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Stage 1, Lesson 4: Creating an Idea, Part 3

Value Proposition and Competitive Advantage

workshop agenda

01 review, touch base02 lesson introduction

03 product solution statements

04 value proposition concept

05 customer value perception

06 categories of value07 differentiating products and services08 summary and next steps

01review, touch base

• How has your thinking evolved concering key assumptions / hypotheses around risks:• PRODUCT RISK: What are you solving? (problem)

How might customers perceive the your problem(s) compared with how you thought of them?

• MARKET RISK: Who is the competition? (existing alternatives)How do customers solve these problems today?

• CUSTOMER RISK: Who has the pain? (customer segments)Is this a viable customer segment?

Maurya, Running Lean, p. 83, 84

01 review

02lesson introduction

by the end of the lesson you should be able to:

01 discover your meaning of the concept of value proposition – delve deep into the value proposition

02 brainstorm how your customer might perceive value

03 discuss the 3 categories of value and determine how they connect to your customer

04 summarize the importance of differentiating your product or service using a unique selling point and by creating competitive advantage.

03product solution statements

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Discovery

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Pretotyping

https://steveblank.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/what-is-customer-discovery.m4v

learn from the stories of:

steve blank and bob dorf

share and discuss your product solution statements.

why should business models focus on problems or needs?

04STEP 1: value proposition concept

video: “what is value proposition?”steve rankel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ5rgVgn5qk

steve rankel’s 4 key points of a value proposition:

01 short

02 specific

03 in the customer’s language

04 passes the “seat-of-the-pants” test

brainstorm activity

brainstorm and record a value proposition for the product/service you intend to provide the target customers

which dimension of value do you believe your value proposition might be focused on?

01 saving time

02 saving money

03 positive impact of society (social

entrepreneurship venture)

05STEP 2: customer value perception

long term value of customer versus

long term value of product

06STEP 3: categories of value

categories of value

01 all benefits

02 favorable points of difference

03 reasonable focus

brainstorm activity

what category of value best fits your value proposition?

value proposition answers “What do we do?”

• How much better?• How much faster?• How much savings?• How much easier to access?• How much newness (and why)?• How much customization?

Take some time now to review and updateyour value proposition.

07STEP 4: differentiating products and services

differentiating products and services video: “unique selling proposition”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVP6QW58Ug4

differentiating products and services video: “competitive advantage explained”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxwt3-DNo_s

Unique selling point is that aspect that differentiates a product or service from all the other similar products or services (offered by existing or potential competitors).

08summary and next steps

Consider and reflect on the following:

01 value proposition and the four things a value proposition should be

02 how might a target customer perceive value, and what are the three value categories?

03 competitive advantage and how a unique selling point might help to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage

“We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want.” ― Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses

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