Most startup websites say the same thing: "The platform that empowers teams." "The all-in-one solution for modern businesses." "We help companies scale smarter."
What does any of that actually mean? Nothing. And visitors bounce in about 8 seconds when they can't figure out what you do.
Your value proposition is the one sentence (sometimes two) that tells someone exactly what you do, who it's for, and why they should care. Get it right and everything gets easier: your website converts better, your pitches land, your sales calls are shorter. Get it wrong and you're constantly explaining yourself to everyone you meet.
Here's how to actually write one.
What Is a Value Proposition?
A value proposition is a clear statement that explains how your product solves a customer's problem, what benefits it delivers, and why it's better than the alternatives. It's not a tagline, not a mission statement, and not your elevator pitch. It's a specific, customer-facing claim about the value your product creates.
The confusion between these terms trips up a lot of first-time founders. A tagline is short and brand-focused ("Just Do It"). A mission statement is internal and aspirational ("To organize the world's information"). A value proposition is external and practical. It answers one question from the customer's perspective: "What's in it for me?"
Basecamp's value proposition is a clean example: "The all-in-one toolkit for working remotely." Specific category, specific use case. Slack used to say "Be less busy." Short, benefit-focused. Notion calls itself "The all-in-one workspace where you write, plan, collaborate and get organized." More descriptive, but still concrete.
None of these are clever. They're just clear.
Why Most Startup Value Propositions Are Forgettable
Here's the thing: most bad value propositions aren't bad because the founders can't write. They're bad because the founders haven't done the thinking yet.
The most common failure mode is writing about features instead of outcomes. "Real-time collaboration, AI-powered summaries, and 50+ integrations" tells me what the product does. It doesn't tell me what I get. A better version: "Close your tabs. [Product name] gives your team one place to track everything."
The second failure mode is being too broad. When you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one. "For teams of any size in any industry" is not positioning. It's avoidance.
Third is hiding behind jargon. "Leverage AI to optimize your operational efficiency" sounds impressive but communicates nothing. Real customers don't talk like that, so your value proposition shouldn't either.
I've seen founders spend two weeks designing their landing page and two minutes writing their headline. That's backwards. The words matter more than the design.
A Simple Formula for Writing Your Value Proposition
You don't need to invent a new framework. Use this one, which combines the best parts of several well-known approaches:
[Product name] helps [target customer] [do/achieve specific outcome] by [how you do it] without [biggest objection or alternative].
Let's break that down with an example. Say you're building a tool that helps freelancers send invoices faster:
"[Product] helps freelancers get paid on time by automating invoices and follow-ups, without the complexity of accounting software."
Clear target: freelancers. Clear outcome: getting paid on time. Clear mechanism: automation. Clear differentiation: not as complicated as QuickBooks.
You won't use this exact sentence on your website. It's a starting point, not a tagline. From here you compress, rewrite, and test until it fits your voice and your customers' language.
A few other formats worth trying:
The problem-first version: "Freelancers lose an average of $6,000/year chasing late invoices. [Product] automates the whole thing."
The customer-first version: "For freelancers tired of chasing payments. [Product] handles your invoices so you can focus on the work."
The outcome-first version: "Get paid faster. [Product] sends, tracks, and follows up on invoices automatically."
Write five versions. Share them with five potential customers. See which one they actually understand and repeat back to you.
How Do You Find Your Real Differentiator?
This is where most founders get stuck. They know what they do, but they struggle to articulate why anyone would choose them over a competitor or the current way of doing things.
Your differentiator isn't always about features. It's often about who you serve, how you serve them, or what tradeoffs you're willing to make that competitors won't.
Ask yourself these questions:
Who is your ideal customer, described as specifically as possible? Not "small businesses" but "solopreneurs who do their own bookkeeping." Not "marketing teams" but "marketing managers at B2B SaaS companies with no agency budget."
What do your customers do right now instead of using your product? Spreadsheets, duct-taped tools, hiring someone, or just not doing it at all? This is your real competition.
What do they hate about the current solution? Not what you think they hate. What they actually complain about. Time on Reddit, Trustpilot reviews of your competitors, customer discovery calls. This is where the gold is.
And critically: what would make someone choose you over the obvious alternatives? Price, speed, simplicity, specialization, depth of features, quality of support, better fit for a specific use case?
The answer to that last question is your differentiator. Build your value proposition around it.
Stripe's early value proposition was essentially "Accept payments in 7 lines of code." Every other payment solution existed, but none of them made it that easy for developers. That was the differentiator: simplicity for a specific audience (developers), not a feature nobody else had.
How to Test Your Value Proposition Before You Build Anything
You shouldn't wait until your product is done to validate your value proposition. In fact, your value proposition should come before your product, not after.
The fastest test: put your value proposition on a landing page with a signup form. Drive 200-500 people to it from Reddit, Product Hunt, or a small ad spend ($50-100 on Google or Meta targeting your exact audience). If more than 10% of visitors sign up, you're saying something that resonates. If it's 2-3%, your messaging or your audience is off.
Customer discovery interviews are the highest-value research you can do. Talk to 15-20 people who fit your target customer profile. Ask them to describe their current problem in their own words. Then incorporate that language directly into your value proposition. This is called "borrowing words from your customers" and it's one of the most reliable copywriting tactics that exists.
If you're still early and trying to pull this all together, tools like Foundra have structured templates for working through your value proposition alongside your broader business model. It won't write the words for you (nothing should) but it gives you the right questions to answer in the right order.
Where Should You Actually Use Your Value Proposition?
Your value proposition isn't just for your homepage. It should show up everywhere a potential customer encounters your brand for the first time.
Website headline. This is the most obvious one. Your headline should be or contain your value proposition. Not a clever tagline. Something that tells visitors in 5 seconds what you do.
Subheadline. Use this to expand the headline. If your headline is short and punchy ("Invoice automation for freelancers"), your subheadline can carry more detail ("Send invoices, track payments, and follow up automatically. Without switching tools.").
Social media bios. Your Twitter/X bio, LinkedIn description, and Instagram bio should all reflect the core of your value proposition. These are often the first thing someone reads about you.
Cold outreach. If you're doing any outbound sales or partnerships, the second sentence of your cold email should be your value proposition. Not your backstory. Not your feature list.
Pitch decks. Slide one or two should have your value proposition. Investors hear hundreds of pitches. If they can't describe what you do after your first two slides, you've already lost them.
Product onboarding. New users should see your core value proposition reinforced right after they sign up. This reduces early churn by reminding them why they showed up.
The goal is consistency. Every touchpoint should feel like the same company making the same promise.
Real Value Proposition Examples Worth Studying
Here are some that work and why:
Stripe (developer-focused): "Financial infrastructure for the internet." Extremely broad category claim, but backed by product quality to justify it. Early on it was much more specific for developers.
Figma: "Build better products as a team." Short. Outcome-focused. The team angle differentiates it from solo-designer tools.
Linear: "The issue tracker you'll actually enjoy using." Acknowledges the category (issue tracker) and the main objection to competitors (nobody enjoys using Jira). Clever and specific.
Loom: "Say it with video." Three words. Works because their product literally does one thing and does it well.
Intercom (early version): "See who's using your product." No jargon, no features listed. Just a clear capability that solved a real problem.
What all of these have in common: they're specific, they're honest, and they're written for a real person with a real problem. None of them try to appeal to everyone.
Key Takeaways
- A value proposition answers one question: "What's in it for me?" It's not a tagline or a mission statement.
- Most bad value propositions talk about features instead of outcomes, or try to appeal to too many people at once.
- Use the formula: [Product] helps [customer] [achieve outcome] by [mechanism] without [biggest objection].
- Your real differentiator is often about who you serve and what tradeoffs you make, not which features you built.
- Test your value proposition with a landing page and real traffic before you build your product.
- Use it consistently everywhere: homepage, bio, cold outreach, pitch decks, onboarding.
- Borrow language from customer interviews. The words real customers use to describe their problem will be better than any copy you write alone.
FAQ
What's the difference between a value proposition and a tagline?
A tagline is brand-focused and often meant to be memorable ("Think Different"). A value proposition is customer-focused and meant to be clear. It explains what problem you solve and for whom. Most startups need a value proposition more urgently than a tagline.
How long should a value proposition be?
One to two sentences, max. If you can't say it in under 30 words, you haven't finished thinking. That said, a lot of companies use a short headline (the value proposition) paired with a longer subheadline that adds detail. Both serve a purpose.
How do I know if my value proposition is working?
The two most useful signals are landing page conversion rate (anything below 5% on cold traffic suggests messaging issues) and the tell-a-friend test (if a visitor can explain what you do to a friend after seeing your page, it's working). Customer interviews also surface mismatches fast.
Can a startup have more than one value proposition?
Yes, but be careful. If you serve multiple distinct audiences, you may need different value propositions for each. The risk is inconsistency. A better approach for early-stage startups: nail one value proposition for your primary customer, then expand later as you learn more about secondary segments.
When should I update my value proposition?
When your customers consistently misunderstand what you do, when you discover a better way to describe the problem you solve, when you change your target market, or when early traction data tells you a different message is resonating. It's not set in stone. Stripe, Slack, and Notion have all refined their messaging over time.
Do I need to hire a copywriter to write my value proposition?
No. The most effective value propositions come directly from founders who've done the customer research. A copywriter can polish the words, but they can't invent the positioning. That thinking is yours to do.
