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Value Propositions and MVTs....The Growth Letter by Tim Cakir - Issue #53

Hey friends,

We were robbed a couple of weeks ago. Someone came into the bedroom window while we were downstairs and stole our jewellery.

Knowing that someone invaded your home is horrible, and the stolen items had sentimental value. My watch was a graduation gift from my parents, and much of Becky jewellery once belonged to my grandmother.

It put us in a bad mood for a few days, but ultimately we’re looking on the bright side that we’re all ok and no one was hurt.

Lesson learned: keep valuables locked away, out of easy reach. But also, be grateful for the things that matter most in life - health, family, and friends!

What are you most grateful for?

Good Reads

I’ve started creating visual guides for business frameworks and sharing them on Linkedin. Here’s my first one, the Value Proposition Canvas.

Are there any methodologies or frameworks you’d like me to delve into? Respond if you have any suggestions!

Let’s talk about the Value Proposition Canvas.

It’s a useful framework for thinking about how your product can answer your customer’s wants and needs….

While we’re on the subject, I found a blog article that goes into more detail about how to fill in a Value Proposition Canvas, with plenty of useful examples.

The Value Proposition Canvas is a great tool for understanding how customers make decisions, and therefore helps us create offers that they will find appealing.

The best way to get started is to see someone else using it.

We all know that great startups begin with an MVP, a minimum viable product. You build a basic version of your product, then test it. Right?

Well, according to Gagan Biyani, there is another way.

In this article, he explains the concept of “Minimum Viable Testing,” the process that helped him build successful startups like Udemy, Maven, and Lyft.

The traditional approach is to do some customer research, throw an MVP out there as fast as possible, and hope it hits. After being early at three startups that achieved over $1M in run-rate in their first six months of going live, Gagan Biyani has landed on an approach that’s quite different. Here’s his framework.

Who to Follow

Andrew Chen is an entrepreneur, investor and writer with tons of wisdom to share on growth. He’s got a book coming out, “The Cold Start Problem,” which is about “network effects” - what they are and how to leverage them for growth.

a16z and author of The Cold Start Problem

Tool of the Week

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