Product Strategy Canvas

[Product Name] Designed for: Date:

Tip: Feel free to fill this canvas in any order. Strategy is an integrated set of choices that reinforce each other.

VISION RELATIVE COSTS TRADE-OFFS UNIQUE ACTIVITIES CAPABILITIES & SYSTEMS

How can I inspire people to get up every Trade-offs define what NOT to do.
What do we optimize for? What competencies and resources do we
day and come to work? Define a set of distinct activities in
need to acquire? Do we need suppliers?
IKEA doesn't sell assembled furniture and creating, producing, marketing, and
Do we optimize for low cost, like Southwest
What are we aspiring to achieve? What limits available choices (e.g., materials). delivering your product.
Airlines, or for unique value, like Are there any systems necessary to
values do we uphold?
Starbucks? support our strategic choices?
Trade-offs create focus, amplify the value For IKEA: flat packs, warehouses attached
Start with something simple. Your vision and make the strategy difficult to copy by to the stores, in-store restaurants, delivery
Low costs might be a priority, but they do What resources will we need to
will evolve along with other elements of others without sacrificing their existing outsourced to the customers, etc.
not necessarily mean having low prices. communicate our strategy effectively?
the strategy. businesses.

MARKET VALUE PROPOSITION MESSAGING KEY METRICS

The market is defined by the problems people have. For
example, IKEA’s market: people that want to get high-quality
home furnishings at low prices.
What are the customer's problems (needs, jobs) worth solving
(low satisfaction, high importance)? Within the market, there are
groups of people with similar, more specific needs/jobs, goals,
and success metrics.
Why do we want to compete in this market, not others? Have we
analyzed Porter’s 5 forces or performed PESTEL analysis? Do we
know TAM, SAM, SOM, Average Annual Growth Rate, ARPU,
Average CAC, and Average Churn Rate?
How will we communicate our Value
Proposition to the customers?
Define a few key metrics to measure
how your product is doing and whether
What are the benefits that customers
the strategy is working.
would derive from our key features? How
can we prove that?
Consider the North Star Metric and One
What key customer needs/jobs do we want to solve? Metric That Matters (OMTM)..
What stories and emotions does our
product evoke?
Which of these do we want to address significantly better than
our competitors?
How, at a high level, do we plan to solve them? GROWTH ASK YOURSELF
Will customers say, 'This is special, I'd be delighted to pay more'?
How do we envision growth? Is it PLG or What makes us think competitors can’t or
See The Value Curve. Sales-Led Growth? won’t copy our strategy?
What are our preferred Sales and Do the various elements of our strategy fit
Marketing channels? together and reinforce each other?

Are there any constraints, e.g., geography, language? Will we rely on Social Media, SEO, What needs to be true for this strategy to
Influencers, or Resellers? work? How can we validate these
assumptions?

26th Jan, 2023 Ⓒ Paweł Huryn

How to work with the Product Strategy Canvas?
1. Analyzing the market and the industry:
a. [Template] Porter’s Five Forces (+video)
b. [Template] PESTEL Analysis (+video)
c. [Template] SWOT Analysis (+video)
d. [Template] Ansoff Matrix (+video)
e. [Template] Competitive Analysis
2. Discovering the market (customers, needs):
a. [Book] The Lean Product Playbook (+video)
b. [Book] Value Proposition Design (+video)
3. Creating and testing Value Proposition:
a. [Book] The Lean Product Playbook (+video)
b. [Book] Value Proposition Design (+video)
c. [Book] The Right It (+video)
d. [Template] Value Proposition Canvas
e. [Template] The Value Curve
f. [Book] Testing Business Ideas (+video)
4. Other templates and frameworks: The Product
Frameworks Compendium: Value Chain Analysis, Ansoff
Matrix, McKinsey 7S Framework.
5. Growth
a. [Book] Hacking Growth (+video)
b. [Book] Product-Led Growth (+video)
c. [Book] Product-Led Onboarding (+video)
d. [Book] Hooked (+video)
e. [Book] Crossing the Chasm (+video)
6. Related posts and websites:
a. How to Achieve Product-Market Fit?
■ Part I: Market and Value Proposition
■ Part II: Product and Business Model
b. MVP: Everything you need to know
c. The North Star Framework 101
d. Prototyping Techniques by Alberto Savoia
e. Validation Patterns - How to validate your ideas
Notes
1. The Product Strategy Canvas is based primarily on the work of Michael Porter and Martin Roger, in particular their books
Understanding Michael Porter and Playing to Win and articles.
2. In Bad Strategy & Good Strategy Richard Rumelt suggested that strategy should contain Coherent Actions. I chose to
exclude this idea, as it does not align with the definitions provided by Porter and Martin. They posited that a strategy is an
integrated set of choices, not a plan or a set of activities.
3. In Product, we tend to split Product Vision and Product Strategy. However, I am persuaded by Roger Martin's argument that
you need to define your vision ("Winning Aspiration") alongside the other elements of the strategy, rather than
consecutively.
4. Some distinguish between Product Vision and Product Mission. Vision and Mission are often interchanged, causing
confusion. I advocate for using a single term because I don't see any value in separating these statements. I've explained
this in more detail in this post. I also recommend reading an article by Prof. Roger Martin. You can also see how LinkedIn
confuses those terms.
5. The Business Model (the exact method of generating revenue) is not a strategy. A strategy informs you about your relative
costs and revenues. The Business Model evolves from the Strategy. Both elements are crucial.
6. The Unique Value Proposition alone is not a Strategy. Tus, The Blue Ocean Strategy Canvas is not a Strategy Canvas, but
rather a Value Curve. This viewpoint aligns with the work of Porter and Martin..

Editable PPTX & more PM templates: https://huryn.substack.com/p/templates

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