De-risk startup Sydney: don’t mix your value proposition and your vision

Another de-risk your startup workshop in Sydney

Last Thursday we had another wonderful time running the full-day De-risk your startup workshop… This time at home, in Sydney!

In last week’s workshop, we discussed a lot about value proposition vs. vision. I think it is valuable to share some of the thinking around it.

Don’t mistake your vision for your value proposition

Your value proposition is about the problem you’re solving for your customers, your vision is about what motivates your team to keep going

Transform your motivations in a powerful vision that gives you room to learn and succeed

But, be wary of pushing your motivation/vision on your target audience.
Instead, ask yourself and your team constantly: what problem can you solve for your target audience?

Your product vision keeps you going

Behind a founder, there is always a big passion. That is the great machine that fuels your hard work… but don’t let that passion blind you, transform it into the engine that powers your learning and experimentation. Don’t take your passion as your product: transform it on your playground.

Set a vision that resonates with your passion and defines your “why?”:

• broad enough to allow you to play and experiment in the market till you gain product market fit
• strong enough that resonate with what will keep you going

I find the brand workshop a wonderful tool to understand better your vision and values

Your value proposition is all about what you are solving for your target audience

Your value proposition is not about what excites you: it’s about what resonates with your audience.

You need to be obsessed about your target audience’s frictions, wants and needs, and make sure you talk their language. Is not about what you want to do, but what problem are you solving for your target audience.
You can have more than a value proposition if you are targeting different audiences. You want to experiment with various value propositions until you find the one that resonates with your target audience. Your value proposition will change and evolve as you learn more about your market.

Your value proposition is not your vision, nor your product features. Is the problem your product is solving for your target audience, the superpower that you’re enabling them to have by using your product.

I do LOVE this graphic so I bring it up often to illustrate all of this:

You can read about the full workshop here. But the best way to understand the value that the participants took from it is probably to read their own words:

“This course was great because it had me and my business partner really thinking hard about how we can improve, work smarter and strategise to work less and sell more. Pilar was super knowledgeable and my only wish was that I had more time with her to learn more of what she could see possible for our business.”

Thanks again everyone for a full day of learning (and definitely a lot of fun). Keep an eye out for more workshops coming up soon at Everest Academy