Use the Traction Canvas to slingshot past $1,000,000 in revenue
The Traction Canvas™ is a one-page sales playbook created by Brandy Old and Craig Elias, designed to help first-time and technical founders reach $1,000,000 in ARR so they can raise a Series A. It combines over 35 years of sales and startup experience to demystify how early-stage companies capture their first customers and cross the technology chasm. In plain terms: it shows you which of 10 sales steps you’ve skipped, and exactly how to go back and fix it.
Box 1 — Problems
Find a problem big enough that people want to become your customers now, NOT later.
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Box 2 — Bifurcation
Three questions that help you find the 12.5% of the market most likely to become your customer.
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Box 3 — Competition
How to differentiate yourself from the three forms of competition every startup has.
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Box 4 — Seven Second Sale
How to create almost instant interest in any product or service.
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Box 5 — Enrolling
How to get meetings with your ICP before you build anything related to your product.
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Box 6 — Trigger Events
How to get in front of motivated decision-makers when they're 5× more likely to become your customer.
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Box 7 — Disqualifying
How to score and disqualify sales opportunities so you only pursue the ones most likely to close.
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Box 8 — Emotional Favourite
How to become the preferred person to do business with, so they call you first when they're ready to buy.
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Box 9 — Won Sales Analysis
How to find and replicate your biggest and best wins.
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Box 10 — Marketing Moat
Create and capitalize on the #1 WAY TO GROW A BUSINESS - Word of Mouth (WOM).
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WHY FOUNDERS STALL
Getting to $1,000,000 faster.
Do the right things in the right order, and everything compounds. Skip a step, and the cracks show up later, in stalled pipelines and churn. Premature scaling isn’t a speed problem, it’s a sequence problem.
Most startups don’t stall because of bad products. They stall because founders skip steps: they try to sell to everyone, pitch features before asking questions, and rush toward the ‘Early Majority’ (the 33% of the market on the far side of the chasm in Geoffrey Moore’s Technology Adoption Curve) before they’ve earned it.
Skipping steps is called premature scaling, and it creates friction that keeps founders from ever reaching $1,000,000 in revenue.
When you find the step you skipped, you go back and fix it. We call this slingshotting: going backwards to the step you missed so you can go forwards faster.
LEARN · FOUNDER LED · BOXES 1–5
10x the customers you get from selling to your network.
Box 1 · Problems — find a problem big enough that people want to become your customers now, NOT later.
Box 2 · Bifurcation — three questions that find the 12.5% of the market most likely to become your customer.
Box 3 · Competition — how to differentiate yourself from the three forms of competition every startup has.
Box 4 · Seven Second Sale — how to create almost instant interest in any product or service.
Box 5 · Enrolling — how to get meetings with your ICP before you build anything related to your product.
Box 2 · Bifurcation — three questions that find the 12.5% of the market most likely to become your customer.
Box 3 · Competition — how to differentiate yourself from the three forms of competition every startup has.
Box 4 · Seven Second Sale — how to create almost instant interest in any product or service.
Box 5 · Enrolling — how to get meetings with your ICP before you build anything related to your product.
EARN · FOUNDER INVOLVED · BOXES 6–9
10x the Learn zone again by reaching the right people at the right moment.
Box 6 · Trigger Events — be first with recently motivated decision-makers and you are 500% more likely to make a sale.
Box 7 · Disqualifying — how to score and disqualify opportunities so you only spend time on the ones most likely to close.
Box 8 · Emotional Favourite — become the person they call first when they’re ready to buy.
Box 9 · Won Sales Analysis — how to find and replicate your biggest and best wins.
Box 7 · Disqualifying — how to score and disqualify opportunities so you only spend time on the ones most likely to close.
Box 8 · Emotional Favourite — become the person they call first when they’re ready to buy.
Box 9 · Won Sales Analysis — how to find and replicate your biggest and best wins.
SCALE · FOUNDERLESS · BOX 10
10x one more time by being more findable when word of mouth happens.
Box 10 · Marketing Moat — own the digital real estate for the 2–3 word combinations people use when they tell others about you. Create and capitalize on the #1 way to grow a business: word of mouth.
Each zone multiplies the last: 10x → 100x → 1,000x. The mantra is “Learn before you earn.”
Where do you want to go next?