Wardley Mapping is a strategy tool created by Simon Wardley in 2005. You draw your value chain as a map: each component your product depends on is placed on a horizontal axis that runs from genesis (brand new, experimental) to commodity (standardized, available off the shelf). The result is a picture of where your business actually stands, not a list of features that all look equally important.
It works because most strategic mistakes come from treating everything as if it were novel. When you can see that your auth system is commodity-stage and your core recommendation engine is genesis-stage, the move becomes obvious: stop hand-building the commodity, buy it, and pour your scarce engineering into the part that genuinely differentiates you.
A founder uses it when facing build vs. buy vs. outsource decisions. Sketch your value chain, mark each piece by how evolved it is, and invest custom effort only where you create real differentiation. Everything that has become a commodity should be bought or outsourced so your team's attention flows to the edge where advantage lives.
Common mistake
The most common mistake is treating the map as a static org chart instead of a movement model - people position components once and forget that everything drifts rightward toward commodity over time, so today's differentiator quietly becomes tomorrow's thing you should have stopped building.
How to use it
Three ways to put it to work.
Everyday life
Deciding what to do yourself when renovating the kitchen
List every component: layout, cabinets, plumbing, tiling, and the custom built-in bench your family cares about. Place each on the evolution axis. Plumbing and standard cabinets are commodity-stage, where any contractor delivers the same result; the bench is genesis-stage and unique to your home. Hire out the commodity pieces at the cheapest reliable quote, and spend your weekends and budget building the bench.
Tech
Your small team is spread thin across the whole stack
Map the value chain: auth, file storage, billing, and the AI matching engine customers actually pay for. Position each on evolution. Auth, storage, and billing sit at commodity-stage where a managed auth service and Stripe already win; the matching engine is genesis-stage, the only place custom work differentiates. Kill the in-house auth and billing rewrites, buy them off the shelf, and move those two engineers to the matching engine this sprint.
Small business
A cafe owner deciding where to spend her time
Lay out the components: bookkeeping, the espresso machine, the website, and the seasonal pastries regulars line up for. Place them on the axis. Bookkeeping and the website are commodity-stage, done better by accounting software and a template than by her late nights; the recipes and counter experience are genesis-stage. Move bookkeeping to a monthly accountant, swap to a template site, and spend the reclaimed hours developing pastries and training staff.
Reckon · Thinking tool
Wardley Mapping
Simon Wardley (2005)
What it is
Map components of your value chain against their evolutionary stage, from genesis to commodity, to see where strategic advantage actually lives.
When to use it
When you need to decide what to build vs. buy vs. outsource. Position each component on the evolution axis and invest only where custom work creates differentiation.
Work through it.
Print this (use the Save as PDF button up top) and fill it in on paper. Map your value chain against the evolution axis to see exactly where to build, buy, and stop wasting engineering.
01
THE ANCHOR: Name the one user need your product exists to serve. Write it at the top of your map.
Everything else on the map exists only because of this need.
02
THE COMPONENTS: List every capability, tool, or service your product depends on to deliver that need.
03
THE EVOLUTION AXIS: For each component, place it: Genesis (novel, uncertain), Custom (you built it), Product (off-the-shelf), or Commodity (utility/API).
Be honest. Most teams build things that are already Products or Commodities.
04
THE MISMATCHES: Circle every Genesis or Custom component that a competitor can now buy off the shelf. These are your waste zones.
05
THE DECISION: For each waste zone, write the concrete action: stop building it, swap it for a vendor, or migrate in the next sprint. For your true Genesis components, name what extra investment they deserve.
Reckon · reckon.report · flip for the working template
Reckon · Working template
Wardley Mapping
Print double-sided. Read the how-to on the front; do the work here.
Plot each component by value and maturity. Circle what to build vs buy.