Overview
Required Reading:
- VPD: Chapter 1 (pp. 50-63)
- VPD: Section 2.3 (pp. 104-119)
- VPD: Chapter 3 (pp. 178-253)
Understanding Customers and Lean Startup Study Questions
Value Proposition Design
The following questions are based on the text Value Proposition Design by Professor Alex Osterwalder et. al. Please answer these questions using the information found in the text.
- The VPC text discusses that value propositions in business-to-business (B2B) transactions typically involve six stakeholders in the search, evaluation, purchase, and use of a product or service. Each one has a different profile and a different value proposition canvas. Stakeholders can tilt the purchasing decision in one direction or another. List FOUR of stakeholders given in the text and describe in a sentence describing each, OR list all six stakeholders without definitions to receive full credit. (6 points)
- The text discusses the idea “Same Customer, Different Contexts” when discussing value propositions. What are the authors talking about? Hint: If you remember the example in the book when discussing “Same Customer, Different Contexts”, you can use it here to help you answer. (4 points)
- The VPC text discussed the “Customer Development” process as proposed by Steve Blank for hypothesis-driven entrepreneurship. Please fill in all the blanks of the figure below (6 points) [Image unavailable: steve-blank-image-1-1.JPG]
- The VPC text describes six techniques to gain customer insights. These techniques help you understand the customer’s perspective when designing value proposition’s. Name four of the techniques and in a sentence and describe each (8 points).
- The book describes “five data traps to avoid”. Name THREE data traps and describe each in a sentence or two (6 points).
- According to the text, Steve Blank coined the term “Earlyvangelist”. What is an “Earlyvangelist”? The book lists five traits of an Earlyvangelist. List three of the five traits. (5 points)
- As defined in the text, what is a “Call to Action”? How is a “call to action” used (i.e. why is it discussed in the text)? (3 points)
- The VPC text describes the “Testing Process”. The following figure was discussed in class. For example, the exclamation point (!) stands for “Make progress”. Label each of the remaining six images below to indicate the steps in the testing process. (6 points) [Image unavailable: lean-full-image-1-1.png]
- In the figure above, according to the book, why is the “step” 4, i.e. necessary? That is, to some, it initially may seem redundant to step #2 above, but it isn’t. Explain. (3 points)
- The text describes approximately 12 experiments types in the “Experiment Library”. For example, the text describes “Ad Tracking” as one type of experiment. Name 4 others and describe in a sentence. (6 points)
- 11. What additional information covered in the reading did you find interesting not covered above? (10 points)