The Opportunity Analysis Canvas vs. The Startup Analysis Canvas

Without the idea for a product or service, business model generation and customer discovery can not begin. It is this first step of defining the idea that The Opportunity Analysis Canvas aims to fulfill. By studying The Opportunity Analysis Canvas, your awareness of entrepreneurial mindset, motivation, and behavior can expand. You can appreciate the roles of markets and industries in entrepreneurial opportunities, and understand value innovation and the fundamentals of opportunity identification as key elements of entrepreneurial action. 

Once a product or service idea is generated via The Opportunity Analysis Canvas, or independently, The Startup Analysis Canvas enables aspiring entrepreneurs to transform the idea into a startup company.  The Startup Analysis Canvas focuses on (1) understanding the theory and practice of value creation, (2) how to build the right team for your startup company, (3) avoiding wasting time with startup ideas with limited commercial potential, and (4) raising the right financial capital at the right time for the right purpose. Inspired by an interest in creating a streamlined version of The Business Model Canvas that is specialized for first-time student entrepreneurs, The Startup Analysis Canvas emphasizes the aforementioned four areas where aspiring entrepreneurs often struggle. 

For educators, these two canvases may be taught in two separate courses, or combined into a single course comprised of both canvases.


The Opportunity Analysis Canvas is a tool for identifying and analyzing entrepreneurial ideas. Structured as a nine-step experience, the canvas is segmented into:

  • Thinking entrepreneurially with an entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial motivation, and entrepreneurial behavior
  • Seeing entrepreneurially with industry condition, industry status, macroeconomic change, and competition
  • Acting entrepreneurially with value innovation and opportunity identification
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The Startup Analysis Canvas provides a model to create the value proposition, team strategy, market strategy, and financial strategy. Once a startup idea is generated via The Opportunity Analysis Canvas, or independently, the Startup Analysis Canvas enables aspiring entrepreneurs to:

  • Effectively design value propositions that directly align with your target customers’ interests
  • Assemble and lead an well-comprised team to produce results that create value for your customers
  • Pursue big ideas that really matter to customers
  • Craft a financial model that minimizes risks and maximizing your success
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