The value proposition canvas is the wrong way around

This confuses me — every time I look at it!
The canvas is the wrong way around!

In cultures where we read left to right, the standard value proportion canvas gives the impression that we start with the product, and then somehow map it to customers.

This is not how I work, or how companies create value!

I and customer-centric companies start with… the customer or user. What is their job to be done, their pain and gain. Then we create products and services to serve those needs.

Yes, I know! The official explanation says, that you start on the right, and then move over to the left.

But, every-time I look at the canvas, I mentally switch it around in my head, so that I can make sense of it. And every-time I look at it I get a little angry, because it is so misleading.

I see you shake your head!
And I hear you think: If you switch it around, then it doesn’t map nicely onto the business model canvas anymore. Like in the image below.

Well, then there is obviously a problem with the business model canvas. It makes it look as though customers are at the receiving end of the business process.

But in fact, customers are the ones that define what value is. Customers are at the start of defining what valuable thing a business should do. The rest flows from there.

Let’s switch it around. Start with the customer, then define the value proportion. It flows nicely! And communicates how it should be done visually (at least for left to right reading cultures).

It’s not rocket science. But it makes live easier, just a little. I don’t need to jump through mental hoops anymore. Yay!