Business model templates
Business models are important tools to help develop and refine your strategic thinking. A well-defined business model makes it easier to explore your assumptions and share your strategy with your broader team. As former product managers, our team at Aha! relied on many types of strategic business templates in the past.
We use our own templates in Aha! software to help define our marketing strategy, better understand our customers, and share market research internally. The snapshot below shows the business model template that is built into Aha! Roadmaps. It is one of many strategic models that come with your Roadmaps account — including lean canvas, SWOT analysis, Porter's 5 forces, a segment profile, and a 10Ps marketing matrix. These same templates are also included as whiteboard templates in Aha! Notebooks.
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A business model is a living document that is reviewed and adapted over time. The canvas above is included in Aha! Roadmaps.
Jump ahead to any section in the guide to learn more and access the template you need:
What is a business model?
A business model answers foundational questions about the operation of a business — identifying the problem you are going to solve, the market that you will serve, the level of investment required, what products you will offer, and how you will generate revenue. From startups to enterprise teams, business models are a useful tool for deeply considering your business and product assumptions and what will make your product or service a success.
Choosing the right template
One common challenge that business and product builders face is choosing the right template to use. We wish there had been more pre-built business templates to download for quick use when we started in product management. The carefully crafted templates in this guide allow you to analyze a variety of business and market factors in a single view.
Consider that different situations will call for different types of strategic models. If you are developing a new product you need to define key elements of your offering. If you are in an established business it might simply be a good way to summarize the strategy that is driving a new market opportunity. Ultimately, the template and it content is determined by your goals and audience.
No matter which template you use, remember that the most successful products and services are built with a clear strategy that the team understands. By setting the right plan and making it easily accessible, you align the company so everyone moves in the same direction to make the biggest impact.
Business model templates
Use a business model canvas to represent the foundational elements of your product or service. It is a perfect way to articulate, develop, and improve your business model — all on a single page. It also helps you capture key components, such as messaging, customer challenges, and growth opportunities.
To get started quickly, try the business model template in Aha! Notebooks — built on an interactive digital whiteboard as seen below.
You can also access a similar template in Aha! Roadmaps or download the Excel and PowerPoint formats included below.
Lean canvas templates
A lean canvas is similar to the business model canvas and presents most of the same information just in a slightly different way. It takes a problem-focused approach and was designed with entrepreneurs and startups in mind. This means that it is a great way to build an actionable business template that helps you deconstruct an idea into its key assumptions.
This template is also included as a whiteboard template in Aha! Notebooks. Learn more
You can access a similar template in Aha! Roadmaps or download the Excel and PowerPoint formats we have included here.
Porter's 5 forces templates
Use the Porter's 5 forces template to analyze your market and competitive landscape. This model is a great way to outline what alternative solutions your customers have in solving their problems. That means that it is also useful for evaluating the leverage your buyers and partners have in the market.
Similarly to above, this template is included as a whiteboard template in Aha! Notebooks. Learn more
You can also access a similar template in Aha! Roadmaps or download the Excel and PowerPoint formats.
SWOT analysis templates
SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is the perfect analysis framework for identifying what your product or service is doing well and where it can improve. It can also be used to explore how well your company is positioned. SWOT models are useful for outlining how your product fits into the competitive landscape and can help you uncover additional go-to-market opportunities. For more SWOT templates, visit our SWOT analysis templates page.
Segment profile templates
The segment profile is ideal for helping to better define a set of customers and the market value of serving them. It is useful for describing the characteristics of a group of similar people and better understanding their challenges and needs. Create multiple segment profiles to intelligently consider different customer personas and which groups you are in the best position to serve well.
Get started with the segment profile template in Aha! Notebooks. Learn more
This template is also available in Aha! Roadmaps or as Excel and PowerPoint downloads below.
10Ps marketing matrix templates
Use the 10Ps marketing matrix to identify the key marketing attributes needed for product success. This matrix is perfect for considering the best approach to bringing your product to market and how you will promote it over its lifecycle. What will you charge? How will you promote it? And how will customers actually buy it? These are key questions that any product or marketing professional should answer and this template will help you do so.
Try the 10Ps marketing matrix in Aha! Notebooks. Learn more
You can also access this template in Aha! Roadmaps or download the Excel and PowerPoint formats here.
Once you have tried the Excel and PowerPoint versions, we recommend bringing your business models into Aha! software — where you can collaborate with your team in real time and centralize product documentation. Integrating strategic planning, idea management, and roadmapping in one place cuts down on tool sprawl and helps you move forward faster together.
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