🎓Your Value Proposition Can Make or Break Your Startup —Are You Getting It Right?

If your value proposition is just about being cheaper, you’re in trouble.

Your unique value proposition (UVP) is more than just a tagline—it’s your North Star. It guides where you spend resources (time and money), how you make strategic decisions, and whether investors, customers, and partners take you seriously.

But here’s the hard part: most founders can articulate their value proposition, but the “unique” part often gets lost.

In biomanufacturing (and many other sectors), I see this all the time. Too many companies pin their UVP on cost alone. While reducing COGS is important—especially for commodity biomanufactured products—competing only on price is a race to the bottom.

This reminds me of a story I heard from a founder last night about the cheap Rolls-Royce:

🚗 If you're wealthy enough to buy a Rolls-Royce, you want the real thing.

🚗 If you're not, you're not even considering one.

🚗 A "cheap" Rolls-Royce? No one wants it.

That’s what happens when your value proposition is just about price—you can end up appealing to no one.

So, how do you define your true unique value?

There are plenty of frameworks out there (I highly recommend Strategyzer’s UVP Canvas as a starting point, see HERE), but one of the simplest—and most powerful—is this:

✅ "You know how..." → State the problem

✅ "Well, we solve that by..." → Explain your solution

✅ "Our goal is to..." → Define the impact

Of course, your UVP needs depth beyond this, but if you can clearly articulate the problem, your solution, and its impact, you’ll have a compelling foundation for your business.

Here are some examples using the framework above:

Slack:
■ Problem Statement: "You know how communication in large teams can get chaotic and disorganized?"
■ Unique Solution: "Well, Slack solves this by providing a unified communication platform where teams can collaborate seamlessly."
■ Aspirational Statement: "Our goal is to streamline team communication and make working together simpler and more productive."

Dropbox:
■ Problem Statement: "You know how frustrating it is to have your files scattered across different devices?"
■ Unique Solution: "Well, Dropbox solves this by allowing you to store all your files in one place, accessible from any device."
■ Aspirational Statement: "Our goal is to simplify the way you manage and access your digital content."