Key resources, counted.
In context: Stage 04 · Evaluate · Business model canvas
The assets your model genuinely depends on: the tooling, the IP, the people and the cash that have to be in place.
Key Resources lists the most important assets the model needs to work: physical, intellectual, human and financial. List only the few that the value proposition truly rests on, then check you can actually secure each one before you commit to the build.
What this block is
Key Resources is the inventory of assets a business model cannot run without. They fall into four kinds: physical (tooling, stock, equipment), intellectual (designs, firmware, brand, know-how), human (the people whose skill or standing the offer depends on) and financial (the cash or credit needed to operate). The block answers a blunt question: what must I own or have access to before this model delivers anything?
The discipline is restraint. Almost everything looks useful, but Key Resources is for the few assets the value proposition genuinely rests on. List the things that, if missing, stop the model dead. Leave out the nice-to-haves; they belong in the detail, not the canvas.
How it applies
For the £149 sourdough proofing box, I counted four resources that the model truly depends on. Physical: the ceramic tooling held at the Stoke-on-Trent supplier, which is the gate on every unit we make. Intellectual: the PCB design IP and the firmware that runs the proofing cycle, plus the brand itself. Human: Dan and Anna’s baking credibility with the Sourdough School audience, which is what earns the price and the trust. Financial: the working capital to fund the first run of 500 to 1,000 units at a BOM of £38 to £55 a unit.
Written down that way, the model’s real dependencies are obvious. If the Stoke tooling or that working capital is not in place, nothing ships, however good the rest of the canvas looks.
Where it fits
Key Resources sits inside the Business Model Canvas in Stage 04 Evaluate, and it pairs tightly with Key Activities and Key Partners: between them they describe how the offer actually gets made and delivered. Step back and read the whole picture on the Business model diagram.
Try it yourself
Take your own idea and list every asset you think you need, then strike out everything that is merely helpful. What remains, the handful the model cannot run without, is your Key Resources block. Be honest about which ones you do not yet have.
Or run the guided version and build the block properly against your own numbers. Start the Free Sprint →
The Business Model Canvas is the work of Strategyzer (Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 licence. Source: strategyzer.com.
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