founders paras chopra, chapter by chapter
11. Deliver Value Only Where Customers Care
An improvement matters only to a segment that values that dimension.
Markets contain segments with different priorities: price, reliability, speed, prestige, convenience, or something else. A technically impressive improvement can be commercially worthless when aimed at a dimension the chosen customers ignore. Being objectively better is not enough; the difference must matter to someone.
Define the segment before defining “better.” Use behavior to rank the dimensions that drive its decisions, then concentrate improvement there. If customers do not notice or change behavior after an enhancement, either the dimension or the target segment is wrong—regardless of how proud the team is of the work.
Original sketch and model by Paras Chopra. Read the source chapter.