Product

Validation Canvas

A four-box log for tracking each riskiest-assumption experiment and whether it held up.

What it is

Four boxes, filled once per cycle: Riskiest Assumption, Customer (split into customer, need, and proposed solution), Validate (the method and its minimal success criteria), and Results (validated or invalidated, with findings). It's a companion to the Experiment Canvas, built to be revisited again and again on the same sheet.

Reach for it when

• A team that has run one experiment and has no record of what it proved
• A founder deciding what to test next instead of what feels most urgent
• A stalled product bet that needs an evidence trail before more money goes in

Running it

1. Book 45 minutes with a group of 3-5 in a relaxed, private space stocked with markers, paper, and sticky notes.
2. Open by logging the outcome of the previous Experiment Canvas — validated, invalidated, or inconclusive.
3. Split the value proposition into customer, need, and proposed solution, then define the test method and the minimum result that counts as success.
4. Revisit the same sheet for each new cycle rather than starting fresh — the log's value is in the sequence.