The Big Idea from Value Proposition Design

A valuable solution isn’t simply something you know how to deliver. It should connect to what the customer is actually trying to accomplish.

This book provides the Value Proposition Canvas, which connects:

Customer Profile (Jobs-to-be-done, Pains, Gains) with Value Map (Products & Services, Pain Relievers, Gain Creators)

The goal is to find fit between the two.

This gives you a useful way to move from my customer has this problem to:

“Here is what my solution needs to do to help them.”

Which Parts Of This Book Should You focus on?

You do not need to read the entire book for this step. Focus on:

Part 1. Canvas

This is the most important section for this step.

Part 1.1 Customer Profile

Review:

• Jobs

• Pains

• Gains

You have already gathered much of this information during Phase 1.

Your job here is to bring that customer understanding into the solution-design process.

Part 1.2 Value Map (Essential)

Focus on:

• Products & Services

• Pain Relievers

• Gain Creators

This is where you begin translating customer needs into potential solution components.

Part 1.3 Fit (Essential)

Understand how the Value Map connects to the Customer Profile.

This introduces the idea that your solution should address things that actually matter to the customer.

Part 2. Design

You only need selected parts here.

Part 2.1 Prototyping Possibilities (Recommended)

This helps you explore different possible solutions rather than immediately committing to your first idea.

Part 2.2 Starting Points (Recommended)

Useful for generating possible starting points for solution design.

Part 2.3 Understanding Customers

Skim this part.

You’ve already done substantial customer understanding in Phase 1, so don’t duplicate that work.

Part 2.4 Making Choices (Recommended)

Useful when you have several possible solutions and need to decide which direction to pursue.

Parts You Can Skip For Now

Part 2.5 Finding The Right Business Model (Skip for now)

Business model design belongs elsewhere in the EVUNN roadmap.

Part 2.6 Designing In Established Organizations (Skip)

Your audience at this stage is primarily building or developing an expertise-based business, so this isn’t essential.

Part 3. Test (Don’t study this section yet)

Testing becomes much more relevant later when we reach Step 10 – Offer Validation

You don’t want to confuse designing a potential solution with validating the final offer.

4. Evolve (Skip for now)

This is more relevant to continuous improvement after you’ve taken the solution into the market.

You are simply asking: What could I create that would genuinely help this customer solve this problem?

Buy the book at the Bookshop

Your Step 1 Outcome

By the end of this step, you should have:

Generated 3 potential solutions

Each connected to the:

Validated Problem
↓
Customer Pain
↓
Desired Gain
↓

Final Result – Select 1 Most Promising and strongest Solution out of the 3 to take into Step 2.

🔓Your EVUNN Execution Toolkit

Ready to turn your validated problem into potential solutions?

Use the Solution Design Canvas. It guides you through the customer pains, desired gains, solution possibilities and assumptions behind each option helping you create solutions to solve the validated problem.