Tool · template

The Value Proposition Canvas

Strategyzer Freemium Beginner

A one-page tool for writing down what you have learned about a customer's jobs, pains, and gains, then checking whether your idea actually addresses them. For an outsider it forces you to fill the customer side first, from real research, before you let yourself describe a solution. Print it and revisit it after every batch of interviews.

  • Map the customer's jobs, pains, and gains before your solution
  • Fit means your offer relieves their real pains and creates real gains
  • Fill the customer side from evidence, not assumptions

It answers 6 questions

  1. As a woman founder, or one building outside the big startup hubs, how do I turn my background into an edge?
  2. How do I run customer discovery as an Indian founder building for Indian users?
  3. How do I price my product when I am selling it myself and have no comparable competitors?
  4. How do I validate an idea in an industry I have no background in?
  5. Do I even have a real problem, or just a solution I'm attached to?
  6. How do I validate an idea in a crowded market that already has big competitors?

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  3. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra
  4. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  5. Video · ~25 min How to Talk to Users Eric Migicovsky
  6. Video · ~50 min How to Evaluate Startup Ideas Kevin Hale, Y Combinator
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