If you ask three different people in your organisation exactly what your company does, do you get three different answers?
if the answer is yes, You’re not alone.
Things are moving fast – you’re refining your product, learning from customers and carving out your place in the market, but without a shared definition of exactly what you do internally, you’ll create confusion externally.
Customers need to understand why you matter. Investors need to see an opportunity. New team members need a clear sense of what they're joining.
A strong value proposition gives them all the same clear story.
What is a value proposition?
A value proposition is a short statement that explains the value you bring to the people you work with.
It answers three questions:
What do you do?
Who do you do it for?
Why does it matter?
It isn’t a tagline (the catchy line you might print on a hoody), and it isn’t a mission statement (the bigger change you want to see in the world). A value proposition captures what your organisation does, stripped down until only the essentials are left.
Why it’s important to get your value proposition right
Your value proposition sits at the centre of all your messaging. Everything else you write, should be an extension of it.
When your value proposition is clear, every piece of marketing and communications becomes easier to write and easier to understand, from your website homepage and elevator pitch to your grant applications and investor slide deck.
For life science and tech scale-ups, clear messaging is especially important. You’re often explaining something technically complex to a crowd of very different people: investors, regulators, research partners, potential customers and future employees. The temptation is to lead with the science or technology, but most audiences care less about how something works, and more about what it helps them achieve.
A strong value proposition translates your expertise into something relevant to them, so they can quickly understand both what you do and why it matters.
A valuable exercise for your whole team
The exercise of writing a value proposition is as useful for you as it is for your customers.
It forces you and your team to agree what your organisation exists to achieve. Any differences of opinion quickly become clear, and it’s far better to have those conversations in a workshop than halfway through an investor pitch.
Once you’ve agreed on the words, everyone’s energy is pulling in the same direction, and you’ll start progress in the market more quickly.
How to write a strong value proposition
1. Prepare the ground
Before you write a single word, get your team in a room and work through these prompts to challenge your thinking:
How would you explain your work to your friend’s eight year old?
What’s the bigger challenge you want to be part of solving?
Who are the people you're trying to reach right now, and what matters most to them?
2. Write a messy first draft
At this stage, use as many words as you like. Answer those three key points: What do you do? Who do you do it for? Why does it matter?
Be as specific as you can and don’t worry about editing yet. You're not trying to write the final version, you're gathering ideas and getting useful language down on the page before shaping it into something clearer in the next step.
3. Cut it down
Now it’s time to edit. The simpler the language and fewer words you can use, the easier it will be for people to understand. Go through what you’ve written and:
delete anything that could be said about any one of your competitors
take out anything that repeats itself
swap jargon for plain words
replace any hesitant verb phrases (like ‘aim to help’ or ‘seek to deliver’) with active present tense (help, build, deliver)
4. Test it
Leave your completed value proposition for a day or two, then come back to it with fresh eyes.
Read it out loud. If any part trips you up or sounds unnatural, it will probably be awkward for others to read too.
Then test it on someone outside your sector and ask them to explain it back to you in their own words. If they can, you're on the right track.
Two examples (and why they work)
Alma Business Consulting
“Alma helps life science and tech organisations solve complex leadership, people, regulatory, compliance and operational challenges by pairing sharp diagnosis with a bespoke network of seasoned experts. Our tailored, end to end partnership accelerates decisions, reduces risk, and turns more of your ideas into world-changing products.”
In the first sentence we share the what, who and how. We name Alma’s sectors precisely, then list the challenges the audience will recognise from their to-do list. The differentiator (sharp diagnosis paired with a bespoke network of experts) explains how Alma works differently to a generalist consultancy. In the second sentence we then move to outcomes, finishing with the big zoom-out: more ideas turned into world-changing products.
Cambridge Electric Transport
“Cambridge Electric Transport brings together proven operational experience, pioneering product development and community-rooted initiatives to give public and private sector partners a credible, scalable alternative to car-dependent travel and the most practical pathway to early autonomous transport in the UK.”
Here we open with the three key ingredients CET offers, balancing the reassurance of experience with the excitement of innovation and the warmth of community. We name the key audiences, public and private sector partners, and choose descriptors carefully - ‘credible’ and ‘scalable’ are exactly the words funders and local authorities are listening out for. We then finish with a confident claim to a specific future (the most practical pathway to early autonomous transport in the UK).
How do you know you’ve got your value proposition right?
Notice that neither of these examples try to tell the whole story.
The job of a value proposition is to create understanding quickly and provide a foundation for everything else. It should be:
Clear. Someone understands it on the first read.
Specific. It names who you help and what you help them with.
Different. It couldn’t belong to anyone else.
Credible. Every claim is one you can back up.
Customer-focused. It talks about what they gain, not just what you build.
Stretchy. It expands comfortably into a pitch, a homepage or a bio.
Shared. Your team is comfortable using it consistently.
When to bring in outside help
You know your work inside out. But turning all that expertise into words that customers, partners or investors can instantly understand is a different skill altogether.
It might be worth bringing in fresh eyes if:
Your team is so deep in the science or technology that you can’t find the plain-English version of what you do
Founders or directors have slightly different ideas about where the business is heading
You’re preparing for a key milestone, such as a funding round, a rebrand, a new website or a move into a new market
A value proposition works best as the centrepiece of a messaging framework. Once you've agreed on the core messages, every piece of content you create afterwards becomes quicker, easier and more consistent.
Ready to put your value into words?
My messaging strategy sessions bring your team together to uncover what's most important, find language that resonates with the right audiences and build a framework that supports every conversation.