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Value Proposition Canvas

Alexander Osterwalder · strategyzer.com

The Value Proposition Canvas is a visual tool for mapping whether your product actually fits what your customer needs. It was developed by Alexander Osterwalder as a companion to the Business Model Canvas, zooming in on the most critical part of any business model: the relationship between what you offer and what your customer wants. On one side sits the customer profile. On the other, the value map. The goal is to draw clear lines between the two.

The customer profile has three components. Jobs describe what the customer is trying to get done, including functional tasks, emotional needs, and social goals. Pains capture everything that annoys, frustrates, or blocks them before, during, or after getting the job done. Gains describe the outcomes and benefits they want, ranging from minimum expectations to things they didn't know they wanted. The critical insight is that not all jobs, pains, and gains are equal. Some matter enormously; others are background noise.

The value map mirrors this structure. Your products and services are what you offer. Pain relievers describe how you specifically reduce customer pains. Gain creators describe how you specifically produce customer gains. Fit happens when you can draw a line from each of your pain relievers to a real, ranked customer pain, and from each gain creator to a real, ranked customer gain. If a feature doesn't map to anything on the customer side, it's waste. If a major customer pain has no corresponding pain reliever, you have a gap.

How Distil uses it

The Value Proposition Canvas is most active during the exploration phase, where Distil transitions from understanding the problem to evaluating the solution. The central question becomes: does your solution actually address the pains and gains that matter most to your customer? Not in the abstract, but specifically and concretely.

This framework directly shapes Distil's Solution Potential score. When you describe a feature, Distil asks: "You mentioned your customer struggles with X. How specifically does your product address that?" If you can draw a clear line from feature to pain or gain, that's strong. If you describe features that don't connect to anything on the customer side, Distil will flag it.

The canvas also helps Distil spot a common founder trap: building too much. If you're trying to address every possible pain and gain, you're addressing none of them well. Distil pushes you to prioritise. Which 2-3 pains are you going to relieve dramatically better than any alternative? That's where your real value proposition lives.

Key principles

  • Start with the customer profile, not the value map. Understand what they need before you define what you offer. Building backwards from your solution leads to products nobody wants.
  • Not all jobs, pains, and gains are equal; rank them. Focus on the jobs that matter most, the pains that are most severe, and the gains that are most desired.
  • Every pain reliever must map to a real pain. If you can't draw a line from your feature to a specific customer need, that feature is waste.
  • Fit is not a one-time event. Customer needs change. Competitors respond. Markets shift. Revisit your canvas regularly and update it with new evidence.
  • A proposition that addresses everything addresses nothing. Pick 2-3 areas where you can be dramatically better than alternatives. Depth beats breadth.
  • Gains come in tiers. Required gains are table stakes. Expected gains are standard. Desired gains differentiate you. Unexpected gains create delight and word of mouth.
  • Test fit with real customers, not in a conference room. A canvas filled in by your team is a hypothesis. A canvas validated by customer conversations is evidence.

Common mistakes

  • Filling in both sides at once. Founders often write the customer profile and value map simultaneously, unconsciously shaping the customer needs to match their solution. Do the customer side first, ideally from real conversations.
  • Listing features instead of pain relievers. "We have an AI chatbot" is a feature. "We eliminate the 45-minute wait time for customer support" is a pain reliever. The customer doesn't care what it is. They care what it does for them.
  • Treating all pains as equally important. A minor inconvenience and a business-threatening blocker are both "pains," but one is worth solving and the other isn't worth a product.
  • Assuming fit based on logic alone. It might seem obvious that your pain reliever addresses their pain. But until a real customer confirms it, it's just a guess.

Recommended reading

  • 📖 Value Proposition Design by Alexander Osterwalder. A visual, practical guide to mapping customer needs to your offering.
  • 🌐 strategyzer.com. Templates, examples, and tools from the Strategyzer team.

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