Bizblox.ai User Guide

1. What is Bizblox.ai?

Bizblox.ai is a strategic business model design tool. It takes the familiar 9-block Business Model Canvas and layers on AI-powered analysis, validation, scenario testing, and export — turning a static planning exercise into a living, testable strategic document.

What makes it different

• AI at every step. Each block has its own workshop with AI generation, validation, and web-grounded research. The AI understands the relationships between blocks and flags contradictions.
• Structural intelligence. Deterministic rules check your model for logical inconsistencies — mismatched channels for your segment type, missing resources for your value proposition, revenue models that contradict your cost structure.
• Scenario stress-testing. Generate Lean, Premium, and Partnership variants of your model to explore strategic alternatives.
• Assumption tracking. Every strategic claim becomes a trackable hypothesis with confidence scores, risk levels, and AI-suggested test methods.
• Board-ready output. Export a full Strategic Dossier with executive narrative, causal flywheel analysis, risk matrix, financial survival map, and 90-day roadmap.

2. Getting Started

Creating Your First Canvas

1. Sign up or log in. You’ll land on the canvas view.
2. Create a new project using the New button in the left sidebar (Projects panel).
3. Name your canvas by clicking the project name in the top header bar.
4. Set your Model Settings (the gear icon, top right) — this is the single most important step. The Idea Brief you write here becomes the primary context for every AI interaction.

The Recommended Workflow

Bizblox is designed around a progressive workflow:

1. Set context — Fill in Model Settings (Idea Brief, market, company status, financial conditions).
2. Populate blocks — Write your initial thoughts in each of the 9 blocks, or use AI to generate a starting point.
3. Deepen with workshops — Click any block header to open its dedicated workshop for structured, pill-based editing with AI assistance.
4. Validate — Run consistency checks to find contradictions between blocks. Use “Assess” and “Web Research” within workshops for block-level validation.
5. Resolve — Address contradictions using AI-suggested resolutions. Track unresolved items as assumptions.
6. Stress-test — Generate Lean, Premium, and Partnership scenarios to explore alternatives.
7. Analyze — Run SWOT, Risk Matrix, Journey Map, and other strategic analyses.
8. Export — Generate your Strategic Dossier or Executive Pitch PDF.

3. The Canvas — Your 9-Block Business Model

The canvas is the central workspace. It displays nine blocks arranged in a spatial grid. Each block represents a fundamental component of your business model.

The Nine Blocks

Working with Blocks

• Click a block header to open its full workshop (deep-dive editor with AI tools).
• Type directly in the block textarea for quick edits. Use semicolons or line breaks to separate items.
• Lock a block using the lock icon on the header to prevent accidental changes and exclude it from AI auto-populate.

Layout Options

The canvas offers two spatial arrangements (accessible from preferences):

• 3×3 Grid — A balanced 3-column, 3-row layout. Default view.
• Classic Layout — The traditional 5-column arrangement with frontstage (right) and backstage (left) separation.

4. Model Settings — Giving AI Your Context

Open Model Settings via the gear icon in the top header. This is the most important configuration step — the Idea Brief is the primary context for every AI interaction in the product.

Tab 1: Idea & Insights

This tab also includes:

• Upload Documents (.pdf, .docx, .txt, .csv) — feed the AI with your existing research or pitch decks.
• Analyse URL — paste a competitor or market URL for the AI to incorporate.
• Generate BMC from Evidence — have the AI draft all 9 blocks based on your uploaded documents and URLs (paid tiers).

Tab 2: Financial & Technical

Tab 3: Iterations / Patterns

• Model name display and version history — tracks canvas snapshots created when applying scenarios.
• Detected patterns — shows business model patterns the AI has identified in your canvas (e.g., Freemium, Two-Sided Marketplace, Razor & Blade).

5. Navigating the Interface

Top Header Bar

• Logo + Version — top left.
• Save Status — auto-save indicator.
• Canvas Name — click to rename.
• Health Badge — circular ring showing canvas health score (0–100) and maturity level. Click to expand the health popover.
• Model Settings — gear icon opens the settings modal.
• Share — opens the sharing and collaboration modal.

Left Sidebar

Right Sidebar (AI Tool Rail)

The right sidebar contains your AI-powered analysis tools. Click any tool icon to expand its drawer panel.

Indicator badges (always visible)

Tool drawers

6. Block Workshops — Deep-Dive Editors

Click any block header on the canvas to open its focus modal — a full-screen workshop environment with structured editing and AI tools.

Common Workshop Controls

Customer Segments Workshop (W1)

Uses a Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework:

• Segment list on the left — add, select, delete segments.
• Segment detail in the center — editable name, Jobs (functional, emotional, social), Pains, Gains, Boundary, Not For.
• After validation: Persona prose, persona attributes (age, income, tech adoption, decision style, etc.), and citations.
• Segment Sizing with four methods: Web Research, Top-Down (Chain Ratio), Bottom-Up (Unit Model), and Triangulate.
• JTBD Archetype Suggestions — AI suggests segment archetypes with one-click population.

Value Propositions Workshop (W2)

• Three-column layout: proposition list | detail editor | AI suggestions.
• Detail view: value statement, target segment, products & services, pain relievers, gain creators, alternatives, unfair advantage.
• Open Fit Canvas — VP-Segment fit assessment.
• Pricing Model Sandbox — test subscription, transactional, or hybrid pricing models.

Channels Workshop (W3)

Five-column kanban following the customer journey: Awareness → Evaluation → Purchase → Delivery → After-Sales.

Each channel card has: name, type (direct/indirect), ownership (owned/partner), and description.

Customer Relationships Workshop (W4)

Three-column kanban following the customer lifecycle: Get Customer → Keep Customer → Grow Customer.

Each card includes: name, description, type, connected strategy level, and cost intensity.

Revenue Streams Workshop (W5)

Kanban organized by revenue model (subscription, freemium, usage-based, asset sale, licensing, commission, and more).

Each stream card includes: payer type, pricing mechanism, price fields, target segments, linked VP, margin, and estimates.

Key Resources Workshop (W6)

Items grouped by type: Physical, Intellectual, Human, Financial.

Each resource includes: name, description, acquisition path, full VRIO analysis (Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Organized), computed competitive advantage result, cross-block links, substitutability, time to acquire, and defensibility.

Key Activities Workshop (W7)

Columns by category: Production, Problem-Solving, Platform/Network, Sales & Marketing.

Each activity includes: lifecycle phase, granularity, make vs. buy, outsourcing candidacy, core competency flag, capacity considerations, and links to resources and partners.

Key Partnerships Workshop (W8)

Columns by type: Strategic Alliance, Coopetition, Joint Venture, Buyer-Supplier.

Each partner includes: motivation, dependency level, what they provide, what you give in return, impact if lost, BATNA, switching cost, contract stage, and links to supported resources/activities.

Cost Structure Workshop (W9)

Columns by cost behavior: Fixed, Variable, Semi-variable.

Each cost includes: expenditure type (OPEX/CAPEX), funding source, cost driver, magnitude estimate, scale effect, and links to resources and activities.

7. The Association Workshop — Connecting Segments & Value

The Association Workshop validates the connection between paired blocks — the heart of product-market fit validation.

How It Works

1. Left panel displays items from one block (e.g., Value Propositions) as draggable pills.
2. Right panel displays items from the paired block with JTBD parsing.
3. Mapping zone in the center — drag pills to create associations.
4. Color coding: Teal = evidence-linked (grounded); Orange = unvalidated.
5. Source Cloud at the top shows evidence nodes from your uploads and canvas data.

Available Pair Workshops

8. AI Analysis Tools

Fill Gaps (Live Wire Scan)

Scans all 9 blocks and identifies which are empty, thin, or missing critical content relative to your model context. Suggests specific content for each gap.

Check Logic (Consistency Check)

Runs cross-block AI analysis to find contradictions. When contradictions are found, you can Resolve each one — the AI offers option A and option B style resolutions. After editing, you can Validate whether your changes addressed the contradiction.

Causal Narrative (Generate Story)

Creates the cause-and-effect story of your business model. Key outputs:

• Causal links — step-by-step narrative showing how each block connects.
• Detected flywheels — reinforcing loops where one process strengthens another.
• Cycle time — how fast your flywheels turn.

Structural Audit

A deterministic (non-AI) rule engine checking your canvas against known structural patterns. Each finding includes severity, involved blocks, and remediation guidance.

Lens Scans

Cross-Block Analysis

Select any two blocks and the AI analyzes their relationship — dependencies, contradictions, synergies, and recommendations. Optional ESG mode adds sustainability considerations.

Auto-Populate

AI generates suggested content for all empty blocks in a single pass. Content is never auto-applied — you review and accept.

9. Scenario Generation — Stress-Testing Your Model

Working with Scenarios

1. Open the Scenario Generator from the right rail.
2. Select a scenario type and click Generate.
3. The AI creates a complete 9-block variant of your model.
4. Each scenario gets its own workspace — run workshops, consistency checks, and generate dossiers independently.
5. Use the scope selector to switch between your main canvas and scenario variants.

10. Strategy Suite

SWOT + Porter’s Five Forces

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — each with detailed explanation. Porter’s Five Forces rated LOW/MODERATE/HIGH with rationale. Strategic Position summary statement.

Risk Matrix

8–12 risks across categories (Market, Operational, Financial, Regulatory, Strategic, Technology) with probability/impact ratings, mitigation strategies, black swan flags, and early warning signals.

Market Sizing (TAM / SAM / SOM)

Market sizing: TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market), SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) with methodology, key assumptions, confidence level, growth drivers, and an investor-ready narrative paragraph.

Unit Economics

Revenue, costs, margins — fixed vs. variable, OPEX vs. CAPEX. Contribution margin, break-even, health assessment with insights and recommendations.

Customer Journey Map

Maps the customer experience: Awareness → Evaluation → Purchase → Delivery → After-Sales. Touchpoints, emotional states, friction risks, and churn signals.

Executive Brief

Master synthesis combining SWOT, Risk Matrix, and Unit Economics into a verdict, three strategic options (Conservative, Balanced, Aggressive), critical assumptions, 90-day priorities, and a decision framework.

11. Assumptions & Test Cards

Assumptions Tracker

Every business model rests on assumptions. Bizblox makes them explicit and trackable. Each assumption includes:

• Description, type, risk level, linked block, impact if false
• Criticality (1–10) and Confidence (1–10)
• Deal-breaker flag — if this fails, does the entire model fail?

Test Cards

Turn assumptions into testable hypotheses with: hypothesis, method (AI can suggest), success criteria, effort level, and confidence. Test cards can be created from any workshop, from segment sizing, from the Association Workshop, or manually.

12. Evidence Library

Uploading Evidence

• Upload documents — .txt, .md, .csv, .pdf, .docx (up to 10 MB per file, 25 MB total).
• Analyse URL — paste any public URL. Bizblox fetches the content and stores it as evidence.
• Evidence Notes — manual entries with title, optional URL, notes, and confidence score.

How Evidence Is Used

• Source Cloud — evidence appears as draggable nodes in the Association Workshop.
• Evidence nodes are auto-extracted from uploaded files and your workshop content.
• Evidence Ledger in the Dossier with title, block, confidence, and notes.
• Generate BMC from Evidence — AI drafts all 9 blocks from your uploads (paid tiers).

13. Canvas Health & Maturity

The Health Badge shows your canvas’s health score (0–100) and maturity level.

Score Components

Maturity Levels

14. Dossier & Exports

Strategic Dossier (HTML)

A board-ready, multi-section strategic analysis document. Sections include:

1. Fragility Status Bar — Fragility Index, Red Blox warnings, unverified assumption count.
2. Executive Narrative — A four-act AI-written strategic narrative: Essence, Flywheel, Structural Integrity Alert, Trajectory.
3. Causal Flow / Flywheels — Visual cause-and-effect chain with flywheel completion badges.
4. Key Strategic Risks — Top 3 risk cards ranked by conflict score.
5. Structural Integrity — Rule-by-rule breakdown with severity and remediation.
6. Bridge Phase (when TTM > runway) — Interim strategy with trigger conditions and timeline.
7. BMC Snapshot — Visual 9-block grid with SVG flywheel logic arcs.
8. Dependency Register — Partner risk table with mitigations.
9. Evidence Ledger — All evidence with title, block, confidence, and notes.
10. Contradiction Analysis — Contradictions with component analysis and conflict scores.
11. Customer Landscape — Segment pills with strategic role badges.
12. 30-60-90 Day Roadmap — Milestone plan with kill-switch triggers.
13. Decision Gate — Pattern-specific required evidence and exit action.
14. Financial Survival Map — Gradient bar visualization with milestone risk markers.

Executive Pitch PDF

Downloadable PDF with executive summary, bridge phase, dependency register, evidence ledger, core strategic engine, and business model story.

Assumptions Validation Report PDF

Summary of total assumptions, active count, risk distribution, plus individual assumption cards.

15. Sharing & Collaboration

Public Share Link

1. Click Share in the top header.
2. Generate a public read-only link anyone can view without an account.
3. Logged-in viewers can Fork the canvas — creating their own copy.
4. Revoke the link at any time.

Email Invitations

• Enter email addresses (up to 20 per invitation).
• Choose permission level: View (read-only) or Collaborate (co-editing).
• Invitees receive a link; new users can register directly from the invitation.

Managing Collaborators

View current collaborators and pending invitations. Remove collaborators or revoke pending invitations (canvas owner only). Shared canvases appear in collaborators’ project lists.

16. Template Library

Browse 49+ pre-built business model templates organized into four categories:

Each template pre-fills all 9 blocks with realistic content, includes causal links and analytical focus metadata. Use templates as starting points — customize freely after loading.

17. Command Palette & Shortcuts

Press Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) to open the command palette.

Commands can be pinned for quick access (up to 8). Three presets available: Default, Pilot, and Expert.

18. Subscription Tiers

19. Concepts & Frameworks Reference

Core Framework

• Business Model Canvas — The 9-block framework for describing, designing, and pivoting business models.
• Frontstage vs. Backstage — The right side (VP, CS, CH, CR, RS) is customer-facing; the left side (KR, KA, KP, Cost) is operational infrastructure.

Customer & Value

• Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) — Customers “hire” products to get jobs done: functional, emotional, and social.
• Pains & Gains — Frustrations/obstacles (pains) and desired outcomes (gains) for each job.
• Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) — The fit between your value map and the customer profile.
• Product-Market Fit (PMF) — When your value proposition strongly addresses the most important jobs, pains, and gains.

Resources & Capabilities

• VRIO Framework — Valuable, Rare, Inimitable, Organized. High scores on all four = sustained competitive advantage.
• Build vs. Buy vs. Partner — Strategic decision for acquiring each key resource.
• Core Competency — Activities central to competitive advantage; should not be outsourced.

Strategy & Analysis

• Porter’s Five Forces — Rivalry, New Entrants, Substitutes, Supplier Power, Buyer Power.
• SWOT — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
• TAM / SAM / SOM — Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Addressable Market, Serviceable Obtainable Market — three-tier market sizing.
• Flywheels — Reinforcing loops where one process strengthens the input of another.
• Technology Readiness Level (TRL) — 1–9 scale from basic research to proven deployment.
• Bridge Phase — Interim strategy when TTM exceeds available runway.
• Resolution Archetypes — Internalized, Externalized, Asset-Lease, Civic-Hybrid strategic postures.