A product vision is a succinct, inspiring articulation of where your product is heading. It embodies the essence of your product — the core values it upholds, the core needs it fulfils, or the core problems it solves.
Earlier in this Product Vision series, I have written 3 articles and this is the 3rd one.
Previous Product Vision Articles Articles
Product Vision: What It Is & Why We Need It
Product Vision and Scrum Events
Characteristics Of A Good Product Vision
In the last article, we focused on ‘How to Create Product Vision Using Elevator Pitch’
What Is Elevator Pitch
Geoffrey Moore introduced the ‘Elevator Pitch’ template in his book Crossing the Chasm. This template provides a concise and impactful way to communicate a product’s vision. Moore’s template breaks down the Elevator Pitch into several critical components, each designed to clearly and succinctly convey the essence of your product. It serves as a clear and concise declaration of the product’s purpose.
The Elevator Pitch format is:
- For (target customer) — Who is the pitch aimed at? Clearly define the audience.
- Who (statement of the need or opportunity) — Identify the specific problems, needs or opportunities that your product addresses.
- The (product name) is a (product category) — Describe what your product is and the category it belongs in.
- That (key benefit, compelling reason to buy) — Highlight the primary benefit that makes your product necessary or desirable.
- Unlike (primary competitive alternative) — Mention your main competition.
- Our product (statement of primary differentiation) — State how your product differs from the competition, focusing on what makes it unique.
By addressing each of these components, the Elevator Pitch becomes a powerful tool for communicating your product vision.
If we examine the key attributes of a good product vision, as I described in my previous article Characteristics of a Good Product Vision, this approach meets most of those attributes.
- Clear & Concise: The Elevator Pitch is simple and easy to communicate. It doesn’t take much time to refer to it either.
- Aligned With Business Goals: The competitive advantage mentioned is typically linked with business goals. When using the Elevator Pitch, ensure that the competitive advantage aligns with these goals.
- Customer Focused: By identifying the target customer and their related needs and opportunities, the Elevator Pitch helps make the product vision customer-focused.
- Free From Solution: The Elevator Pitch avoids mentioning specific solutions, keeping the focus on the ‘why’ rather than the ‘what’ or ‘how.’
- Inspirational & Aspirational: By staying focused on customers and business goals, the product vision becomes more than just a statement. It serves as our North Star, guiding us through the complexities of product development.
Let’s take a deep dive into Netflix as an example.
I’m confident that most of us are familiar with Netflix, which is why I chose a product you can easily relate to.
- Target Customer: This step involves identifying who the product is for. For Netflix, the target customer would be people who watch TV for entertainment.
- Need: Here, we explain the need or opportunity that our product addresses. This is not about features or solutions but rather about the ‘why’ behind the product. For Netflix, it would be providing users with convenient access to high-quality entertainment content.
- Product & Product Category: This is where we specify our product and its category. For Netflix, it would be an Online Streaming Service.
- Key Benefit: This benefit is viewed primarily from the user’s perspective, focusing on how their needs are fulfilled. For Netflix, this would be the delivery of high-quality, diverse content.
- Competitive Advantage: What sets us apart from others? In this step, we identify key competitors and highlight our unique differentiator. For Netflix, this could be the flexibility to watch content whenever and wherever. Unlike traditional TV channels, which are often limited to specific locations or times, Netflix offers customers control over what they watch, no matter where they are — even when travelling abroad.
Eventually, this may look like this:
Let’s take another example: I am currently working at an Ed-Tech company that builds e-learning platforms.
Below is the Elevator Pitch that we are currently using.
Target Customer: Entrepreneurs, Educators and also Business
Need: Who wants to create, market and also sell engaging online courses and digital content
Product & Product Category: Product A is an E-learning course platform
Key Benefit: provides a seamless and comprehensive solution for building, managing, and also monetizing educational content.
Competitive Advantage: Unlike traditional learning management systems or piecemeal tools, our platform offers an all-in-one, user-friendly experience that includes everything from course creation and website hosting to marketing automation and also analytics, empowering you to focus on what you do best — teaching and connecting with your audience.
Here are three key benefits of using an Elevator Pitch as a Product Vision:
- Clarity and Focus: The Elevator Pitch distils the essence of the product into a concise, easily understandable statement. This clarity helps ensure that everyone involved — from team members to stakeholders — shares a common understanding of the product’s purpose and also direction.
- Alignment with Business Goals: By incorporating key components such as target customers, needs, and competitive advantages, the Elevator Pitch aligns the product vision with overarching business goals. This ensures that the product’s development is strategically guided by what matters most to the business and also its customers.
- Effective Communication: The brevity and structure of an Elevator Pitch make it a powerful tool for quickly and effectively communicating the product vision to a wide range of audiences, from investors and also executives to team members and customers. This ensures consistent messaging across all channels.
Conclusion
A well-crafted product vision serves as a guiding light, ensuring that your product stays aligned with its core values, addresses the right needs, and differentiates itself in a competitive market. By leveraging tools like Geoffrey Moore’s Elevator Pitch, you can create a product vision that is clear, concise, and deeply connected to both customer needs and also business goals, providing a strategic foundation for your product’s development and success.
If you want to learn more about the Product Vision and practice creating Product Vision using the Elevator pitch then enroll in our Professional Scrum Product Owner Class. Nothing beats learning by doing.
