Value Proposition Canvas

Value Proposition Canvas

“The Value Proposition Canvas drills down into the Value Propositions and Customer Segments blocks to really identify how the product is or isn’t providing value to the customers, and what the customers’ needs are.” Credit to: http://strategyzer.com.

“The goal of the Value Proposition Canvas is to help you achieve product/market fit. This phrase simply means that “a good number of customers want what you’re selling.” ”


“The first part of the Value Proposition Canvas is diving into the customer—completing this part of the canvas can help you refine your personas! There are three key aspects to the Customer side: jobs, gains, and pains."

1. "Customer jobs are simply the things the customers are trying to get done, in their own words, be it a task they’re trying to perform, a problem they’re trying to solve, or a need they want to satisfy. For example, an Apple Watch owner is likely interested in easily tracking her fitness—a task—and looking stylish—a need. Customers might have multiple jobs, and not all jobs have the same weight. If you ever heard someone say, “Fashion over function,” that person’s choosing a social job—looking trendy—over the actual task. Customer jobs align nicely with product use cases."
2. “Gains are the outcomes the customer wants to achieve, in his own words. They might be expected, and either required or desired, or surprising, ideally in a positive way. Gains aren’t just from functional utility: they might provide social value (This makes me look cool!), illicit positive emotions (I love this product!), or save money (This is 1/10th the price!). ”
3. “Pains. These describe the obstacles preventing the customer from completing the jobs, along with possible bad outcomes and risks. Just like gains, try to make these concrete. If the customer says waiting for a taxi is a waste, ask how many minutes it takes until it feels like it’s a waste. Also try to gauge how bad each pain actually is. Waiting 10 minutes for a taxi is a pain, but does it stop you from trying to hail a cab or getting in once it arrives?”

“The second part of the Value Proposition Canvas is your product(s), and it also has three aspects: products and services, gain creators, and pain relievers.”

1. “Products and services are fairly straightforward: What are the products and services available for each persona/customer segment?”
2. “Gain creators refers to how your products and services create benefits and outcomes the customer wants, whether those are required, desired, or surprising. Again, these gains might be functional, problem solving, or social (including cost savings).”
3. “Pain relievers are how your product addresses the customer’s top pains. You don’t have to address every pain, but it should be clear in the Canvas how your product addresses the key pains.”

“Pain relievers and gain creators are the parts of your product that create value for the customer segment. The goal of the Value Proposition Canvas is to make these two categories—to make this value creation—explicit. If it’s unclear or a piece is missing, you likely have a great opportunity to improve your product.”

“At the end of the day, product/market fit or feature/market fit comes down to addressing the key customer gains and pains successfully. If the customer wants important gains that you don’t provide or has a big pain point you don’t address, those mismatches create a very good opportunity for you to improve your product.

Also note that some products, especially B2B products, might have multiple personas, so you will need multiple Value Proposition Canvases, one for each persona.

As you work to validate your opportunity and learn more, redo your Business Model and Value Proposition Canvases to incorporate the new information. You might even want to specifically call out what’s validated and what’s still a hypothesis.”





Excerpts From: Josh Anon. “The Product Book.” Apple Books.