Value Proposition

Value Proposition

• • Customer Development

  • Product Market Fit

  • Minimal Viable Product

  • Value Proposition

"More startups fail from a lack of customers than from a failure of product development."

In this section we will look at the importance of establishing a solid customer base based around their needs. By hypothesizing customers needs and testing those theories through customer interaction, this allows us to understand if we truly found Product Market Fit (a product that has a market that wants and needs a product) or the minimum viable product (a product that meets the needs of customers that we can get to market quickly).

We will also look at the importance of understanding that failure at this stage (testing), allows us to pivot (change course or thought) and avoid a costly mistake (sending to production and having products that we can't sell) at the expense of time.

Watch the following videos and answer the questions to prepare for class discussion, online discussion (FB Group), and for your quiz. Each of the videos are between one to three minutes in length. While they may be short, it will take you some time to get through all of the videos and answer the questions.

All titles listed in GOLD represent the videos you will need to watch for the first quarter. It is recommended to watch and answer the questions prior to class to help facilitate instruction and develop a deeper understanding. You may choose to watch all of the videos listed below or the entire library in Udacity. See the course schedule for instruction dates.

Videos to Watch

Udacity: Lesson 5.1 - Value Proposition

Think about it: Value Proposition

• • What does Value Proposition mean? what product or service are we building, who are we building it for

  • What is the purpose of customer development? get out of the building, whos need we are solving, satisfying a customer need

  • What is the relationship between Value Proposition and Customer Segments called? Product Market Fit

  • What is a pivot/iteration?

Udacity: Lesson 5.4 - Value Proposition and Minimal Viable Product

Think about it: Minimal Viable Product - Pains and Gains

• • What is the Minimal Viable Product? The smallest thing you can build and develop, that help you get users and sales, and quickest way possible to get out to market.

  • What is a Pain? A customer problem or need

  • What is a Gain? customer solution

  • What is the goal of getting out of the building when creating our value proposition? to create an interactive process to understand customers needs, problems, and wants.

Udacity: Lesson 5.9 - Value Proposition Product

Think about it: Value Proposition Product

• • In the video, they say that there is more to a product than the physical item. What other things are they getting with their product?

Udacity: Lesson 5.10 - Value Proposition Service

Think about it: Value Proposition Service

• • What are the three questions to consider when looking at creating a service?

  • What core services are a part of your value proposition, which pre-sale or sales services, what after sales services

  • Write down an example for each of the three questions based on the Apple Store or when buying Apple products. consulting, financing, tutorials and maintenance

Udacity: Lesson 5.12 - Pain Killers - Hypothesis

Udacity: Lesson 5.13 - Pain Killers - Problems or Needs

Think about it: Pain Killers - Problems or Needs

• • What is the difference between problems and needs?

  • Why would you make a problem into a need?

Udacity: Lesson 5.14 - Pain Killers - Rankings

Think about it: Pain Killers - Rankings

• • Why is Intensity important?

  • Why is Frequency important? How often

Udacity: Lesson 5.15 - Gain Creators - Hypothesis

Udacity: Lesson 5.16 - Gain Creators - Rankings

Think about it: Gain Creators - Rankings

• • How do we assess the relevance of our proposed gain hypothesis? ask people to hear what is relevant to them

Udacity: Lesson 5.17 - MVP Physical

• • This would be the equivalent to the Prototyping (creating a model for consumers) and Testing Stages (asking consumers for feedback) of the Design Thinking Process.

  • Prototypes are used to gain instant feedback from consumers to see their reactions and to help establish the parameters of the Minimum Viable Product

Udacity: Lesson 5.18 - MVP Webmobile

• • Creating a demo or mock up of a website or social media account

  • Cuts through wasted time in site development that consumers do not prefer

Udacity: Lesson 5.19 - MVP

• • Why is the MVP not an Alpha or Beta (test) product?

  • Why do you think they call it a Minimum Viable Product versus a Beta product?

Udacity: Lesson 5.20 - The Art of the MVP

Think about it: The Art of the MVP

• • Why is the MVP not considered a minimal product?

  • What questions should you ask customers if you have a product/service that is new or establishes a new market? How do they spend their time, What solutions are they using now

Udacity: Lesson 5.21 - Value Proposition Common Mistakes

Think about it: Value Proposition Common Mistakes

• • What are the three common mistakes mentioned in the video?

  • What is the difference between a "nice to have product" versus a "got to have" product?

Udacity: JerseysSquare Examples (Note: the first two videos are from Lesson 4)

• • Udacity: Lesson 4.16 - JerseySquare Introduction

  • Udacity: Lesson 4.17 - JerseySquare Self-Intro

  • Udacity: Lesson 5.26 - JerseySquare Value Proposition

Udacity: Lesson 5.27 - Value Proposition Examples