Course Description:
In this comprehensive 1 hour 27 minute workshop originally presented at Harvard Innovation Labs, Michael Skok, founding partner of Underscore VC, guides entrepreneurs through frameworks to define, evaluate, and build compelling value propositions that drive customer purchase decisions. The workshop focuses on identifying a well-defined target customer segment facing unworkable, unavoidable, urgent, and underserved problems. Skok highlights the importance of starting with the user’s perspective, understanding their core pain points, and validating the problem’s significance. He explains the need to differentiate between users and customers, and to develop minimum viable segments and products for sustained startup success. Through real-world examples and practical steps, this session equips founders to craft crisp value prop statements that uniquely summarize the product’s key benefits in relation to alternatives. This tutorial is essential for startups aiming to create value that customers genuinely want to buy.
