Value Proposition
Similar to the customer segment, without a clearly defined Value Proposition, we can’t really make an MVP.
Sure, we could throw something against the wall and see if someone can find a Value Proposition for it. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with starting with a cool technology, building something, then hoping someone else will figure out what to do with it.
If you have the time to kill or a big fat grant to do “pure research” at a university, go for it.
But we’re talking about lean startup and Product/Market Fit here, so let’s focus on learning. We want to know why people are signing up and that means understanding the Value Proposition by having a coherent idea of what we’re offering.
It’s ok to be wrong.
You can do a similar sniff test to see if you have a clear Value Proposition in a similar fashion to the Customer Segment. This time you’re better off checking your hypothesis with another lean startup entrepreneur.
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Go find your local Lean Startup Circle, find someone there who seems to have a clue, and ask them if your Value Proposition is sufficient for them to understand.
This isn’t sufficient, but it’s a good enough sniff test for now. Remember, your biases and assumptions are usually hidden from us, so we can get perspective from other entrepreneurs who aren’t as emotionally invested in our idea.
An outside perspective is your ally to defeat confirmation bias. Share on X(If you’re following along with the Product/Market Fit Storyboard, place your customer hypothesis in the customer section. If you made a whole customer persona, you can do this in shorthand by drawing the visual representation of the persona on a sticky note and putting it on the storyboard.)
With a clear Customer and Value Proposition we have the basis for testing Product/Market Fit. But we still need a Channel and Relationship. (To be continued next week…)