Canvas Overview

You can think of the Canvas as a 'business plan on a page'. Through your customer discovery process your Canvas will evolve as you uncover insights that help validate or invalidate your hypotheses. All changes you make the the Canvas are automatically saved and can be reviewed with the date slider or the week menu. You can also export the Canvas in JSON format to migrate your data to another team or save for future use in the platform.

Creating Your Canvas

You can create a Canvas in two ways depending on how you want to start — manually or with AI assistance.

You can also navigate directly to Canvas from the side bar:

Option 1: Create Manually

If you prefer to build your Canvas step by step:

Go to the Home page
Click Create Manually in the Canvas section

— or —

Navigate to Canvas from the left sidebar
Start adding your own hypotheses directly into each section

This approach gives you full control and is useful when:

You already have a clear idea
You want to structure your own thinking
You prefer to define assumptions before using AI

Option 2: Generate with AI

If you want to get started quickly or expand your thinking:

Go to the Home page
Click Generate With AI

— or —

Open Canvas and click the magic wand icon

Enter a brief description of your idea, including:
- Customer segments
- The problem you're solving
- Any important context

Click Generate Canvas

Understanding the AI-Enhanced Idea Statement

After you enter your idea, the platform presents:

Your original idea statement
An AI-enhanced version

side by side.

The AI-enhanced version:

Refines unclear or fragmented wording
Adds structure and clarity
Produces stronger inputs for Canvas generation

You can choose either version before generating your Canvas.

👉 In practice, most users choose the AI-enhanced version, as it leads to higher-quality and more complete hypotheses.

In just a few short minutes your Canvas will be ready.

For a more hands-on approach you can choose to review each section of the Canvas.

Locate the magic wand icon within each Canvas section to review the suggested hypotheses for them. Select the hypotheses you want to add to your Canvas then click "Accept" and/or select hypotheses that you don't want to include and click "Reject".

Remember, if a hypothesis is testable and relevant to your idea it is better to seek invalidation than to reject it outright.

Unapproved hypotheses will still show as pending when you go back to the Canvas, so if you don't want to focus on them, but want to revisit them later, you may want to leave them in this state.

At any point you can also approve all hypotheses by clicking the button at the top of the Canvas.

Canvas Description

Use the Canvas Description field at the top of the page to briefly explain your idea and the context behind it. This description helps instructors, teammates, and other stakeholders quickly understand what your Canvas represents and what you are working to explore or validate.

Click the placeholder text in the upper-left area of the Canvas to add or edit your description at any time.

Toggle on the Skinny Canvas

Simplify your early Canvas validation by focusing on the sections of the Canvas that matter most. Toggle on the Skinny Canvas in your gear menu and work on validating these hypotheses before getting into the full Canvas.

Adding Hypotheses

Have your own hypotheses to add to the Canvas? Click within any Canvas section or the + icon to add your own hypotheses.

Reordering Hypotheses

Once you add a few hypotheses, you can reorder them via the drag icon that appears when you hover over a hypothesis.

Linking Hypotheses to Customer Segments

Each hypotheses on your Canvas should be linked to a Customer Segment. Click on the link icon and select the Customer Segments that apply. These connections demonstrate an understanding of how your hypotheses relate to your customers!

Validating/Invalidating Hypotheses

When you have found sufficient insights that support or don't support your hypotheses, you may decide to validate or invalidate them by clicking on the check or X icons in the hover over menu.

Commenting on Hypotheses

Instructors and Team Members can use the commenting feature to provide feedback on any hypothesis with the Add/View Feedback icon.

Team members will be notified of Instructor comments and Instructors will be notified of team member comments in their Notifications menu.

Understanding Hypothesis Sources/Authorship's

Each hypothesis on your Canvas shows how it was created:

AI-generated
Human-created
Modified (AI + Human)

This information is visible directly on the hypothesis card.

Why This Matters

This helps both users and instructors understand how the Canvas is being developed.

For teams:

See which ideas came from AI vs your own thinking
Track how you’ve refined or changed AI-generated hypotheses

For instructors:

Quickly assess how a team is working
Identify whether the team is:
- Engaging with AI suggestions
- Critically thinking and modifying them
- Or simply accepting everything as-is

👉 A strong Canvas is usually a mix:

AI to generate breadth
Human input to refine and prioritize

Viewing Insights

See how team's Customer Discovery Interviews reflect back to their Canvas by viewing linked Insights when you hover over a hypothesis.

See which Insights support or don't support the Hypothesis, allowing teams to decide whether to Invalidate or Validate the it.

Exporting the Canvas

Export the Canvas in a JSON format to migrate your data to another team or save for future use in the platform. If you need a screenshot of your Canvas, close all side panels (organization tree, Chat, etc) and zoom out until you see all hypotheses. You can also try the Print to PDF feature of your browser where you can scale the export to your preferred size:

Print to PDF in Chrome

Print to PDF in Safari

Print to PDF in Firefox

Toggle Canvas View Options

Use the gear menu to select your view options for the Canvas feature:

Turn on the simplified three pane Skinny Canvas view.

Show/Hide Hypothesis Link Colors

View all hypotheses' comment counts.

View the number of supporting and non-supporting insights linked to each hypothesis.

View the number of linked hypotheses.

Canvas FIltering Options

By default all of your Hypotheses are visible on the Canvas no matter their state. Use this menu to select which specific states you want to view.

Look at your successes by showing Validated Hypotheses or hide them to focus on other states.

Review Invalidated Hypotheses to see what you've moved on from or hide them to keep them from taking up space.

Focus on Unresolved Hypotheses to work on gathering evidence to decide whether or not to validate or invalidate them or hide them to review the Hypotheses you've finalized.

Should I Create My Canvas Manually or Use AI?

The best approach is to use both.

Each method serves a different purpose, and combining them gives you the strongest result.

Start Manually

Begin by adding your own hypotheses to the Canvas.

This helps you:

Clarify your thinking
Capture your current understanding of the problem, customer, and value
Make your assumptions explicit

Then Use AI

Once you’ve added your initial ideas, use Generate With AI.

AI will:

Expand on your input
Suggest additional hypotheses
Surface perspectives you may not have considered

Merge the Two

Review the AI-generated hypotheses alongside your own.

Keep what is relevant
Refine what needs adjustment
Ignore what doesn’t apply

👉 This combined approach gives you:

Your own understanding and context
Plus AI’s ability to broaden and challenge your thinking

Using both together leads to a more complete and testable Canvas than relying on either approach alone.