Do I have to fill in the Lean Canvas blocks in a set order?

No. Ash Maurya, who created the Lean Canvas, explains that filling it in is like putting together a jigsaw, so there is no single correct order. Start with the block you understand best. Most ideas start well from the customer segment and the problem. A commonly used order is Problem, Customer Segments, Unique Value Proposition, Solution, Channels, Revenue Streams, Cost Structure and Key Metrics, with Unfair Advantage last.

What is an Unfair Advantage, and what should I write if I do not have one yet?

An Unfair Advantage is something competitors cannot easily copy or buy, such as data or a network built up over a long time, relationships with a specific customer group, or rare expertise. Many early-stage startups do not have one yet. It is better to leave the block empty than to write something easy to copy, such as being first to market. Legal rights such as a trademark or a patent can help in part, but they are not a full advantage by themselves.

Should I use the Lean Canvas or the Business Model Canvas?

Use the Lean Canvas for a new idea, when you do not yet know whether customers really have the problem or will pay, and you want to test quickly. Use the Business Model Canvas when you have real customers and need to manage partners, resources and the team. Many teams start with the Lean Canvas and switch to the Business Model Canvas once the business has a clear shape.

Can I test sales or take pre-orders before registering a company?

Yes, as an individual, but the founder is personally liable to customers and counterparties, the income is subject to personal income tax, and if you take money in advance you must deliver or refund as you said you would. Continuing sales may require a commercial registration. If there are several founders, you will take investment, or you will hire employees, you should register a company and sign a founders' agreement first.

Who owns code or a brand that was created before the company was set up?

As a rule, copyright in code, designs and content belongs to the person who created them, because at that time there was no company acting as employer or commissioning party. Once the company is set up, you should sign a written copyright assignment, signed by both the assignor and the assignee, under the Copyright Act B.E. 2537 section 17, and transfer or file the trademark, domain and social media accounts in the company's name. For work created afterwards by employees or contractors, look at sections 9 and 10 together with the contract.

What Is a Lean Canvas? How to Fill It In and How It Differs From the Business Model Canvas, for Startups

Most startup founders do not lack ideas. They lack a way to check whether anyone really wants the idea before they spend months building a system or manufacturing a product. The Lean Canvas is a one-page tool designed for this stage. It forces you to write down the customer's problem before the solution, and to separate what you know from what you are still guessing.

This guide explains all nine blocks, an order that works in practice, how the Lean Canvas differs from the Business Model Canvas, and an example of a barber and salon booking app in Khon Kaen. It then goes through the legal issues that are often overlooked while an idea is being tested: the founders' agreement, who owns the code and the brand, user data, and taking money from customers during market testing. These are easy to fix while the team is small, and very hard to fix once there are investors or one founder has left.

The core answer

The Lean Canvas is a nine-block sheet that Ash Maurya adapted from the Business Model Canvas for new ideas. It replaces Key Partnerships, Key Activities, Key Resources and Customer Relationships with Problem, Solution, Key Metrics and Unfair Advantage. There is no single correct order for filling it in, but most people start with the customer segment and the problem, and write the advantage last. In the early stage, every block is an assumption to be tested with real customers.

The rule (Thai law). The law applies during idea testing, even before a company is set up. If a web page or form collects the name, email or phone number of interested people, you must tell them the purpose, the retention period, who will receive the data and the data subject's rights, before or at the time of collection, under the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) section 23. If a system accepts electronic payments on behalf of other shops or service providers, that is a payment service that needs a licence or registration with the Bank of Thailand under the Payment Systems Act B.E. 2560 (2017). And for a work created by an employee as an employee, copyright belongs to the employee who created it unless the parties have agreed otherwise in writing, under the Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994) section 9.

Our practical view. While the team uses the Lean Canvas to test the idea, handle three things in parallel: put the founders' agreement in writing, make sure the code, the brand and the data belong to the company, and set up how you collect user data and take money correctly from the first customer. All three need little paperwork, but they are among the first things investors check.

1. What the Lean Canvas is and where it comes from

The Lean Canvas was developed by Ash Maurya, author of the book Running Lean, as an adaptation of Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas. Maurya saw that the main risk of a new idea lies in whether customers really have the problem and will pay to solve it, more than in partners or resources. He therefore replaced four blocks of the Business Model Canvas with blocks that help answer that question. The other five blocks stay where they were.

The Lean Canvas suits:

Ideas where no customer has paid yet, when you need to know quickly whether to continue, adjust or stop.
Teams with several ideas, who write one sheet per idea to compare them without spending much time.
Conversations with investors or advisers, because one sheet explains what problem you solve, for whom, and how you measure it.
Existing businesses launching a new product, where it is not yet known whether a new customer group wants it.

2. The nine blocks of the Lean Canvas

Block	Main question	What to write
1. Problem	What is the customer's most important problem?	1 to 3 main problems, and the alternatives customers use now to solve them
2. Customer Segments	Who has that problem, and who will try us first?	The target group, and the early adopters who feel the problem most
3. Unique Value Proposition	Why should customers care about us?	One clear message that shows the difference from the existing alternatives
4. Solution	How do we solve each problem?	A few core capabilities that answer the problems in block 1
5. Channels	How will we reach the first customers?	Channels you can use today, not channels that have to wait until you grow
6. Revenue Streams	What do customers pay for, and how?	The charging model, such as monthly, per use or one-off sale
7. Cost Structure	What costs are needed to get the product to customers?	Development costs, customer acquisition costs and main operating costs
8. Key Metrics	Which numbers show we are on the right track?	Measurable key customer activities
9. Unfair Advantage	What can competitors not easily copy or buy?	What only our team can build and accumulate, or leave it empty for now

Adapted from Ash Maurya's explanation (ashmaurya.com), who developed the Lean Canvas from the Business Model Canvas of Strategyzer AG (strategyzer.com, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

3. An order that works in practice

There is no single correct order

Maurya explains that filling in a Lean Canvas is like doing a jigsaw: there is no fixed starting point or correct order. Start with the block you understand best. For most ideas, though, starting with the customer segment and the problem is a good foundation, because every other block depends on the answers to these two.

A commonly used order

Problem. Write 1 to 3 important problems, not every problem you can think of, and write how customers solve the problem today. The existing alternative is the real competitor, even if it is only a notebook or a phone call.
Customer Segments. Be clear about who the first users are, the ones who feel the problem strongly enough to try something new. For a two-sided business, such as buyers and sellers, write both sides on the same sheet and use colours or symbols to separate each side's view, as Maurya recommends.
Unique Value Proposition. Write one message that the first users read and immediately understand how it differs from the existing alternative.
Solution. Write this after the problem is clear, and write as little as will solve it. Founders who are developers often want to start here, which tilts the idea toward what they want to build instead of what customers need.
Channels. Choose channels that can really reach the first users now, such as going to talk to them in person, online community groups, or an intermediary the customers trust.
Revenue Streams. Write who pays, what for, and how. Intending to collect money from the start is a better test than asking "would you use it if it existed?"
Cost Structure. Write the costs you need to bear until you know whether the idea works, including the founders' time.
Key Metrics. Choose customer activities that show people are really benefiting, not numbers that look good but tell you nothing, such as page views.
Unfair Advantage. Write it last, or leave it empty (see section 11).

Test in order of risk

Once everything is written, do not test every block at once. The usual order is:

Do customers want it (desirability)? Does the problem exist and do customers want the solution? Test with interviews, a trial web page or advance sign-ups.
Can it make money (viability)? Will customers pay in a form that covers costs? Test by actually selling or taking pre-orders.
Can it be done (feasibility)? Can the team build and deliver at the scale needed?

Many teams start with the last one: they finish building the system first, then discover that customers did not want it.

Tips for writing

Finish the first sheet in a short time. For a block you cannot answer yet, write "don't know yet", which is useful information.
Write from where you are today, not what you hope to be in several years.
Mark the riskiest assumption and test that one first.
Date and keep every version. A version that changes is a record of what the team learned from customers.
For Key Metrics, you can use a framework popular in the startup world, such as acquiring new users, first real use, return use, payment and referral, and then choose just the few that matter at this stage.

4. The Lean Canvas compared with the Business Model Canvas

The blocks that change

Position on the sheet	Business Model Canvas	Lean Canvas	Reason for the change
Far left	Key Partnerships	Problem	A new idea does not yet know who it depends on, but must first know what problem it solves
Left-centre, top	Key Activities	Solution	The solution must be tied to the problem you wrote
Left-centre, bottom	Key Resources	Key Metrics	In the early stage you need to know whether you are making progress more than what resources you have
Right-centre, top	Customer Relationships	Unfair Advantage	You need to think from the start about what will keep competitors out
Remaining blocks	Customer Segments, Value Propositions, Channels, Revenue Streams, Cost Structure	Same positions; Value Propositions becomes Unique Value Proposition

Which sheet to use when

Situation	Better sheet
A new idea, no customer has paid yet	Lean Canvas
Launching a new product to a new, unfamiliar customer group	Lean Canvas
The business has customers and revenue and wants to see the whole system	Business Model Canvas
Planning a branch, a franchise or finding partners	Business Model Canvas
Preparing to write a business plan to apply for credit	Business Model Canvas, then expand into a business plan

For how to fill in the Business Model Canvas block by block with a coffee shop example, and the block-by-block legal checks, see What is a Business Model Canvas and how to fill it in.

5. Example: a barber shop booking app in Khon Kaen

Suppose two founders, one who writes software and one who used to sell equipment to salons, want to build a booking system for small barber shops and salons in Khon Kaen. They have not set up a company, and no customer has paid yet.

Block	What the team writes
Problem	Shops lose time answering chats and phone calls about appointments while cutting hair; customers book and then do not show up, wasting selling time; customers do not know how long they will wait. Existing alternatives: phoning to book, chatting on LINE, writing appointments in a notebook, and walking in and waiting
Customer Segments	Small barber shops and salons with several stylists (the payer); the shops' customers (the users). First users: shops with a full queue in the evenings and on days off, and owners who already talk to customers on LINE
Unique Value Proposition	"Customers book their own appointment, and the shop does not have to stop work to answer chats"
Solution	A booking link that opens through LINE; a reminder message before the appointment; taking a deposit for popular time slots through a payment service provider
Channels	Visiting shops one by one; shop owner groups on social media; salon equipment sellers who recommend us; customers seeing the booking link on the shop's page
Revenue Streams	A monthly service fee from the shops (the main assumption to test); possibly an extra fee for shops that use the deposit feature
Cost Structure	Server and cloud services; message sending; payment service provider fees; the founders' time spent selling and helping shops set up the system
Key Metrics	Number of shops with bookings through the system each week; bookings per shop; appointments missed compared with before using the system; number of shops still paying after the first month
Unfair Advantage	None yet. It may be built from the network of shops in the province that the second founder knows

This example is hypothetical.

What this Canvas helps the team see

This business has two sides of customers. The shop pays, but the shop's customers are the ones using the booking page. If the shop's customers will not book through the link, the shop will not keep paying.
The riskiest assumption is not building the system but whether shops will pay monthly. The team should test by selling to a real group of shops before building the full system.
A deposit feature solves customers not showing up, but it immediately involves the team with other people's money, which is regulated (see section 9).
The system will hold the names, phone numbers and booking history of the shops' customers. The team must be able to say who this data belongs to and what the team may do with it (see sections 6 and 10).

6. Legal checks block by block at the startup stage

Block	Legal question	In the booking app example
Problem	Is the problem in a regulated business, such as finance, health, education or transport?	A general booking business needs no specific licence, but the deposit part touches the payment systems law
Customer Segments	Are you selling to businesses or consumers, or both sides? Each side needs its own terms of use.	A service contract with the shops, and terms of use for customers who book
Unique Value Proposition	Can the advertising claims be proved? You can say "no more no-shows" or "increase sales" only when there is data to support it.	Avoid promising results for which you have no data yet
Solution	On what terms does the system use other people's software, fonts, images or services?	Check the licences of open-source libraries and the terms of the messaging platform
Channels	If you sell through a platform or an agent, what terms must you accept? What kind of reward does the referrer get?	Put the referral arrangement with the equipment seller in writing
Revenue Streams	What contract is needed, how is tax charged, is there automatic renewal?	Terms for the monthly fee, cancellation and refunds
Cost Structure	Is the person who helps a founder, an employee or a freelancer, and what do they receive in return?	A freelancer who helps design the screens needs a contract stating who owns the work
Key Metrics	Is the data used for measurement personal data? Can it be used for the purpose notified?	Measure from aggregate data, with no need to look at individual data
Unfair Advantage	Is what is claimed as an advantage backed by legal rights?	The agreement with shops must not let the team claim rights in the shops' customer data beyond what was agreed

Who is the data controller. In this example, the shop decides to collect customer data in order to manage appointments, so the shop is probably the data controller. The app, which processes the data on the shop's instructions, is probably the data processor, and the two should have a data processing agreement. But if the team uses customer data for its own purposes, such as sending advertising for other shops or building a directory of shops for customers to choose from, the team becomes a data controller for that use too, and must notify customers and have its own lawful basis. The status depends on the facts of who determines the purposes and means, so decide it when you design the system.

7. The founders' agreement

Founders who are friends often agree orally. That works until one of them works less, leaves for a full-time job, or disagrees about direction. A founders' agreement should cover:

Roles and time. Who is responsible for what, whether each works full time, and which decisions each can make alone.
Share split. The proportion of shares and the reasons, taking in the money, labour, knowledge and network each person brings (see money partner and labour partner).
Vesting. Founders' shares become fully owned gradually according to the time they stay and work, so that someone who leaves early does not keep the full number.
When a founder leaves. Who has the right or duty to buy back the shares, how the price is set, and how it differs between leaving for ordinary reasons and leaving because of breach of the agreement.
Intellectual property. Everyone agrees to assign the work they do for the project to the company (see section 8).
Decisions and deadlock. Which matters need everyone's agreement, and what happens if votes are tied (see 50/50 shareholders: deadlock and ways out).
Selling shares to outsiders. Pre-emption rights, tag-along rights when a major shareholder sells, and drag-along rights when there is a buyer for the whole company.
Confidentiality. Customer data, the business plan and code that everyone can access.

A shareholders' agreement generally binds only those who sign it. If you want restrictions on share transfers to take effect against the company and new shareholders as well, consider writing the important matters into the company's articles of association when you register. For more, see shareholders' agreement with a foreign partner, and if you plan to give shares to employees in future, see employee share plans: ESOP and RSU.

8. Who owns the code, the brand and the idea

An idea is not protected by copyright

Copyright protects expression, such as code, designs, text and images, but not ideas, procedures or methods. No one therefore owns the idea of a "barber shop booking app". Others can build the same kind of app by writing their own code. What can be protected is the code and designs the team creates, a brand name registered as a trademark, information kept confidential, and in some cases an invention for which a patent can be obtained.

Work done before the company is set up

Founders who write code or design themselves. Before there is a company, the founders are not employees or contractors of anyone, so copyright belongs to the creator. After the company is set up, you must make a written copyright assignment, signed by both the assignor and the assignee, under the Copyright Act section 17.
The company's employees. Under section 9, copyright in work created as an employee belongs to the employee unless the parties have agreed otherwise in writing. The employer may publish the work for the purpose of the employment. An employment contract for a developer should therefore state ownership clearly.
Freelancers or a software development firm. Under section 10, copyright in work created under a commission belongs to the commissioning party unless otherwise agreed. But many development contracts are written so that the contractor keeps the rights, so read the contract closely and check delivery of the source code (see software development contracts and source code).

If a founder has worked for another company and wrote some of the code in working hours or on the former employer's equipment, check the old employment contract before using it, because the former employer may claim rights.

Brand, domain and accounts

File the trademark application in the company's name, and transfer the domain, social media accounts, LINE Official Account, app store account and cloud accounts to the company. If they stay in one founder's name, that person will have power over the company without anyone intending it (see who owns the brand when you set up a company and the trademark registration process).

Patents and trade secrets

If the team has devised a technical method that may be patentable, take care about public disclosure before filing, for example presenting it at a competition or posting details online, because it may affect the novelty of the invention. Information that is not patented, such as internal calculation methods, customer lists or pricing data, is protected as a trade secret under the Trade Secrets Act B.E. 2545 (2002) when the controller uses appropriate measures to keep it confidential, such as limiting access and signing confidentiality agreements. Before presenting the idea to a trading partner or co-investor, see signing an NDA before business negotiations and patents, petty patents and trade secrets.

9. Market testing with a web page, a prototype and pre-orders

The Lean Canvas is useful when the team goes out and tests with real customers. Each popular method has legal points to watch.

A sign-up page. If you collect an email or phone number, show a short privacy notice before submit, saying what the data will be used for, how long it will be kept and how to ask for deletion, under PDPA section 23. If you will send marketing messages afterwards, let users choose that separately. Collect only the data you need; there is no need to ask for a birthday or address if you are not yet using them.

Cookies and analytics tools. Measurement and advertising tools often track users. Tell users and let them choose for cookies that are not necessary for the site to work (see the PDPA checklist).

A sales page for a product that does not exist yet. Measuring interest with an "order" button for a product that does not exist is widely used, but you should not take money or let users think the purchase has succeeded. When a user clicks the button, say plainly that the product is not yet ready for sale and invite them to sign up and wait.

Pre-orders. If you take money in advance, say before payment when you will deliver, how and by when you will refund if you cannot deliver on time, and keep the evidence that you told them. A customer who has paid and not received the goods has the right to claim the money back under civil law, and may complain under consumer protection law (see consumer rights when buying online).

Taking payments. Use a licensed payment service provider. Do not let customers' money pass through a founder's personal account and then be transferred on to the shop. If the team's own system collects money on behalf of shops or other service providers, that is an electronic payment collection service that needs a licence or registration with the Bank of Thailand under the Payment Systems Act B.E. 2560. In the booking app example, the safer way is for the deposit to be paid through a licensed provider directly into the shop's account.

A beta period. Prepare short terms of use that say it is a trial version and may contain errors, how the data users enter will be kept, and that the team may use users' comments or suggestions to improve the product. But a limit of liability that is unfair to consumers may not be enforceable.

For running a pilot with business customers before making a real change, and for writing the terms for the trial period, see piloting a business model change.

10. Key Metrics and user data

The Key Metrics block tempts a team to collect everything, but data collected beyond need is a risk that does not help any decision.

Collect only what you need. Most metrics can use aggregate data, such as bookings per shop per week. There is no need to look at which customer booked what.
Separate identifying data. When analysing, use codes in place of names or phone numbers wherever you can.
Limit who can access it. Not every founder needs access to the live database, and freelancers should get only the access they need.
Set a retention period. Delete the data or make it anonymous when it is no longer needed.
Cloud services and foreign tools. Storing or sending personal data abroad is subject to rules under the PDPA. Check that the provider has appropriate protection measures and say so in the privacy notice.
AI tools. If the team uses AI to analyse customer data or draft messages, set rules on what data must not be entered (see a company AI policy and customer data).

11. Unfair Advantage and the law

A true advantage is something that cannot easily be copied or bought. That is why the Lean Canvas allows this block to be empty. In the early stage most teams do not have one, and what they tend to write, such as being first to market, a motivated team or an easier-to-use system, can usually be copied quite soon.

The law can help build or protect part of an advantage, but it is not a full advantage by itself.

A trademark prevents others from using a confusingly similar name or logo, but does not stop others from running the same kind of business under another name.
A patent protects an invention that meets the conditions, but much software and many business methods cannot be patented, or are not worth patenting.
A trade secret is protected only when real confidentiality measures are in place, and it does not stop someone who arrives at it independently.
Accumulated data. Data obtained properly, and which you have the right to use as you told users, can be a real advantage. But if it is collected or used outside the scope you notified, it may become a risk instead.
Exclusive agreements with partners can keep competitors out, but be careful about the competition law if the business has strong market power, and the partner must genuinely agree.
A licence that is hard to get. In a regulated business, being first to obtain the licence can be a real advantage.

12. When to move to the Business Model Canvas and register a company

These are the signs that it is time to move from the Lean Canvas to the Business Model Canvas and complete the legal structure.

Customers are paying on a continuing basis, and the Key Metrics show customers are really benefiting.
There are several founders, or you will take investment. Register a company, issue shares according to the agreement, and bring the founders' agreement into the articles and the shareholders' agreement (see company registration for Thai owners).
You will hire your first employee, which brings employer duties under labour law and social security (see your first employee: employer duties).
Business customers ask for a contract and a tax invoice. On pricing models and software service contracts, see SaaS pricing models and monthly subscription contracts.
You want investment promotion benefits. Some software and digital businesses may be able to apply for BOI promotion (see BOI for software and digital businesses).
There is a foreign founder or investor. Foreign shareholding in a service business may fall under the foreign business law, so set up the structure before issuing shares (see foreign business licence for service companies).