Alloy Growth Lab - Startup Snacks #89 - Define Your Why: Building Products with Purpose

Welcome to the first installment of our February Startup Snacks series focused on product development. This week, we’re starting where all great products begin: defining your why.

Why does your product exist? Why should customers care? Why are you building this in the first place? These questions go beyond features and functionality—they anchor your product to a clear purpose and ensure alignment across your team, investors, and customers.

Let’s dive into how you can define your why, create a strong value proposition, and validate it using actionable frameworks.

?? Start With Why

Simon Sinek’s golden circle framework emphasizes starting with your why, not your what or how. For startups, this means clarifying the deeper purpose behind your product:

• Why do you exist?
• What problem are you solving?
• How does this impact your customers' lives or businesses?

By answering these questions, you’ll articulate the mission and value that drive your product forward.

?? Crafting a Strong Value Proposition

A great value proposition is where your why meets your customer’s needs. Here’s how to create one:

1. Identify the Problem: What pain point are you solving?
2. Explain the Solution: How does your product solve this problem uniquely?
3. Clarify the Value: What outcome or benefit will your customers gain?

?? Pro Tip: Use GrowthX’s customer discovery framework to talk directly to potential users. Their questions about customer problems and buying behavior will help refine your value prop.

?? Validate Your Why with Customers

Defining your why is one thing; validating it is another. Use these steps to test your assumptions:

• Customer Interviews: Talk to your ideal customers to understand if your why resonates. Ask open-ended questions about their challenges and goals.
• Prototyping with Figma: Use Figma to create quick prototypes that illustrate your product’s core purpose. Share them with customers for feedback.
• Iterate Based on Feedback: Adapt your messaging or product concept based on what you learn.

?? Tool Spotlight: Figma is perfect for turning ideas into clickable prototypes that communicate your why visually.

?? Your Why in Action: The Value Proposition Canvas

The Business Model Generation book by Alexander Osterwalder provides an excellent tool to align your product with your customer’s needs: the Value Proposition Canvas.

Here’s how it works:

1. Map Customer Pains and Gains: List the problems your customers face (pains) and the benefits they want (gains).
2. Link Features to Value: Connect your product features to how they alleviate pains or deliver gains.

Takeaway: This canvas ensures your why directly translates to customer value.

?? Key Takeaways

• Start with Why: Anchor your product development to a clear purpose that resonates with your audience.
• Refine Your Value Prop: Focus on solving customer pain points with clear, tangible benefits.
• Validate and Iterate: Use tools like GrowthX frameworks and Figma to test your ideas with real users.

Building a product without a clear why is like sailing without a compass—it’s hard to know where you’re going. By defining and validating your why, you’ll create a strong foundation for all your product development efforts.

That’s all for this week’s Startup Snacks. Stay tuned next week as we dive into how to turn your why into an MVP. Until then, keep building with purpose! ??