The Traction Canvas™ is a one-page sales playbook co-created by Brandy Old and Craig Elias that incorporates their Traction Readiness Levels – below.
Get the fillable Traction Canvas →
Most startups don’t fail because of bad products. They fail because founders try to sell to everyone, use add-on language, pitch features before asking questions, and never talk to enough strangers. This canvas fixes that — in 10 boxes, in sequence.
The canvas is organized into three zones that compound on each other:
- LEARN (Boxes 1–5): Founder-led outbound to strangers — 10× the customers you get from selling to your network. Work through Problems, Bifurcation, Competition, Seven Second Sale, and Enrolling before anything else.
- EARN (Boxes 6–9): Trigger Events, Disqualifying, Emotional Favourite, and Won Sales Analysis — 10× the LEARN zone again by reaching the right people at the right moment.
- SCALE (Box 10): Marketing Moat — 10× one more time by locking in word of mouth and owning the digital real estate for the 2–3 words your best customers use to describe you.
Each zone multiplies the last: 10× → 100× → 1,000×. The mantra is “Learn before you earn.”
Leveraging over 35 years of sales and startup experience, Brandy Old and Craig Elias built this framework to demystify how early-stage companies capture their first customers and cross the technology chasm. Since teaming up, they have helped hundreds of early-stage companies globally de-risk their businesses, perfect their pitches, capture customers, and attract investors.
Complete the form found below to receive an email with links to:
- 📄 A fillable Traction Canvas template in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format
- 🎞️ Slides from a one-hour session on the 10 boxes in the canvas
- 🎥 The recording from a one-hour session that covers all 10 boxes
- 🔗 A link to a free Traction Playbook maker created by Drew Williams