Skip to content
Startup Secrets Sandbox
  • Pages
    • Welcome to YOUR Startup Secrets Sandbox
      • About Startup Secrets
      • About this Sandbox
      • FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
      • Creative Commons Attribution
    • Customer Value Proposition
      • Synopsis: Customer Value Proposition
      • Frameworks
        • DEFINE the Problem or Opportunity
          • MVS - Minimum Viable Segment
            • Beware: Don't Overlook Your MVS
            • Demandware case study & video
            • MVS compared to a beachhead
          • 4U
          • BLAC and White
            • BLAC and White moves
              • Market timing
            • YouTube: A Case Example of BLAC and White
            • Netflix, Spotify and JioCinemas in India
          • Whole Problem
        • EVALUATE the Solution
          • 3D
          • Gain/Pain
          • DEBT
            • Apple Pay case example from WSJ
          • Whole Product
            • Tesla DEBT
          • Partnerships
            • Strategic partners
        • Assemble Your Value Proposition
        • YOU: Founder-Market Fit
        • Applying Your Value Proposition
      • Customer Value Proposition AI
      • Slides
      • Video Recording
      • Articles
      • icon picker
        Worksheet / Canvases
      • Example Tools
        • Customer Discovery & Interview Script
    • Customer-Centric Business Model
      • Frameworks
        • Business Model as a Disruptor
        • CORE
        • Multipliers and Levers
          • Products that SLIP
          • Package for Pull
            • Bundling
              • 4 Myths of Bundling
              • Bundling Tooklit
              • Podcast
          • Co-Create a Win-Win
            • Acquia's Story
          • 3Up
        • Customer-Centric Models
        • RSVPD
      • Workshop Slide Deck
      • Video Recording
      • Business Model Examples
        • Stories and a Startup Secret from decades of business model innovation
    • Build a Product That Scales Into a Company
      • Perspective: Building Products into Companies
      • Frameworks
        • The Product-Company Gap
        • Design for Product-GTM Fit
          • Value Proposition
          • Minimum Viable Segment
          • Repeatable Products
        • Architect Your Business Model
          • Products that SLIP
            • Simple to Install and Use
            • Low to No Initial Cost
            • Instant and Ongoing Value
            • Play Well in the Ecosystem
          • Package for Pull
          • Whole Product Partnerships
      • Slides
      • Video Recordings
      • SLIPPERY related to PLG
    • Vision, Mission & Values: Create an Authentic Culture
      • Frameworks
        • Founder-Market Fit
          • What are you uniquely qualified for?
        • Elements of Culture
          • Vision
          • Mission
          • Culture
            • Values
        • Operationalize Your Culture
          • Communicate
          • Reinforce
          • Evolve
      • Slides
      • Video - What It Takes: Vision, Mission, Culture
    • Hiring and team building
    • Go to Market
      • Framework - GTM overview
      • Video and Slides - GTM
    • Perfect Your Fundraising Pitch
      • Workbook: Perfect Your Fundraising Pitch
      • Frameworks
        • Business Overview
        • Team
        • Key Problem & Opportunity
        • Solution
        • Vision: Why Now? AND For The Future.
          • Balancing Vision and Execution
        • Traction & Proof Points
        • Business Model
        • Market Size
        • Competitive Landscape
        • Fundraising Needs & Milestones
      • Slides: Getting Behind The Perfect Pitch
      • Video: Getting Behind The Perfect Pitch
      • Article: Elevator question
    • Funding strategies to go the distance
      • Funding Market Fit
      • Questions arising
    • Personal Entrepreneurship
      • Problem solving
        • Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX
      • Are you curious what mindset it takes to be a successful founder?
      • Have you got what it takes?
      • Roadmap to success
      • People First
      • Mutual Mentorship
        • Peer Mentoring (Founder-to-Founder)
        • Mutual Mentorship (Mentor–Mentee Relationships)
        • Master Mentorship (Mentoring the Mentors)
        • Mentorship Resources for Startups
      • Founders Can't Scale: Fact or Fiction?
      • 3 Examples of Why You CAN Afford to Fail
    • Glossary for learning
    • How to comment in Coda
      • What is Coda?
Startup Secrets Sandbox
/
/
Worksheet / Canvases

Worksheet / Canvases

Your Worksheet / Canvas to print and complete in your own time
Print this page or Downloadable via Google Drive
here
⁠
⁠
⁠
Loading
docs.google.com
⁠
⁠

Problem Definition: 4Us (from the customer viewpoint)


How is your problem unworkable?



How is your problem unavoidable?



How is your problem urgent?



How is your problem underserved?



⁠

Problem Qualification: BLAC & White


What type of needs are you addressing?

Blatant, latent, aspirational, or critical.



What whitespace have you identified?

Consistent with an Underserved or unmet need

⁠

Market Definition: DEBT


What Dependencies are involved?

What External factors are involved?

Would you face any Backlash?

What is the Timing?

⁠

Value Prop Evaluation: 3Ds


Is it discontinuous?

•What could not be done before this innovation?
•Not possible -> not feasible (time, cost, resource, other constraints)
•What are some transformational benefits?
•(Not just incremental)


Is it defensible?

•What can ONLY be done with your solution?
•That others can’t replicate
•Why are the alternatives just not able to compete?


Is it disruptive?

How does your business model change the game, rewrite the rules in your favor?


⁠

Value Prop Evaluation: Gain/Pain Ratio


What gains do you deliver to your customer?



What pains do your customers experience during adoption?



Is the gain of your solution 10x greater than the pain of adopting it?

If not, what inertia / risks will they experience that you’ll have to overcome?


⁠

Pull it All Together: Compelling Value Proposition


For (target customers - your Minimum Viable Segment)
with (Blatant/Latent Aspiration/Critical problem or need)
that is (4U - Unworkable, Unavoidable, Urgent, Underserved)
Who are dissatisfied with (the current Unworkable and Underserved alternative)
Our product is a (3D - Different, Defensible, Disruptive - new product, your MVP)
That provides (compelling problem-solving capability - Gain)
that overcomes (switching costs Gain/Pain Ratio > 10x)
Unlike (the Unworkable product alternative that Underserves the need or opportunity)

Fill out below:

For
Who are dissatisfied with
Our product is a
That provides
Unlike

Problem Definition: 4Us (from the customer viewpoint)
How is your problem unworkable?
How is your problem unavoidable?
How is your problem urgent?
How is your problem underserved?
Problem Qualification: BLAC & White
What type of needs are you addressing?
What whitespace have you identified?
Market Definition: DEBT
Value Prop Evaluation: 3Ds
Is it discontinuous?
Is it defensible?
Is it disruptive?
Value Prop Evaluation: Gain/Pain Ratio
What gains do you deliver to your customer?
What pains do your customers experience during adoption?
Is the gain of your solution 10x greater than the pain of adopting it?
Pull it All Together: Compelling Value Proposition
Fill out below:
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.