Business Model Canvas is a strategic management template used for developing new business models and documenting existing ones. It offers a visual chart with elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances, assisting businesses to align their activities by illustrating potential trade-offs. The nine "building blocks" of the business model design template that came to be called the Business Model Canvas were initially proposed in 2005 by Alexander Osterwalder, based on his earlier work on business model ontology. Since the release of Osterwalder's work around 2008, new canvases for specific niches have appeared.