The Makers Canvas,
one page that prices a plan.
Nine cells, three states of the company, two engines and five gates on one A3 sheet. A move cannot be written on it without its euros, its months, its owner and how it is known.
A3 · the three models × the three terms · two engines · version 3, October 2026 · by the partners of Makers of New
The method, drawn, so that it travels without us.
A picture that can be drawn from memory carries a method further than the firm that drew it, because it travels without a workshop. The Makers Canvas does the same for value creation: the equation published at makersofnew.com/model, the three models and both businesses, in one order, so that a reader meets WHY before HOW before WHAT, and so that a plan on the wall says the same thing as the plan in the Room.
Top to bottom, left to right.
Three states of the company.
Today; if every move lands; if nothing changes. The third is the state most plans leave out and the one a buyer prices first, so it is drawn with a dashed red ring and never mistaken for a plan.
Nine cells.
The rows are the three models, each with its corner word and the dimensions it carries. The columns are revenue, margin and the multiple. A move sits in the cell where its model meets the term it moves, with its euros, months, owner and evidence grade on one line beneath its name.
One pays for the other.
Engine one is today’s business run for margin, listed with its euros because it funds everything to the right. Engine two is the new digital model, written as a proof card: the move, the claim it rests on, the proof that settles it, the line that releases money and the line that stops the move, and the tranche the proof releases.
A specimen, and the blank to print.
The specimen is an invented company, Specimen Co., and every figure on it is a simulation: €50.0M of revenue at 20 per cent and 8.0x is €80M today; €53.0M at 22 per cent and 9.0x is €105M if every move lands; a half turn lost on today’s EBITDA is €75M if nothing changes. It exists to show how a filled canvas reads.
Specimen · version 3 · print edition · every figure a SIMULATION · click to open the PDF
The back · since version 2
The plan, on one page.
The back holds the value creation plan: where the company is going, the four or five moves that take it there, who owns each, and this quarter’s numbers. We bring it to the first meeting and fill it with you.
Ask for the back and the guide →Terms of use. The Makers Canvas is free to use and to share, unaltered and with its footer line. Training, resale and adapted versions need a licence from Makers of New. Version 3, October 2026.
Facts first, then moves, then the two other states.
| Step | What goes on the page |
|---|---|
| First | The header and the today strip, from the company’s own figures, each graded by how it is known: stated, corroborated, documented or measured. |
| Then | The nine cells, at most four moves a cell, each on two lines: the title, then euros, months, owner and grade, with a mark where the figure is modelled. |
| Then | If every move lands, computed from the cells. A move with an empty proof card is an idea and adds nothing to this strip. |
| Last | If nothing changes, and where the half turn comes from, said out loud. The canvas shows judgement and conclusions; the derivation stays in the Room. |
Bring us one company, and one page.
Start a conversation → The Playbooks, the sixty patterns →A fixed fee for every read · the Programme and the Room can also run on a lower fee plus a capped share of the value your team signs as realised · agreed in writing before work starts