What is value proposition, and why does your start-up or small business need it?

Setting up and running a start-up or small business is never easy. There are lots of tricky decisions and things that you need to consider and work on to reach the success that you hope for. Whilst it may be tricky; there is some good news!

One of these top tips is value proposition; it might sound like another bit of jargon, so what is value proposition and what makes it something you want to have?

Amazon Astro – Roaming around your home? – Good idea or not?

This week I saw the announcement from Amazon of the Astro household robot. It appears to be an Amazon Fire Tablet on a large castor that rolls in an out of your living space, recording and broadcasting video and audio. What could possibly go wrong?

This Value Proposition give me a sinking feeling! – Check out the video

Lets analyse the Value Proposition of the Osman Can Ozcanli and Batu Manoğlu for Eczacıbaşı Vitra.

At first glance it seems like a cool idea, but a good Value Proposition coach needs to look beyond the initial ‘Wow’ factor and ask the difficult questions. So here goes…

1) Who is this targeted at?
2) What problem does it solve?
3) Why is it better than any number of existing alternatives?
3) Why is a sink that is initially hidden add any benefit?

Is there such a thing as a Universal Insight? – No! (Not unless you believe everyone thinks, acts and believes the exact same things) – Myth 3

I regularly engage with organisations where the #officeboor in senior management believes that they are on the lookout for universal insights. Unfortunately for that to actually happen, we’d need to imagine we operate in a soulless homogenous market place and believe that all our customers value the exact same thing, hold the same priorities and speaks exactly the same way about them. Which is a little tricky to believe.

Henry Ford said – “If I’d asked them what they wanted, they’d have asked for a faster horse!” – Fake News – Find out why.

Henry Ford said – “If I’d asked them what they wanted, they’d have asked for a faster horse!” – Fake News – Find out why. How to debunk the myth:
Henry Ford never said that, there is no record of that quote until 2006.
It is not the customers job to tell you ‘how to solve’ the problem but to define the problem that needs solving. Tell the office boor that if they are asking the target to specify the technology, they are doing innovation wrong!

Bzigo – Smartphone app that notifies you of a mosquito then does nothing

An early contender for my ‘Bizarre Value Proposition of the year award’ goes to Bzigo. This is the first-ever device that actively detects and locates mosquitoes. A smartphone notification alerts you that a mosquito is in the room, and the a laser pointer shows you its precise location.

Knock Knock – Who’s there? – Another misguided Value Proposition

The premise is that the fridge has a large expensive glass panel on the fridge door (LG Door-in-Door TM) which uses some clever technology or other to reveal what’s on the other side of the door. You heard right, you knock on the door twice and the panel clears showing what would have happened had you simply opened the door.