Value propositions
Getting sharp on customer jobs, pains and gains with the Value Proposition Canvas, before you build or promise anything. Plus the customer conversations most teams skip, why they skip them, and what that costs when the proposition meets a real buyer.
12 articlesAll in value propositions
Customer jobs, pains and gains: identify them from real interviews
The customer profile is where the Value Proposition Canvas succeeds or fails. Most teams rush through it. They list obvious pains, guess at jobs, and skip gains entirely. After 100+ sessions, I can tell within five minutes whether a team has talked to real customers or filled in the canvas from their conference room.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas examples: 7 companies analyzed
Most Value Proposition Canvas examples online are oversimplified or fictional. These seven are not. I analyzed well-known companies and industrial B2B cases with completed canvases, practitioner commentary, and honest notes on what is missing.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas for B2B: how to handle the user, buyer, and decision-maker problem
The Value Proposition Canvas assumes one customer profile. B2B buying committees have 6-10 stakeholders with conflicting jobs, pains, and gains. Here is how to build canvases that match the way B2B decisions actually get made.
Read the article →
Fit in the Value Proposition Canvas: from paper fit to product-market fit
Fit is the entire point of the Value Proposition Canvas. Not the sticky notes, not the canvas itself. Yet most teams treat fit as a checkbox instead of a process. After 10 years and 100+ sessions, here is what fit actually means and how to achieve it.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas vs Business Model Canvas: not a rivalry, a zoom function
The Value Proposition Canvas is not a competing tool to the Business Model Canvas. It is a zoom function. Two of the nine BMC blocks deserve more depth than a sticky note allows. Here is how the two tools connect and when to use which.
Read the article →
Pain relievers and gain creators: getting the value map right
The value map is where teams turn good customer research into a weak value proposition. They list features instead of pain relievers, confuse gains with gain creators, and start from what they built rather than what customers need. After 100+ sessions, here is how I fix that.
Read the article →
How to validate your value proposition: from canvas to customer evidence
A filled-in Value Proposition Canvas is not a validated value proposition. It is a set of assumptions waiting to be tested. After 100+ sessions, I see teams treat the canvas as the finish line when it should be the starting gun. Here is how to turn canvas assumptions into customer evidence.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas: B2B examples, 100+ sessions (2026)
Most teams think they understand why customers buy from them. After 100+ sessions with companies across industries, most don't. This guide covers how to fill in the canvas properly, where the standard approach breaks down in B2B, and what to do after the canvas is complete.
Read the article →
How to fill in a Value Proposition Canvas: the questions most guides skip
Most guides tell you to start with customer jobs. That is not how it works in practice. After 100+ sessions, I start with pains, not jobs. Here is the step-by-step order that actually produces useful canvases, plus the questions most teams forget to ask.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas vs Empathy Map vs JTBD: a practitioner's decision guide
Three customer frameworks. One question that keeps coming up in workshops. Most comparisons tell you which tool is "best." I tell you which one to pick based on where your team is right now, what you already know about your customer, and what decision you need to make next.
Read the article →
8 Value Proposition Canvas mistakes that teams keep making
The Value Proposition Canvas is one of the most powerful tools in the innovation toolkit. It is also one of the most misused. After 100+ sessions over 10 years, I keep seeing the same eight mistakes. Not the obvious ones. The deeper ones that make teams think they have customer fit when they do not.
Read the article →
Value Proposition Canvas for manufacturing: why standard templates fail in industrial B2B
The Value Proposition Canvas was designed for single customer segments. Manufacturing doesn't work that way. After 10 years of running VPC sessions with industrial companies, here is where the standard approach breaks and what to do instead.
Read the article →Most companies know their innovation isn't working. Few know why.
A Strategy Call is 30 minutes. You bring your situation, I bring pattern recognition from 100+ sessions at 50+ companies. No pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll say so.