Derrick Muturi, CEO, Herdy

Value proposition, I think, was a really tough part for us. Initially, what we did was a cookie cutter model. We went on Amazon, we were like: what are the value propositions of Amazon?, and I will do the same thing for Herdy: speed, service, convenience, selection. 

We didn't have most of that. We didn't have selection... So I think it's really going in and saying: Okay, who are the people we're trying to solve this problem for? And what can we do that other companies can't do as good as we can?

Once we started to identify those different things, we were like: Okay, cool! We're a technology company. We're the grocery in the agricultural value chain. What can we do for the people within that realm?, and it'll actually cut out a very niche product for ourselves.

As entrepreneurs are trying to come up with a value proposition, I'd say they'd have to really think about what they're really good at doing, as a company or as entrepreneurs, and then think about what the consumer really needs. Once you have those two things, basically where they marry, that's where your value proposition is.

John Waibochi, Co-founder & CEO, Virtual City

What is our value proposition? In theory, we can build digitization of a supply chain of anything, from a health product to an insurance product to whatever. And, possibly, before that thought that we could do that. In fact, we had customers across the whole spectrum. After defining the value proposition, we only started concentrating on food.

Now, when you think about a supply chain, a food supply chain and a medicine supply chain have got a lot of similarities. There's nothing to stop you from doing both. But we then did our value proposition and said: you know what? We are in the food business. As much as we can help customers in other industries, we are in the food business. That is where that came from.

Prior to that, we were in the software business and building a software that can do A, B, C, whereas it changes your thinking. That was good because prior to that, I guess we had our vision and our mission, and all those good documentations, but then that made the difference. Once again, hindsight. I wish 20 years ago, when I was starting the company, we had actually done that. It would have saved us a lot of pain.

Key takeaways 

• Identify a value proposition that differentiates you from competitors

• Align your value proposition with customer needs to focus efforts and drive impactful outcomes

• Focus - don’t try to be everything to everyone!