| name | value-proposition-canvas |
| description | Guide for creating Value Proposition Canvases (Osterwalder/Strategyzer methodology). Use when designing, analyzing, or refining product-market fit, mapping customer needs to product features, or writing value propositions for landing pages, pitches, or App Store copy. |
Value Proposition Canvas
Structured framework by Alex Osterwalder (Strategyzer) to ensure product-customer fit. Two sides, one mapping exercise.
When to Use
- Defining what to build before coding (feature prioritization)
- Writing landing page copy, App Store descriptions, pitch decks
- Evaluating product-market fit for an existing product
- Comparing your offer against competitors
- Preparing for user interviews (what to validate)
Core Workflow
Step 1: Pick One Customer Segment
One canvas per segment. Never mix segments on a single canvas.
Step 2: Fill the Customer Profile (right side)
Map the customer's world independent of your solution:
- Jobs - What they're trying to accomplish
- Pains - What blocks or frustrates them
- Gains - What would delight them or make life better
Rank each item by intensity (essential vs. nice-to-have, extreme vs. moderate).
See references/customer-profile.md for job types, pain/gain categories, and trigger questions.
Step 3: Fill the Value Map (left side)
Map your offering:
- Products & Services - Your actual features and deliverables
- Pain Relievers - How each feature kills a specific pain
- Gain Creators - How each feature creates a specific gain
See references/value-map.md for definitions and worked examples.
Step 4: Map the Fit
Draw explicit connections between left and right:
- Every Pain Reliever connects to a specific Pain
- Every Gain Creator connects to a specific Gain
- Unconnected features = cut candidates
- Unaddressed pains/gains = product gaps or deliberate scope choices
Step 5: Synthesize the Value Proposition Statement
"For [segment] who [key job/pain], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit] unlike [alternative] which [limitation]."
Step 6: Validate and Iterate
The canvas is a hypothesis. Test with:
- Customer interviews (do these jobs/pains/gains resonate?)
- Landing page tests (does the statement convert?)
- Usage data (do features mapped as relievers actually reduce churn?)
See references/fit-and-validation.md for validation methods and fit levels.
Output Format
When generating a Value Proposition Canvas, use this structure:
# Value Proposition Canvas: [Product] x [Segment]
## Customer Profile
### Jobs
| Priority | Type | Job |
| -------- | ---------- | --- |
| High | Functional | ... |
### Pains
| Severity | Pain | Current Workaround |
| -------- | ---- | ------------------ |
| Extreme | ... | ... |
### Gains
| Importance | Gain |
| ---------- | ---- |
| Essential | ... |
## Value Map
### Products & Services
- [Feature 1]
- [Feature 2]
### Pain Relievers
| Pain | Reliever | Feature |
| ---- | -------- | ------- |
| ... | ... | ... |
### Gain Creators
| Gain | Creator | Feature |
| ---- | ------- | ------- |
| ... | ... | ... |
## Fit Analysis
- Addressed pains: X/Y
- Addressed gains: X/Y
- Unconnected features: [list]
- Gaps: [list]
## Value Proposition Statement
> "For ... who ..., [Product] is a ... that ... unlike ... which ..."
Critical Rules
- Always start with customer profile - never start from your features
- Pains exist independently of your solution - "lacks feature X" is not a pain
- One canvas per segment - mixing segments produces noise
- Rank everything - not all jobs/pains/gains are equal
- Map explicitly - vague "it helps" connections don't count
References
