In this lesson, you will learn how to test your value proposition by drawing on three concepts: the strategy canvas, persona, and the minimum viable product, or MVP. >> The strategy canvas emphasizes the uniqueness of your value proposition. The persona is who you think your typical customer is, which is useful in identifying real customers. The MVP, or minimal viable product, is a simple prototype and is key to articulating your value proposition to that potential customer. >> When explaining your value proposition to a customer, it is important to identify what it is that makes your solution different and better than existing ones. To do this, it is useful to identify features that provide value to the customers, and identify which of these features matter most. >> The strategy canvas is one way to summarize each solution's features and the respective value to the customer, and to visualize what it is that makes your solution outstanding. For example, going back to our comparison of smashbulbs and stressballs, both release stress, but in different ways and have different features. The stressball functions as a good solution for stress relief because they can be used repeatedly, they're inexpensive, and they're safe. >> However, stressballs may be too slow to reduce stress. And it's missing that satisfying crashing effect that you have when you're breaking something like - >> Dishes. Breaking dishes gives you an immediate satisfying release of stress, but it's not a very good solution because they can only be smashed once, they're relatively expensive, and most importantly they're not safe to smash. They produce dangerous shards - so. >> Well, the smashbulb’s unique value proposition is that it combines the benefits of both the stressball and the dishes. It gives the satisfying speed and crash that you have when you're breaking dishes, but without the safety issue. Sugar glass, as used in the movies, isn't sharp, and while it can only be used once, smashbulbs are still cheaper than dishes. >> When developing value propositions, usually we are thinking of certain groups of people who would value the product such as the smashbulb. The characteristics of these groups of people can be exemplified by a persona, which is like a Facebook profile for your customer, the problem they have, and how they value the product or solution that you're proposing. >> Developing personas will help you find out whether these people actually exist, whether they actually value your product. >> Of course, your personas may evolve together with the business idea as you go through the iteration process. >> For our smashbulb example, we may start off by assuming our customers are people who are first stressed, but also safety conscious and dramatic. However, you can also be more specific. What age range or income range are they? What are their family status? Why are they stressed? >> Once we have found someone who resembles our persona, it's time to show them the MVP and get their feedback. Now, the MVP does not have to be a fully functional prototype. It can be as simple as a sketch on a napkin, a wireframe on a website, an explainer video, or a 3D model. Its purpose is to get feedback and test hypotheses. >> In the lean method, there is an emphasis to using hard metrics to test hypotheses. However, early on, it is important to ask open questions and explore how exactly customers want to use your solution, including potentially unintended uses. >> This can be followed by quantitatively testing hypotheses and collecting hard metrics about specific features such as the exact color, shape, or price. So to continue with our smashbulb example, upon speaking to customers we may actually find that some people value the ornamental shape of the smashbulb or that they want to smash them for an entirely different reason like theater production or celebration. >> This may lead us to a different value proposition and a different persona. By contrast, if we focus too quickly on specific features such as the desired colors or shape of the bulbs, we would overlook these opportunities. >> Now that we have illustrated how to visualize the value proposition on a strategy canvas, sketch a persona, and outline how you can get feedback, it's time to put it into practice. >> We have three key activities for you to do this module. First, develop an initial value proposition for your business idea. >> Second, sketch out a persona of an ideal customer for this idea. >> And finally, actually find someone who fits that persona and get their feedback on your value proposition.
