It was about redesigning the boxes. And it was about making the connections visible.
In November, together with our 250+ co-creators, we discovered something fundamental about why the Value Proposition Canvas had stopped working for the teams that used it.
Teams were struggling because the canvas felt incomplete.
Teams were struggling because the canvas never explained how the boxes connect.
People could fill in jobs-to-be-done, pains, gains, pain relievers, and gain creators, but still not understand why one led to the next. They were completing a worksheet, not following a chain of reasoning.
Then we cracked the code. The answer was not just more boxes. The answer was a cascade of logic.
The new chain
Read it top to bottom. And then read it bottom to top, because the chain works in both directions and reading it backwards is one of the best ways to pressure-test a value proposition.
Persona
↓ defines context for
Job-to-be-done
↓ creates
Pains and Gains
↓ distilled into
Customer Problem
↓ answered by
Value Proposition
↓ delivered through
Pain Relievers and Gain Creators
↓ experienced as
Benefits
↓ enabled by
Products and Services
Eight boxes. Seven verbs. One unbroken chain. You can go both ways.
The verbs are the work
The verbs are not decoration. They are the work. Each one names the step the team has to take to get from one field to the next, and each one closes a gap that the original canvas left wide open.
Defines context for. Start with the person, not the job. The same job means different things for different personas, and the canvas only works if the persona comes first.
Creates. Pains and gains are consequences of trying to do the job. They do not float in the air. If you cannot name the job clearly, you cannot diagnose the pain that flows from it.
Distilled into. Transform your observations into one sharp Customer Problem. Pains and gains are raw material. The Customer Problem is the distillate. One sentence. Sharp enough to be a target. Teams that cannot write this sentence cannot build anything worth building.
Answered by. Your Value Proposition becomes a response, not a slogan. Up to this point, you are studying the customer. From this point on, you are responding to them with an answer to a specific problem you have already named.
Delivered through. Pain Relievers and Gain Creators make value tangible. The Value Proposition needs vehicles. These are the mechanisms by which the answer reaches the customer.
Experienced as. Customers do not buy mechanisms. They buy outcomes. The pain reliever is the mechanism. The benefit is what the customer actually feels. Teams that sell mechanisms lose to teams that sell the experience those mechanisms create.
Enabled by. Products and services come last, not first. They exist to enable benefits. If a product does not enable a clear benefit that flows from a clear value proposition that answers a clear customer problem, it does not belong in the portfolio.
What changes in workshops
This changes innovation workshops completely.
Teams no longer ask, "What goes into this box?"
They ask, "How does this lead to that?"
The canvas becomes a thinking tool instead of a templating tool. The outcome is no longer a filled-in poster. The outcome is alignment on a chain of reasoning that the entire team can defend, end to end.
When something does not work, you can immediately identify which verb broke the chain and fix that single link.
Where to find it
The updated canvas is included in Augmented Collaboration. Grab your copy of the #badversion, available now as a softcover and a digital edition. The final version launches on 1 September 2026, including QR codes that connect every tool to a live Miro template, and can be pre-ordered today.
In the end, the boxes were part of the problem. The connections needed to be made. Now they are visible.
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