or a year in it makes it stronger, but the direction is the heart of it.

Questions that help

  • ·What do you want this business to be known for long after you have left?
  • ·What should be normal in your industry in twenty years that is not normal now?
  • ·What is big enough that you do not yet know how to get there?

Example

'By 2040 a maintenance contract with a fixed monthly price is the standard in our sector, and we are the ones who showed it can be done.'

Common mistake

Filling in the same thing as the 3-year goal. If the BHAG sits within three years, you have two dots at the same distance and neither of them steers.

05

Core Competence

One capability you are maniacally good at, that is hard to copy and that feeds directly into your BHAG. Not a list of things you do well: exactly one. It is the engine under your success strategies.

Questions that help

  • ·What do you pull off routinely that your competitors keep failing at?
  • ·What do people call you about, even when it is not your job?
  • ·If you had to outsource one thing and keep one thing in house, what would you keep?

Example

'We get a quote out of the door within 24 hours, costing included. Our job preparation is written down and transferable, so it does not depend on one person.'

Common mistake

Filling in a list. Three strengths in practice means none of them is real.

06

Profit per X

The one unit you earn on: per customer, per project, per site, per treatment. When that X goes up, your profitability goes up with it. Fill in one, plus a single line on how you measure it; otherwise it will be calculated differently next quarter.

Questions that help

  • ·Does the profit come from more customers, from customers staying longer, or from more per customer?
  • ·If this X rises by ten per cent and everything else stays the same, does the business become measurably more profitable?
  • ·Could you look up last month's X right now?

Example

'Profit per active service contract per year. Measured as gross margin divided by the number of contracts that have run for more than three months.'

Common mistake

Keeping two units open, or steering on revenue instead of profit. More revenue per customer can mean less profit when the service is expensive to deliver.

07

Sandbox

The playing field where you want to be the best in three years' time, on three axes: geography, customer group and product or service. It is a choice, not a description of your current market, so it also says what you turn down.

Questions that help

  • ·Where do you want to be the obvious choice in three years?
  • ·Which enquiry would you accept today but deliberately turn down later?
  • ·Who falls outside it? If the answer is 'nobody', it is not a sandbox.

Example

'Utrecht and the surrounding area · property managers with 200 to 2,000 units · maintenance on contract, no one-off jobs.'

Common mistake

Filling in what is already true today. Then it is a description rather than a choice; nothing falls outside it, so there is nothing to turn down.

08

Core Customer

One person within that sandbox, with a name, an age, a situation and the pain they arrive with. So concrete you would recognise them at a networking drinks. The value lies in the question you can then ask about every decision: does this help them?

Questions that help

  • ·Who was the last customer that made you think: this is what we are here for? Give them a name and an age.
  • ·What did they try before, and why did it fail?
  • ·What keeps them awake at night, and is that what they say at the table or something else?

Example

'Erik, 48, property manager with 900 units. Every Monday he gets complaints about breakdowns nobody saw coming, and his board holds him to account for unforeseen costs.'

Common mistake

Filling in a segment ('SMEs in the region', 'women aged 30 to 50'). That is the customer group from your sandbox, not your core customer.

09

Brand Promise

The one promise to every customer, whoever they are and whatever they buy. Three requirements: measurable, checkable by the customers themselves, and with a consequence if you break it. A good promise costs you money now and then; if it never does, it promises nothing.

Questions that help

  • ·What can a customer insist on with you that they have to ask for at a competitor?
  • ·How can they see for themselves that you kept your word?
  • ·What happens if you fall short, and who decides?

Example

'Report a fault before ten and it is fixed the same day, or you pay no subscription that month.'

Common mistake

Wording it so it cannot be measured ('the best service in the region'). If the customer cannot check it, you cannot break it either, and then it means nothing.

Phase 2 · Planning

Five fields that turn the foundation into choices, numbers and priorities. You review this part every quarter.

10

3-year goal (3HAG)

What your business looks like three years from now, in words: the Three-Year Highly Achievable Goal. Achievable and concrete, so that everyone on the team recognises it. This is the goal the rest of the plan works towards; the BHAG is the distant dot, this is the waypoint you can reach. The 3-year objectives and priorities make it measurable.

Questions that help

  • ·Suppose you walk through the business three years from now: what do you see, who is there, what do they do differently?
  • ·How many customers, which market, what team, and what do you still do yourself?
  • ·Would your team read this and say: yes, we can get there?

Example

An installation company: 'By 2029 three service contracts cover 40% of revenue, an operations manager plans the work and I am no longer out in the van.'

Common mistake

Writing down only an amount, or a dream without a date. A number without a picture cannot be planned, and a picture nobody finds achievable does not motivate.

11

Success Strategies

Three to five fundamental choices that set you apart within your sandbox. Not what you do, but how you do it differently. They last at least three to ten years and they rule something out: a choice without a no is not a choice.

Questions that help

  • ·What do you deliberately do differently, the thing the rest of your industry thinks is mad?
  • ·What do you say no to even though it would make money?
  • ·If you keep this up and your competitor does not, where will you be in five years that they cannot catch up with?

Example

'We only work on contract, never on a time-and-materials basis.' · 'We sell exclusively through installers, never directly to end customers.' · 'We charge per fault fixed, not per hour.'

Common mistake

Writing down projects. 'New website' or 'more marketing' is a priority or a means; it sets you apart from nobody.

12

3-Year Objectives

Three to six KPIs with a name, a unit and a target value three years out. They make your 3-year goal measurable, and this is where the conversation moves from ambition to arithmetic.

Questions that help

  • ·Which three numbers would you want to see if you stayed away for a year and could check only once?
  • ·Which number is the first to show that quality is slipping, before revenue notices?
  • ·If your 3-year goal is right, where does this number need to be in three years?

Example

'Contract revenue: €1.8M · Customer retention: 92% · Gross margin: 38% · Staff with their own client portfolio: 6'

Common mistake

Only money. Include one about quality and one about the team, because that is where growth eventually gets stuck.

13

3-Year Priorities

Three to five things to build: the systems, teams, sites or products that need to exist in three years to make your success strategies real. Themes, not numbers and not tasks, each big enough to take a year or more.

Questions that help

  • ·What needs to exist later that does not exist now? Name it as a thing, not an activity.
  • ·Which of these can you not do without if you want to hit the objectives?
  • ·Who is needed to make this work, and is that person already on board?

Example

'Second site in Amersfoort' · 'Job preparation set up as a separate role' · 'Own service portal where customers report and track faults'

Common mistake

Putting numbers in. 'Retention to 92%' is an objective; the priority is what you build to get there.

14

1-Year Objectives

The same KPIs, but for this financial year: more concrete, with a deadline, and worded so that on 1 January you know without debate whether they were met. They should add up, arithmetically, to the multi-year objectives.

Questions that help

  • ·What really has to be in place this year, in numbers you can already measure?
  • ·If you hit this this year and keep the same pace in the years after, do you reach your multi-year objective?
  • ·Who looks at this number every month?

Example

'Contract revenue: €1.1M · Customer retention: 87% · New contracts: 24 · Sickness absence below 4%'

Common mistake

Ambitions instead of results. 'Grow in contracts' cannot be judged in December; '24 new contracts' can.

15

1-Year Priorities

Three to five priorities for this year, written SMART and drawn from your multi-year priorities. Each one is big enough to work on for a quarter. This is where the canvas turns into execution: your quarterly goals come from here.

Questions that help

  • ·Which multi-year priority has to start this year, and which can wait?
  • ·What is finished in December, and how can you tell it is finished?
  • ·Who is the owner? One name per priority.

Example

'Job preparation written up and handed over to a permanent member of staff by 1 July' · 'Service portal live with the ten largest customers' · 'Pricing switched to contract rates from 1 September'

Common mistake

More than five. Then it is a wish list rather than a focus, and in the third quarter the most important one is the one that gets dropped.

Common mistakes

Starting with the objectives

Almost every business owner wants to start with the numbers, because that is where they have an opinion. Do that and you end up with the same objectives as last year. The foundation is exactly the part that decides which objectives are right, and it is a conversation you only have once every few years.

Filling in the sandbox for today

The sandbox is the choice of where you want to be the best in three years, not a description of your current market. Fill it in with what is already true today and you are left with a canvas that leads nowhere: nobody falls outside it, so there is never an enquiry to turn down.

Core values without unwanted behaviour

The 'unwanted behaviour' field is what turns a value into a rule. Without it you have a word everyone agrees with, and that is exactly why core values have such a bad name.

Objectives that do not add up

Put the 1-year objectives next to the multi-year objectives and check the sums. Four years that together do not reach the horizon is the most common gap between strategy and execution, and it is one you can close in ten minutes.

The canvas as a one-off exercise

A completed canvas that disappears into a folder after the session changes nothing. You will rarely touch the foundation, but the planning belongs on the table every quarter, and this year's priorities should be the source of your quarterly goals.

In Boldcaster

How Boldcaster helps you with this

A wizard that asks the questions

Field by field, with guidance, examples and a check at each step. The real value is in the conversation; the app makes sure nothing falls through the cracks.

Bold AI does the groundwork

Paste in your business plan, annual report or meeting notes and Bold AI fills in the fields for you. Or ask it for a suggestion one field at a time.

From canvas to quarterly goals

This year's priorities become the starting point for your Rocks and OKRs, and your targets appear on the KPI scoreboard.

One version for the whole team

Share the canvas with a link, export it as a PDF, and start every quarterly session on the same page.

See what Boldcaster costs

Prefer some guidance?

You don't need to know the model to get started: the wizard and Bold AI help you field by field. If you'd like someone alongside you asking the questions, start with a one-day scale-up audit. If you then want someone to work with your leadership team every quarter, we'll introduce you to a coach from our network.

Frequently asked questions

What time horizon do you use to fill in the canvas?

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Three years by default. That is long enough to build something and short enough to keep in view. Five years suits an investment cycle that genuinely takes that long: a second site, a building, your own platform. Two years if the business is financially tight; looking further ahead then makes the conversation unreal. The horizon you choose applies to the sandbox, the core customer, the value goal and the multi-year objectives and priorities.

What time horizon do you use for the sandbox?

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Your horizon, so three years from now by default, and not today. The sandbox is the deliberate choice of where you want to become the best, and what you say no to for that. Two tests: if it is already completely true today, it is a description and not a choice; if it is not realistically achievable in three years, it belongs in your BHAG.

What is the difference between the BHAG and the value goal?

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The BHAG is a long view of ten to twenty-five years that you cannot plan. The value goal is concrete and can be planned, on your horizon of three to five years. If both fields say roughly the same thing, the BHAG is too small; the value goal is not too big.

Do I have to want to sell my business to fill this in?

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No. The value goal is about the value you build, not the transaction. That value gives you the choice: keep growing as an independent business, sell, or bring in investors. For owners who are not thinking about selling, the question 'where do you want to be in three years, and what should the business be worth by then' works better than the word exit.

How long does it take to fill in the canvas?

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With the leadership team in the room, a day for the foundation and half a day for the planning. Filling it in alone can be done in two hours, but then you skip the part where the value lies: the conversation in which it turns out people had different pictures in their heads.

Who do you fill it in with?

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With the leadership team, not on your own as the owner. Core values the team did not help shape do not come alive; priorities the team did not choose are not met by the third quarter. In a small business without a leadership team, bring in the two or three people who carry the work.

How often do you update the canvas?

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You only touch the foundation when there is a real change of course; if your purpose changes every year, it was not a purpose. The planning comes along every quarter: objectives and priorities get reviewed in the quarterly session, and once a year you fill in the 1-year column again.

Is this the same as Scaling Up or the One-Page Strategic Plan?

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It shares its roots with them: BHAG, core values, core competence, profit per X, sandbox and brand promise all come from that body of thinking. Where it differs is the explicit time horizon for each field, an adjustable horizon instead of a fixed three years, and a value goal as the dot on the horizon instead of a row of numbers for each year.

Further reading