A nine-block visual tool for mapping how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value — originally developed by Alex Osterwalder in his PhD under the name "business model ontology." The nine blocks span both the customer-facing side (customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams) and the operating side (key resources, key activities, key partners, cost structure).
In innovation governance, evidence should be scored separately per block — customer jobs/pains/gains, value proposition fit, feasibility, viability, adaptability — rather than treated as a single pass/fail judgment on "the idea," before deciding whether to scale a bet through Explore/Exploit Dual Portfolio Management. See Value Proposition Canvas / Value Proposition Design for the companion tool that zooms into the value-proposition block specifically, and Valuable / Usable / Feasible / Viable for the related discovery lens.
Osterwalder directly rejects the claim that any one Business Model Canvas block — including the value proposition — is the "most important" one, insisting all nine blocks carry equal weight. A single strong value proposition doesn't guarantee success if, for example, the cost structure or channels blocks aren't viable; see Business Model Fit (Beyond Product-Market Fit) for why product-side and business-model-side validation have to happen separately.