Presented Mar 2019 at Insurance Operations Bootcamp 2019 / Las Vegas, Four Seasons Hotel (Resource Pro) Attendees included operations and sales executives from agencies, brokers, MGAs, and carriers.

1. Design Thinking & Insurance
How to Think Like an Insurtech
Resource Pro Insurance Operations Boot Camp
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 11, 2019

2. jlevine@cakeandarrow.com
Hello, I’m Josh
Founder & CEO of Cake & Arrow
joshplevine
JoshPaceLevine

3. • Business Design & Strategy
• Research & Insights
• Digital Product & Service Design
• Design Education
www.cakeandarrow.com
We are a customer experience design and innovation
company who works with organizations in the
insurance industry striving to create authentic and
meaningful relationships with their customers.

4. Ecommerce Insurance

5. POLICY-CENTRIC
APPROACH TO DESIGN
HASN’ T CHANGED IN
100+ YEARS

6. CARRIERS DESIGN
PRODUCTS AROUND
ACCEPTABLE RISKS
THEY’RE WILLING TO
UNDERWRITE

7. FROM THERE,
THEY PRODUCTIZE
AND MARKET THEM

8. THEN DISTRIBUTE

9. “I buy insurance because I have to.”
“The industry uses wording that I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know who to trust.”

10. Old
Paradigms
Evolving
Customer
Needs
+ =
Lack of Progress &
Poor Customer Satisfaction
• Humans think differently about insurance and how it fits into their lives
• Millennials and Gen Z are growing up. Starting to make insurance decisions
• Next gen of SMB owners whose influence is growing and intensifying
• Generational differences in the ownership that controls insurance decisions

11. BUSINESS
NEEDS
The insurance industry
needs to shift its focus

12. CUSTOMER
NEEDS
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
EMPATHY
IMMERSION

13. Instead of starting with
the needs of the business,
constraints of compliance,
or a predetermined set of
tools or technology…
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
EMPATHY
IMMERSION

14. Design Thinking puts
the customer at the core.
It’s founded in the
principle that good design
and innovation starts with
real life human problems
and needs.
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
EMPATHY
IMMERSION

15. The purpose of a business is
to create and keep a customer.
— PETER DRUCKER
The insurance industry
has been slow to realize
a simple concept:

16. Design thinking is an iterative process
in which we seek to understand the user,
challenge assumptions we might have,
and redefine problems in an attempt to
identify alternative strategies and solutions.
DEFINITION

17. CUSTOMER
NEEDS
TECH
FEASIBILITY
BUSINESS
VIABILITY
Brings together what is desirable from a human point of view
with what is technologically feasible and economically viable

18. to create meaningful experiences that deliver
customer value and market opportunity
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
TECH
FEASIBILITY
BUSINESS
VIABILITY

19. BIG DATA &
ANALYTICS
AI
TECHNOLOGY
CLOUD INTERNET OF
THINGS
BLOCKCHAIN DRONES MOBILE TECH AUTOMATION

20. BIG DATA &
ANALYTICS
AI
TECHNOLOGY
CLOUD BIG DATA &
ANALYTICS
INTERNET OF
THINGS
AI
BLOCKCHAIN DRONES MOBILE TECH AUTOMATION

21. BIG DATA &
ANALYTICS
AI
TECHNOLOGY
CLOUD BIG DATA &
ANALYTICS
INTERNET OF
THINGS
AI
BLOCKCHAIN DRONES MOBILE TECH AUTOMATION

22. IQ
Historically, the insurance industry has always
been policy-focused, driven by analytics…

23. IQ EQ= • How people do things and why
• Physical and emotional needs
• How they think about the world
• What is meaningful to them
In order to deliver value, we need to
understand what makes people tick.

25. $54kAverage premium
Source: Verywell Mind - IQ vs EQ: Which is More
Important?
Insurance agents with higher EQ sold
policies with higher premium
LOWER EQ
$114kAverage premium
HIGHER EQ

26. … the conversation changed from risk allocation to risk mitigation?
What if…
… customers came to agents telling them what products they wanted?
… the market was driven by delivering value beyond the product?
… agents were empowered to focus on the customer’s hopes and needs?

27. `
• Solve multifaceted problems and
satisfy complex needs
• Focus on empathy and immersion
• Generate and test lots of ideas (and
fail quickly and cheaply)
• Uncover unmet customer needs to
reveal untapped opportunities
Design Thinking
at its core is a
framework for
creative problem-
solving

28. Build
Empathy
Define the
Problem
Ideate
& Create
Prototype
& Validate
Explore behavior-
led research to
understand who
we’re designing for
and why.
Synthesize customer
insights and develop
a POV through
workshops and idea
generation.
Quickly generate a
lot of ideas through
collaborative and
cross-functional
work sessions.
Prototype solutions,
validate with actual
users, and then
iterate based on
their feedback.
THE DESIGN THINKING APPROACH

29. Build
Empathy
Define the
Problem
Ideate
& Create
Prototype
& Validate
Explore behavior-
led research to
understand who
we’re designing for
and why.
Synthesize customer
insights and develop
a POV through
workshops and idea
generation.
Quickly generate a
lot of ideas through
collaborative and
cross-functional
work sessions.
Prototype solutions,
validate with actual
users, and then
iterate based on
their feedback.
THE DESIGN THINKING APPROACH
FINDING THE RIGHT PROBLEM FINDING THE RIGHT SOLUTION

30. Create multiple
possible solutions
DIVERGENT THINKING

31. CONVERGENT THINKING
Narrow down
to singular idea

32. Build
Empathy
Define the
Problem
Ideate
& Create
Prototype
& Validate
PROBLEM
STATEMENT

33. Lets see it in action

34. MetLife Japan
Agent Customer Platform
What if we could shift the burden of complexity away
from the agent and customer—to transform services
and deepen customer relationships.
BUILD EMPATHY

35. Radically transform
MetLife’s market perception
from worst to best front-
office experience.
Increase trust in the
customer-agent
relationship.
CHALLENGE

36. Ethnographic research and
prototype testing in 5 cities
across Japan.
Shadowed agents and
customers and came to
understand the experience.
BUILD EMPATHY

38. Agents need flexibility for their personal
sales techniques. Yet they need to comply
with set standards for successful
application processing.
INSIGHT

39. RAPID PROTOTYPING
Share working
prototypes to clarify
scope of MVP and
its solution.
PROTOTYPE TESTING
ON IPAD

40. 95% reduction in
underwriting time.
From 21 days, to 15
minutes.
RESULT

41. MetLife Auto DTC
Claims Customer Journey
DEFINE THE PROBLEM

46. Do I need to call
the police?
ACCIDENT
Emotional
State
Oh no! It’s late?
Yay!
DOCUMENTATION FNOL REPAIR RETURN
What details do I
need to capture?
Do I really need an
ambulance?
How do I get a copy of
the policy report?
Will my photos be good
enough for an estimate?
Do I record the witness
statements, too?
Whose insurance do
I call and when?
What other info will
I need to know?
How do I do this right
the first time?
Is the repair shop
reputable?
How long will it take?
How much will it
cost me?
How do I return my
rental car?
When do I pick up
my vehicle?
What if I’m not happy
with the repairs?
DTC AUTO CLAIMS CUSTOMER JOURNEY
Vulnerable points along customer journeys are opportunities to build trust.

47. We discovered that immediate support is
required at the most vulnerable point—
when people need reassurance and knowledge.

48. Innovation project with
Top 3 P&C insurer in Japan
Prototype and validate conceptual products for digital
natives that encourage resiliency and positions “carrier”
as an insurance innovation leader.
IDEATE & CREATE

49. Planning
Design
& Validate
Synthesis
& Presentation
Ideate
& Define
KEY Activity Client + C&A Check-ins
WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4
- Synthesize & Distribute
Findings
-Seed concept preparation
-Logistical set up
-Workshop planning
Timeline & Key Activities for Design Sprint
Presentation
49Client Activity
WEEK 1
Design Thinking
Workshops
-Develop hypotheses
-Design prototype
-Research planning & recruiting
-Research prototype with digital natives
-Synthesize &
Distribute Findings
Presentation

51. 51
PICS From workshop

52. 52
PHOTO FROM
WORKSHOP DAY 1
• Toughness
• Moving On
• Peace of Mind
• Balance
• Support through
Community
• Proactive
• Access to resources
• Insurance Adjacent
RESILIENCE DEFINED

55. C&A Millennial + Insurance Prototype
Redefining insurance for millennials by tapping into
community and authentic connections.
DESIGN & VALIDATE

57. Millennials have the perception that
insurance companies don’t offer value,
and don’t align with their values.

58. Financial Security
& Stability
Uncertainty In
the Future
Source: Cake & Arrow Millennial Survey 2018
Key challenges facing
Millennials today
Community &
Authentic Connection
Interdependency
& Social Good
Key values that
matter to Millennials

59. Allowing policy holders to
group themselves based upon
shared values, lifestyles, and
risks can provide Millennials
access to more tailored
coverage, make them feel like
they are a part of something,
and give them the safety net
and support network they are
looking for.

61. CAKE & ARROW RESEARCH
In our first round of
research, communities
were based on benefits
for specific financial
profiles. This type of
community did not
resonate with our
participants.
KEY FINDING
61

62. CAKE & ARROW RESEARCH
In our second round of
research we customized
the communities to
connect more deeply to
values and identites.
Participants were
engaged, excited, and
overwhelmingly more
positive.
KEY FINDING
62
I would definitely trust
other graduate students
to use this responsibly.”
“

63. CAKE & ARROW RESEARCH
Participants responded
much more positively
when the communities
supported values
instead of products
KEY FINDING
It’s cool that you can
customize it toward the
group. If you’re going to
be part of a group it
can’t be generic. People
have their own sets of
problems and needs.”
“

64. Seeing how community
funds were spent
created trust and
reinforced community
values. It also built
confidence that the
coverage would work
when it was needed.
KEY FINDING
It’s good to see that your
money is going toward
what it’s intended for.”
“

65. Participants saw value
in helping others, even if
they weren’t going to
use the coverage
themselves.
KEY FINDING
It’s the fact that you can see the
number of people you’ve
helped… Just knowing that
you’ve been helping that number
of members makes it more worth
the money.”
“

66. 66
How to foster an
innovation culture
within your
organization
CUSTOMER
NEEDS
EMPATHY
IMMERSION

67. Well, that’s the way
we’ve always done it”
“

68. 68
Become comfortable asking
questions you dont know
the answer to.
“What if…?” goes against
pre-existing biases rooted
in data and logic.
CULTIVATE CURIOUSITY

69. 69
Structure everything as an
experiment. When failure
occurs, either iterate or
move on to next idea.
Reactive.
Nimble.
Agile.
FAILURE IS PART
OF THE PROCESS

70. 70
It’s a way of operating.
Cultivate empathy by
making it part of values.
Live it - top to bottom.
Show, dont tell.
NOT A ONE-AND-DONE
PROCESS

71. 71
Collaboration across
disciplines is critical for idea
generation and aligning on
breakthrough ideas.
It’s not for “designers”.
COLLABORATE ACROSS SILOS

72. 72
Every human being is
capable of being creative
and contributing to
innovation.
Coach people to share
ideas without concern of
being judged.
INSPIRE CREATIVE
CONFIDENCE

73. 73
• Choose an innovation partner to
seed the approach
• Start small and be targeted
• Nurture advocates through ongoing
coaching
• Institutionalize the learning model
• Stick it out when things get tough
Scalability
and Ongoing
Development
Not every organization is
ready to adopt a fully self-
driven learning program.

74. Workshop Time

75. Identify products
and services that
customers want
Workshop Goals
Build empathy and
identify consumer
challenges
Uncover patterns
where you can create
value for customers

76. Workshop
Agenda
75 minutes
1 Important Stuff 15 min
2
Pains & Gains 18 min
3
Pain Relievers &
Gain Creators
18 min
3
Ideate & Share 24 min

77. The Model We’ll Use Today
SUPER IMPORTANT STUFF

78. Gains
Pains
Gain creators
Pain relievers
Our Workshop Canvas

79. Gains
Pains
Gain creators
Pain relievers
Our Workshop Canvas

80. It has two sides
• The customer profile
helps you clarify your
customer
understanding.
• The value map helps
you describe how you
intend to create value
for that customer.
• Fit is what you achieve
by working both sides.
Create value
The set of value proposition
benefits that you design to
attract customers.
Understand
The set of customer characteristics
that you assume, observe, and
verify in the market.
Gains
Pains
Gain creators
Pain relievers

81. Take 2-minutes to draw your
canvas, one side per page.

82. 5 Basic Steps
Select
customer persona
Identify
customer pains
Identify
customer gains
Identify
pain relievers
1 2 3 4 5
Identify
gain creators
OBJECTIVE: Visualize what matters to your
customers and create solutions.
OUTCOME: Value creation that
benefits customers.

83. Personas for Today’s Exercise
IMPORTANT STUFF

84. Challenge: Support Tammy as she competes against corporate chains
Tammy is the president and owner
of a family-owned retail grocery
store called Arnold’s in Fishers,
Indiana - a suburb of Indianapolis.
• 48 years old
• married
• 3 children
• Degree in business from Indiana
University, Fort Wayne.
• Took over the family business in
2010.
Over the last several years Arnold’s
has been losing business to Trader
Joe’s, which opened less than a mile
away.
As a part of a larger plan to revamp
their business, Over the next several
months, Tammy plans to expand
their organic food and produce
sections to compete with Trader
Joe’s, and will be updating all her
store’s point of sales machines by
January of 2019.
Tammy [Arnold] Campbell

85. Challenge: Support Jason as he determines the next big move for his firm
Jason Goldstein is 44 years old and
the founder of a New York City digital
agency.
• Grew up in Long Island, New York
• Married with two kids
• Lives in Manhattan.
• Working in New York City agencies
for nearly 20 years.
Over the last six months, his agency
has undergone significant growth
with the addition of 3 new enterprise-
level clients, and they are anticipating
even greater growth in Q4 of 2018.
By the end of Q3 Jason would like to
move his company into a new office
space to accommodate their growth,
but not knowing what 2019 will look
like (will they continue to grow at the
same pace, or will they level out?),
he’s hesitant to commit to anything
long term.
Jason Goldstein

86. Ryan Lacy is 32 years old and works as
a Solutions Architect at Abitran in
Portland.
• Girlfriend of 5-years, Anne.
• Recently bought their first
townhouse.
• He and his girlfriend Anne love to
cook, run, cycle, and travel.
• Ryan and Anne have traveled to 13
countries across the globe, including
Vietnam, Chile, Japan, Egypt, and
Indonesia.
Ryan was recently promoted and feels
confident in the path his career is
taking. Three years into his job at
Abitran, this is the first time in his
career he has been at a job longer than
two years.
Ryan plans on proposing to Anne in
the next six months and sees them
getting married, having children, and
buying a house in the next 2-3 years.
As such, he is less focused on travel
right now, and more focused on
saving up money for their future
together (and buying a new road bike).
Ryan Quinn
Challenge: Guide Ryan while he plans for some significant life milestones and
builds towards substantial financial goals

87. What customers are trying to get
done in their work and their lives.
A customers job could be the tasks
they are trying to complete, the
problems they are trying to solve,
or the needs they are trying to
satisfy.
Customer
jobs
BIG IMPORTANT CONCEPT

88. Pains & Gains
ACTIVITY #1

89. Gains
Pains
The set of customer characteristics
that you assume, observe, and
verify in the market.
Understand
PAINS & GAINS
Clarify customer understanding
Pains:
Anything that annoys your customer.
Pains describe bad outcomes, risks, and
obstacles they face.
Gains:
Gains describe the outcomes customers
want to achieve or the concrete benefits
they are seeking.

90. PAINS & GAINS
Handout

91. 1. Select your persona.
2. Put a post-it-note in the Pains
box for every pain your customer
experiences or could experience
before, during, and after getting
the job done.
Here we go!

92. Take 8-minutes to come up with
some pains.
Use one sticky note per pain.

93. Gains
Pains
The set of customer characteristics
that you assume, observe, and
verify in the market.
PAINS & GAINS
Understand
Clarify customer understanding
Pains:
Anything that annoys your customer.
Pains describe bad outcomes, risks, and
obstacles they face.
Gains:
Gains describe the outcomes customers
want to achieve or the concrete benefits
they are seeking.

94. PAINS & GAINS
Handout

95. Put a post-it-note in the Gains
box for every benefit your
customer expects, desires or
would be surprised by.
Here we go!

96. Take 8-minutes to come up
with some gains.
Use one sticky note per gain.

97. Pencils down.

98. Pain Relievers & Gain Creators
ACTIVITY # 2

99. Gain creators
Pain relievers
Design
The set of value proposition
benefits that you design to
attract customers.
Create value for customers
PAIN RELIEVERS & GAIN CREATORS
Pain Relievers:
Pain relievers explicitly outline how you intend to
eliminate or reduce some of the things that annoy
your customers before, during or after they are
trying to complete a job.
Gain Creators:
Gains explicitly outline how you intend to produce
outcomes and benefits that your customer expects,
desires, or would be surprised by, including
functional utility, social gains, positive emotions
and cost savings.

100. Tips & Tricks
• You don’t need to address every pain/gain identified in
the customer profile. Focus on those that are relevant to
customers and where your products and services will
make a difference.
• End your Pain Relievers with a noun to describe an
aspect of your offering.
• Gains can be entirely independent new elements of
value that solve their pains better.

101. Handout
PAIN RELIEVERS & GAIN CREATORS

102. Put a post-it-note in the Pain
Relievers box for every benefit
your customer expects, desires or
would be surprised by.
Here we go!

103. Take 8-minutes to come up with
some pain relievers.
Use one sticky note per pain reliever.

104. Gain creators
Pain relievers
Create value
The set of value proposition
benefits that you design to
attract customers.
PAIN RELIEVERS & GAIN CREATORS
Pain Relievers:
Pain relievers explicitly outline how you intend to
eliminate or reduce some of the things that annoy
your customers before, during or after they are
trying to complete a job.
Gain Creators:
Gains explicitly outline how you intend to produce
outcomes and benefits that your customer expects,
desires, or would be surprised by, including
functional utility, social gains, positive emotions
and cost savings.
Create value for customers

105. PAIN RELIEVERS & GAIN CREATORS
Handout

106. Put a post-it-note in the
Gain Creators box for every
benefit your customer
expects, desires or would
be surprised by.
Here we go!

107. Take 8-minutes to come up with
some gain creators.
Use one sticky note per gain creator.

108. Pencils down.

109. Let’s take a quick 8-min break.

110. Ideate
ACTIVITY # 3

111. Idea Generation
Sketching and ideation exercise to
create connections, and generate as
many unique concepts as we can.
• Everyone: Grab a piece of 11x17
paper and fold it in half 3 times
• Everyone: Sketch 8 ideas in 8
minutes (Shoot for ideas over
details—blue sky is great!) Provide
any description necessary.

112. Sketch 8 ideas in 8-min.
Shoot for ideas over details, blue sky is great.

113. Show & Tell
ACTIVITY # 4

115. Share your hypotheses
SHOW & TELL
As groups share out, ask yourself:
• How does this match your own
group’s results?
• How would you iterate on the
thinking each group is presenting?
• Would you alter your ideas after
hearing what others came up with?

116. Done.

117. go.cakeandarrow.com/
human-centered-design
DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER
A Guide to Human
Centered Design
Thank you
jlevine@cakeandarrow.com
joshplevine
JoshPaceLevine
Reach out anytime to chat

118. APPENDIX
In-room reference materials

120. The Value Proposition Canvas
Value Proposition Customer Segment
strategyzer.com
copyright: Strategyzer AG
The makers of Business Model Generation and Strategyzer
Gain Creators
Pain Relievers
Products & Services
Gains
Pains
Customer Job(s)
List all the products and services your value proposition is
built around.
Which products and services do you offer that help your
customer get either a functional, social, or emotional job
done, or help him/her satisfy basic needs?
Which ancillary products and services help your customer
perform the roles of:
Buyer
(e.g. products and services that help customers compare of-
fers, decide, buy, take delivery of a product or service, …)
Co-creator
(e.g. products and services that help customers co-design
solutions, otherwise contribute value to the solution, …)
Transferrer
(e.g. products and services that help customers dispose of
a product, transfer it to others, or resell, …)
Products and services may either by tangible (e.g. manufac-
tured goods, face-to-face customer service), digital/virtual
(e.g. downloads, online recommendations), intangible (e.g.
copyrights, quality assurance), or financial (e.g. investment
funds, financing services).
Rank all products and services according to their
importance to your customer.
Are they crucial or trivial to your customer?
Describe how your products and services create
customer gains.
How do they create benefits your customer expects,
desires or would be surprised by, including functional utility,
social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings?
Do they…
Create savings that make your customer happy?
(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort, …)
Produce outcomes your customer expects or
that go beyond their expectations?
(e.g. better quality level, more of something, less of
something, …)
Copy or outperform current solutions that delight
your customer?
(e.g. regarding specific features, performance, quality, …)
Make your customer’s job or life easier?
(e.g. flatter learning curve, usability, accessibility, more
services, lower cost of ownership, …)
Create positive social consequences that your
customer desires?
(e.g. makes them look good, produces an increase in power,
status, …)
Do something customers are looking for?
(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features, …)
Fulfill something customers are dreaming about?
(e.g. help big achievements, produce big reliefs, …)
Produce positive outcomes matching your
customers success and failure criteria?
(e.g. better performance, lower cost, …)
Help make adoption easier?
(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality,
performance, design, …)
Rank each gain your products and services create according to
its relevance to your customer. Is it substantial or insignificant?
For each gain indicate how often it occurs.
Describe how your products and services alleviate customer
pains. How do they eliminate or reduce negative emotions,
undesired costs and situations, and risks your customer
experiences or could experience before, during, and after
getting the job done?
Do they…
Produce savings?
(e.g. in terms of time, money, or efforts, …)
Make your customers feel better?
(e.g. kills frustrations, annoyances, things that give them
a headache, …)
Fix under-performing solutions?
(e.g. new features, better performance, better quality, …)
Put an end to difficulties and challenges your
customers encounter?
(e.g. make things easier, helping them get done, eliminate
resistance, …)
Wipe out negative social consequences your
customers encounter or fear?
(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status, …)
Eliminate risks your customers fear?
(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go
awfully wrong, …)
Help your customers better sleep at night?
(e.g. by helping with big issues, diminishing concerns, or
eliminating worries, …)
Limit or eradicate common mistakes
customers make?
(e.g. usage mistakes, …)
Get rid of barriers that are keeping your customer
from adopting solutions?
(e.g. lower or no upfront investment costs, flatter learning curve,
less resistance to change, …)
Rank each pain your products and services kill according
to their intensity for your customer. Is it very intense or
very light?
For each pain indicate how often it occurs. Risks your
customer experiences or could experience before, during,
and after getting the job done?
Describe the benefits your customer expects, desires or would
be surprised by. This includes functional utility, social gains,
positive emotions, and cost savings.
Which savings would make your customer happy?
(e.g. in terms of time, money and effort, …)
What outcomes does your customer expect and what
would go beyond his/her expectations?
(e.g. quality level, more of something, less of something, …)
How do current solutions delight your customer?
(e.g. specific features, performance, quality, …)
Describe negative emotions, undesired costs and situations,
and risks that your customer experiences or could experience
before, during, and after getting the job done.
What does your customer find too costly?
(e.g. takes a lot of time, costs too much money, requires
substantial efforts, …)
What makes your customer feel bad?
(e.g. frustrations, annoyances, things that give them a
headache, …)
How are current solutions under-performing
for your customer?
(e.g. lack of features, performance, malfunctioning, …)
What are the main difficulties and challenges
your customer encounters?
(e.g. understanding how things work, difficulties getting
things done, resistance, …)
What negative social consequences does your
customer encounter or fear?
(e.g. loss of face, power, trust, or status, …)
What risks does your customer fear?
(e.g. financial, social, technical risks, or what could go aw-
fully wrong, …)
What’s keeping your customer awake at night?
(e.g. big issues, concerns, worries, …)
What common mistakes does your
customer make?
(e.g. usage mistakes, …)
What barriers are keeping your customer from
adopting solutions?
(e.g. upfront investment costs, learning curve, resistance
to change, …)
Rank each pain according to the intensity it represents for
your customer.
Is it very intense or is it very light.?
For each pain indicate how often it occurs.
Describe what a specific customer segment is trying to get
done. It could be the tasks they are trying to perform and com-
plete, the problems they are trying to solve, or the needs they
are trying to satisfy.
What functional jobs are you helping your customer
get done? (e.g. perform or complete a specific task, solve a
specific problem, …)
What social jobs are you helping your customer get
done? (e.g. trying to look good, gain power or status, …)
What emotional jobs are you helping your customer
get done? (e.g. esthetics, feel good, security, …)
What basic needs are you helping your customer
satisfy? (e.g. communication, sex, …)
Besides trying to get a core job done, your customer performs
ancillary jobs in different roles. Describe the jobs your
customer is trying to get done as:
Buyer (e.g. trying to look good, gain power or status, …)
Co-creator (e.g. esthetics, feel good, security, …)
Transferrer (e.g. products and services that help customers
dispose of a product, transfer it to others, or resell, …)
Rank each job according to its significance to your
customer. Is it crucial or is it trivial? For each job
indicate how often it occurs.
Outline in which specific context a job
is done, because that may impose
constraints or limitations.
(e.g. while driving,
outside, …)
What would make your customer’s job or life easier?
(e.g. flatter learning curve, more services, lower cost of
ownership, …)
What positive social consequences does your
customer desire?
(e.g. makes them look good, increase in power, status, …)
What are customers looking for?
(e.g. good design, guarantees, specific or more features, …)
What do customers dream about?
(e.g. big achievements, big reliefs, …)
How does your customer measure success
and failure?
(e.g. performance, cost, …)
What would increase the likelihood of
adopting a solution?
(e.g. lower cost, less investments, lower risk, better quality,
performance, design, …)
Rank each gain according to its relevance to your customer.
Is it substantial or is it insignificant? For each gain indicate
how often it occurs.

121. Three kinds of value prop fit
• Problem-solution fit: when you have evidence that
customers care about certain pains, and gains and your
value prop addresses those.
• Product-market fit: when you have evidence that your gain
creators, and pain relievers are actually creating customer
value, and getting traction in the market
• Business model fit: when you have evidence that your
value proposition can be embedded in a profitable and
scalable business model.

122. Assess your value prop
1. Is it embedded in a great business model?
2. Does it focus on the most important jobs,
most extreme pains, and the most essential
gains?
3. Does it focus on unsatisfied jobs,
unresolved pains, and unrealized gains?
4. Does it concentrate on only a few pain
relievers and gain creators, but does those
extremely well?
5. Does it addresses functional, emotional,
and social jobs, all together?
6. Does it align with how customers measure
success?
7. Does it focus on jobs, pains or gains that a
large number of customers have or for which
a small number are willing to pay a lot of
money?
8. Does it differentiate from competition in a
meaningful way?
9. Does it out perform competition in a
meaningful way?
10. Is it difficult to copy?