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Next-Generation Fellowship
Program
Value
LIVES

Proposition

Ignite. Week 3
https://www.wfglobal.
org
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Overview of the
program and
your learning
journey over
Milestone 4

the 14 weeks: Launch

Milestone 3
Go-To-Mark Week 9:
et Enhance
Go To Market
Sale Planning

Mileston Week 10:

e2 Funding
Funding Options:
Early Stage
Discover Week 7: Test
Mileston Prototype
Market Validation
e1
Explore Week 4: Week 8 :
Value Financial Feasibility
ValueProposition Refine
Sustainable Sustainability
Differentiation

Week 1: Week 5:
Entrepreneurial
Intro Analyzing competition
Competition
Thinking Creating Competitive
Advantage

Week 2: Week 6: Business

Opportunity
Opportunity Evaluation Model
Lean Canvas
Problem Definition

Week 3:
Market Type
Customer
Finding your Niche
Customer Persona

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 CONCEPT
S ● What is brainstorming, how to do it and how it would
help entrepreneurs come up with solutions?
● What is “Value”? How do you create Value for
your customer?
● Why do investors look for the Value Proposition
Canvas?
● How to create sustainable differentiation for your
solution?

By the end of the

week, you will be
able to:

• Craft your value proposition

• Create a Value Proposition
Canvas
• Create a sustainable
differentiation strategy

Steps:

1. Brainstorming
2. Create a Value Proposition
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LIVES
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 Sustainable
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Brainstorm to come up
with effective
You have validated that the problem is worth solving. You have also identified the target
market segment. You have created your customer persona .
solutions
But you may wonder – is there just one possible solution to the problem?
What if the problem could be solved in multiple ways?
Which solution would add the most value to the customer?
The next step is to start brainstorming for ideas that would solve the problem
you identified. Brainstorming, simply put, is to come up with as many ideas as
possible to solve a specific issue. You should get everything out of your head
and start narrowing down to focus on ideas that seem the best solution for the
customers.

The golden rule in brainstorming is to be open for all possible ideas and
suggestions and filter as you go.

Throughout the content below, you will learn more about the brainstorming
process, next steps and the expected outcome:
Innovators Must Master the Art of
Brainstorming
Wharton

5 ways to transform your brainstorming session into something great

Entrepreneur.com

Brainstorming is a great technique and exercise that you as an

entrepreneur will need throughout your journey. Whether you
are kicking off or looking for a solution to other problems throughout
your venture building phases, this will help. Start brainstorming for
potential ideas now and filter the best ideas to move forward with them.
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Value
Proposition
Sustainable
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Canvas
Let’s now look at a very valuable tool that will help you design your value
proposition – the Value Proposition Canvas. Using this tool, you will be
able to arrive at a solution that will solve your customer’s problems and at
the same time, bring them benefits that the existing alternatives do not.
Here are some videos explaining its uses and how to set it up.

Value Proposition Canvas explained

Strategyzer.com

Value Proposition Canvas – Customer Segment

Value Proposition and Assessing Fit
National Entrepreneurship Network - Wadhwani Foundation

Key Takeaway:
To learn more about how the most successful organizations think about
adding value to their users, here is a great video about identifying the
How, Why and What behind your business.

Start with Why

Simon Sinek

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Value
Proposition
Sustainable
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Canvas
The Value Proposition Canvas helps you understand the customer and how your
products and services create value. It has two sides. With the Customer Profile,
you clarify your customer understanding. With the Value Map, you describe how
you intend to create value for that customer. You achieve Fit between the two
when one meets the other.

Value Map Customer Profile

Describes the features of specific Describes a specific customer segment
value proposition in your business in your business in a structured and
model in a structured and detailed detailed way.
way.

Gain Creators describe how Gains describe the outcomes

your products and services customers want to achieve or
create customer gains. the concrete benefits they are
seeking.
Customer Jobs
List of all the What customers are
Products &Services trying to get done, as
a value proposition is expressed in their
built around. own words.

Pain Relievers describe how Pains describe bad outcomes,

your products and services risks, and obstacles related to
alleviate customer pains. customer jobs.

Key Takeaway:
To learn more about how the most successful organizations think about
adding value to their users, here is a great video about identifying the
How, Why and What behind your business.

Start with Why

Simon Sinek

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 Crafting a Value Competition
Sustainable

Value
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Proposition
There were taxis on the road before Uber existed. Then why did we start paying money
to Uber? What value did Uber bring to the customers?

Is it the convenience of booking a taxi from a phone? The door-step pickup? No need to
worry about directions? Easy payment options? Choice of cabs based on need?
Some of these features have addressed acute pain-points for the customer while some
are added benefits. Collectively they form Uber’s value proposition for its customers.

Knowing that you are creating a solution, you should look at it from the
customer perspective. Always keep in mind, how would a product or
service you are creating help the user. This is called adding value to the
customer.

Any idea that you come up with will be either solving a significant pain
that the user is experiencing or improving an existing service that they
are receiving but not satisfied enough and in both cases this is an added
value.

Value Propositions – What they are and how to create them (With
Examples)
Shopify

Value Proposition: It’s what your business does better than others
Shopify

4 steps to building a compelling value proposition

Forbes

Key Takeaway:
To make your venture successful, your solution or product must create
value for your customers. To do that, you must design your value
proposition. A Value Proposition is a promise you make to your customer
post-purchase.

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Competition
Sustainable

Analysis
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

A Direct competitor is someone that offers the same

products, with in the same category as you”
Direct

Eg: McDonald’s and Burger King

An Indirect competitor is a business that sells a product or

service in the same category as you, but it’s different enough Replacement Indirect
to act as a substitute for your product or service.

Eg. McDonald’s and Subway.

A Replacement competitor is a business that sells a product or service that’s

both different in category and type than you, but one which your customers
could choose to spend their money instead.

Eg: McDonald’s and ready to eat / frozen dinner meal

To get ahead in the game, a business needs to survive the competitive

landscape , and this requires the business to create a competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage generates greater value for customer and the business
due to certain strengths or conditions. The more sustainable the competitive
advantage, the more difficult it is for competitors to neutralize the advantage.

5 sources of competitive advantage to drive growth

Harvard Business School

Competition is for Losers with Peter

Thiel
Peter Thiel, Y Combinator

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Creating
Sustainable

competitive
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Advantage This strategy works very well when you are a first mover in the
market.
Speed Eg: WhatsApp was a first mover, kept providing their product for
free and aggressively acquired users so that no other mobile IM
service could keep up
Raising a lot of capital can build confidence of other investors in
your company and scare them from investing in your competitors
as well.
Capital Eg. Ola, Uber, Walmart

Hiring great talent as they know that great talent is the key to
creating and selling great products, especially in a market where
employability is very low.
Team Eg. Google and Facebook have legendary recruitment processes

Provide access to content that wasn’t available to the customer

before. Accelerate the growth of this content and also maintain its
quality till the point that there was no other place to get such
Content quality content.
Eg Zomato, Medium
Having a great relationship and reputation with potential customers
helps you acquire early users before your competitors can. Your
network also helps you identify and convince the right stakeholders
Network and investors.
Eg. AirBnB and Craigslist Airbnb created a way for its customers to
cross-post their listings on one of the world’s most popular listing
website.
Companies located in a conducive startup ecosystem have a
competitive advantage because of access to capital, press, talent,
expertise, mentorship, suppliers, and startup communities.
Ecosystem Eg. Silicon Valley

A far superior product gives you a great competitive advantage. To

differentiate your product, you can focus on various aspects of the
product like Price, Form, Features, Ability to Customize, 9
Performance, Quality, Durability, Usability, Reliability, Reparability,
Style, Distribution system and Customer Service. Identify your
Product
strengths and capabilities and focus on one of the above.
Eg. Apple
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 Sustainable
Sustainable

Differentiation
Value Competition
Brainstorming Differentiatio
Proposition Analysis n

Although competitive advantages help you create your

differentiation, it is even more important to defend and sustain that
differentiation. This is called defensibility.

Competitive advantages grows your company’s value linearly as

you increase traction and grow your revenue. However, if you are
able to protect your castle of competitive advantage from your
competition with a moat of true defensibility, then your business
value grows exponentially.

Defensibility also helps in sustaining the relationship with the

customer and prevent customer churn, mitigating costs of acquiring
new customers to replace them. Some methods to create
Economies
defensibility are: of scale come into play when you get bigger and your
operations become large scale, as a result, costs get reduced and
there is better operating leverage. This translates in to lower costs
Economy and lower prices. Eg. Amazon
If each additional user of your product adds more value to every
other user, then your product is creating a network effect. The
more users have, the more irrelevant your competitor’s network
Network becomes.
Eg. All social and messaging apps like Twitter, Facebook,
WhatsApp,
Brand equity Instagram
is defined as the commercial value that derives from
consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or
service, rather than from the product or service itself.
Brand
Eg. . Apple, Tesla, Hootup,
To prevent competitors from stealing your customers, you should
make it more difficult for your customers to switch to a competitor.
One strategy to create high switching costs is by making your
customer invest into the product in the form of time, money,
Switching physical effort, social capital, or personal data
Costs Eg: Apple devices, MS Office
Developing unique IP and patenting it can prevent competitors
from copying what differentiates you giving you an advantage over
them. IP can be in the form of trade secrets, unique algorithms,
copyrights, unique designs and deep technologies
IP Eg. KFC, Zyga, GoPro
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 Call to Brainstorming
Value
Proposition
Competition
Analysis
Sustainable
Differentiatio
n

Action!
Step 1: Customer Segment
Think of the customer niche that you have identified for your business idea. Fill the
Customer Segment section of the Value Proposition Canvas with the following:
Customer Jobs | Pains | Gains

Step 2: Value Proposition Segment

Fill up the following sections in the Value Proposition segment of the canvas:
Products and Services | Pain Relievers | Gain Creators

Use the questions listed below to fill the Pain Relievers sub-section.
a. What will help your customer save more?
b. What will make your customers feel better?
c. How can we make the solution more robust?
d. What will put an end to the difficulties and challenges that your customers
encounter?
e. What will eliminate risks your customers’ fear?
f. What will help your customers sleep better at night?
g. What will limit or eradicate common mistakes that customers make?
h. What will make customers adopt your solution?

Use the questions listed below to fill the Gain Creators sub-section.
a. How can you create savings to make your customers happy?
b. What will produce outcomes that your customer expects or that go beyond their
expectations?
c. How can you copy or outperform to delight your customer?
d. What will make your customer’s job or life easier?
e. What will create positive social consequences that your customer desires?
f. What else should you do to meet your customer expectations?
g. How can you fulfill your customer’s dream?
h. What will produce positive outcomes matching your customers’ success and
failure criteria?
i. What will make adoption easier?

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 Call to Brainstorming
Value
Proposition
Competition
Analysis
Sustainable
Differentiatio
n

Action!
Step 3: Craft the Customer Value Statement
For [customer] who has [wants, needs, opportunities], the [product
name], is a [product category] that [compelling reason for the customer
to buy/key benefit for the customer].

Uber – The Smartest Way to Get Around

Apple iPhone – The Experience IS the

Product

Slack – Be More Productive at Work

with Less Effort

LessAccounting – Bookkeeping,
Without the Hassle

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Call to Brainstorming
Value
Proposition
Competition
Analysis
Sustainable
Differentiatio
n

Action!
Competition Listing Template

Competitors

Replacemen
Direct Indirect
t
Competitors Competitors
Competitors

Competition Analysis Template

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 Call to Brainstorming
Value
Proposition
Competition
Analysis
Sustainable
Differentiatio
n

Action!
What is your Unique Value Proposition?
Ans:

What competitive advantages will you build to keep the promise

of your Unique Value Proposition?
Ans:

How will you defend your competitive advantage?

Ans:

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FINAL COVER

nextgen.global@wfglo
bal.org

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