How Do You Value Your Own Proposition?

 

Value Prop Workshop with MassTLC, Modit and ViziApps
As we kicked off the MassTLC workshop series with a lively session on Value Prop, we were lucky to have not just one case examples but two join us for the evening. ViziApps a startup that allows you to build business mobile apps visually was one of the startups and Modit (case example) was the other. Modit is an early-stage startup based in Cambridge, providing “staging as a service” for software development teams.
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The workshop covered many of the Startup Secrets value proposition frameworks but what I always enjoy most is learning from the interaction with the attendees and the case study participants. Teasing out what their real value prop is and witness the “a-ha” moments when we discover together the way to best present their value prop to potential customers.

 

Here are just 3 takeaways from last night’s session:

  • Get clear on what the problem is you are looking to solve for the customer before you give details of how you solve it.
    • There’s a tendency to overwhelm prospects with features and capabilities without first clarifying the context of for all your great functionality.
  • Prioritize and highlight your capabilities according to the customer’s needs, not according to competitors
    • The customer wants to know what you enable them to do that they could not do without you. While you need to know your competition well, don’t confuse that with comparing yourself to them unless it’s specifically helps clarify why you are differentiated in meeting your potential customer’s needs.
  • If you’ve got multiple potential audiences for your product (as, for example, Modit has), figure out who is the primary beneficiary.
    • Partner with them to validate. Test your value proposition with them and explore how they would frame it for others in the organization to build a critical mass of support to drive adoption.

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I encourage you to check out the case examples linked here for ViziApps and Modit to see how they are working through their value proposition development.

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And share your feedback for them to help them as they are iterating through this. And always, we welcome comments below for mutual learning.