A simple, powerful 4-step model for generating, shaping, testing, and preparing to deliver your business idea. Ideal for workshops, classrooms, startups, and solo entrepreneurs.
🅰️ A is for Audience – Who are you helping?
Every business begins with understanding who you’re serving. Great ideas solve problems for specific people. The more clearly you define your audience, the more relevant and valuable your solution becomes.
🔍 Actions:
Identify your target user or customer (persona).
Research their lifestyle, challenges, values, and goals.
Observe what frustrates or delights them.
💬 Prompt Questions:
Who is your ideal customer?
What are they struggling with?
What are they trying to achieve?
🛠️ Tools: Empathy Map | Personas | User Interviews | Customer Journey Map
🅱️ B is for Breakthrough – What’s the big insight or idea?
This is the “aha” moment — your unique solution, innovation, or creative twist that delivers value in a new way. It might be simpler, faster, cheaper, greener, or more delightful than existing alternatives.
🅲️ C is for Concept Validation – Does it work for real people?
Before building a full product or service, you must test whether your idea resonates. Validation means getting real-world feedback to see if people understand, want, and will use or pay for it.
🔍 Actions:
Create a simple version of your offer (MVP, mockup, prototype).
Share it with potential users.
Collect feedback, track behavior, refine the idea.
🅳️ D is for Delivery Model – How will you make it happen?
Once you’ve validated the idea, it’s time to figure out how to deliver it. This means planning how the business will operate — how you’ll create, distribute, and capture value.
🔍 Actions:
Define your business model (revenue, costs, logistics).
Choose your go-to-market strategy.
Plan your first version or launch steps.
💬 Prompt Questions:
How will you deliver your product or service?
How will you make money?
What resources and systems will you need?
🛠️ Tools: Lean Canvas | Business Model Canvas | Pricing Strategy | Go-to-Market Plan
🧩 Summary: The ABCD of Business Ideation
Letter
Focus
Key Outcome
A – Audience
Understand the customer
Clear user needs and target profile
B – Breakthrough
Define the unique solution
Compelling idea aligned with user needs
C – Concept Validation
Test it in the real world
Evidence that people want it
D – Delivery Model
Plan how to bring it to life
Strategy to build, market, and earn revenue
🚀 Real Example: ABCD in Action
👟 Business Idea: Custom Sneakers for Nurses
A – Audience: Nurses who work long shifts and need comfortable, stylish footwear.
B – Breakthrough: Design ergonomic sneakers with built-in support and personalization options.
C – Concept Validation: Build a landing page with designs, get feedback from nursing groups, offer pre-orders.
D – Delivery Model: Direct-to-consumer model using print-on-demand and affiliate marketing through health influencers.
✅ Why Use ABCD?
Simple & Memorable: Great for students, founders, or teams.
Practical & Actionable: Guides you from idea to implementation.
Flexible: Can be used in workshops, hackathons, or ideation sprints.
The role of ideation in entreprenuership can not be underestimated, however there is little written on the structure of it, nor simple ways to develop ideas.
Enter the 7 Ps of Ideation — a structured, practical, and repeatable framework designed to help you generate meaningful, viable, and innovative business ideas.
Whether you’re launching your first venture, pivoting your current business, or looking to spark creativity in your team, this framework gives you a systematic lens through which to discover opportunities.
Let’s dive into each of the seven Ps: People, Place, Process, Problems, Patterns, Passions, and Potential.
1. People: Understanding Human Needs
At the heart of every great business is a clear understanding of people. Customers are not just data points or demographics; they’re real humans with emotions, habits, frustrations, and dreams. Business ideas that matter usually start with empathy.
How to apply it:
Observe people in everyday life — commuting, shopping, working, relaxing.
Interview friends, colleagues, or potential users. Ask about their challenges or what wastes their time.
Segment different user groups: working parents, remote freelancers, students, retirees — and ask, “What do they wish was easier?”
Example:
Melanie Perkins started Canva after observing how difficult it was for non-designers (especially students and teachers) to use professional design software. Her empathy for everyday users birthed a billion-dollar idea.
2. Place: Leveraging Context and Environment
“Place” refers to the environment — both physical and digital — where problems and opportunities arise. Local culture, geography, infrastructure, and even online spaces can influence needs. A business idea that works in one region may not in another, but that’s where niche opportunities thrive.
How to apply it:
Explore how needs differ between urban vs rural, or developed vs developing locations.
Consider online communities as “places” with shared challenges (e.g. remote workers, gamers, small Etsy sellers).
Walk your neighborhood. Notice what’s missing or underdeveloped.
Example:
Gojek emerged in Indonesia where traffic congestion and underdeveloped transport systems were a massive issue. By understanding the place, they created a super-app that now powers logistics, payments, and rides in Southeast Asia.
3. Process: Improving How Things Are Done
The third P is all about how things get done. Every task — whether booking a holiday, onboarding a new employee, or cooking dinner — involves a process. If a process is slow, confusing, outdated, or overly manual, there’s a business opportunity in improving it.
How to apply it:
Ask: “What takes too long or requires too many steps?”
Watch people perform tasks: Where do they get stuck, frustrated, or make mistakes?
Look at automation, platformization, or integration as solutions.
Example:
Zapier recognized that many non-technical professionals wanted to connect different apps (Gmail, Slack, Trello, etc.) without coding. By simplifying that process, they built a tool for “automation without developers” and tapped into a huge productivity market.
4. Problems: Solving Real Pain Points
While the first three Ps focus on observation, this P focuses on pain. At its core, every business idea is a solution to a problem. The bigger and more painful the problem, the more valuable the solution becomes.
The key is to fall in love with the problem, not the solution.
How to apply it:
Keep a journal of annoyances or recurring frustrations in your life.
Ask others: “What do you hate doing?” or “What do you wish someone would fix?”
Explore “workarounds” — whenever people find hacks or tricks, it signals a problem worth solving.
Example:
Dropbox was born out of founder Drew Houston’s frustration with USB drives and emailing himself files. The problem — seamless file access and syncing — led to one of the most popular cloud storage services in the world.
5. Patterns: Spotting Trends and Emerging Behaviors
This P is about looking forward. Successful entrepreneurs are often excellent at noticing subtle shifts before the rest of the market catches up. They see patterns in behavior, technology, demographics, or economics — and then build for where the world is going, not where it is now.
How to apply it:
Read trend reports, follow innovation blogs, or scan product launches.
Observe Gen Z or niche online subcultures — they often point to emerging mainstream habits.
Look at how new technology (AI, AR, crypto, biotech) is changing what’s possible.
Example:
Headspace and Calm saw the rising pattern of mental health awareness, mindfulness, and wellness long before it became mainstream. They created digital meditation tools at the perfect time — aligning with cultural shifts and mobile-first habits.
6. Passions: Building From What You Love
Many successful lifestyle businesses start not from a market gap, but from personal passion. When you’re deeply interested in something — whether it’s coffee, gardening, art, or gaming — you’re more likely to see opportunities, endure challenges, and build with authenticity.
Passion doesn’t guarantee success, but it fuels resilience and helps create genuine value.
How to apply it:
List hobbies or causes you’re enthusiastic about.
Ask: “What would I do all day even if no one paid me?”
Join forums or communities around your interests — notice what people complain about or ask for help with.
Example:
Tim Ferriss wrote The 4-Hour Workweek based on his obsession with lifestyle design and productivity hacks. That book became a business empire — podcast, supplements, tools, investments — all fueled by passion.
7. Potential: Evaluating Viability and Growth
Finally, the seventh P helps you test whether your idea can actually become a business. Passion and insight are important, but so is understanding market size, competition, feasibility, and return on effort.
Some ideas may only serve a tiny niche, while others can scale across regions or industries. Evaluating potential ensures you don’t just have a good idea — but a sustainable one.
How to apply it:
Do a quick TAM-SAM-SOM exercise (Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Market, Obtainable Market).
Run a Lean Canvas or use tools like SimVenture Validate or Y Combinator’s Idea Test.
Ask: “Would people pay for this? How much? How often?”
Example:
Airbnb started with a simple idea — renting air mattresses to guests. But the potential to disrupt global travel accommodation was massive. They validated early, expanded rapidly, and turned a scrappy concept into a global platform.
Putting It All Together: The Power of the 7 Ps
Each “P” is a lens — a way of seeing the world slightly differently:
P
Focus
Outcome
People
Human needs, desires, behaviors
Empathetic, user-driven ideas
Place
Environmental context
Localised or situational opportunities
Process
Inefficient systems
Streamlined, innovative workflows
Problems
Pain points
Urgent, valuable solutions
Patterns
Trends & market shifts
Future-facing, high-growth opportunities
Passions
Personal interests
Authentic, resilient ventures
Potential
Viability and scalability
Strategic, long-term business models
Using this model, you can generate a portfolio of ideas and then filter or test them based on alignment with your values, skills, time, and resources.
Let’s see how these 7 Ps work together using a hypothetical example:
Case Study: Urban Plant Kit Startup
People – Young urban professionals living in small apartments with no garden. Place – Dense cities where access to greenery is limited and grocery stores are expensive. Process – Growing food at home is seen as difficult, messy, or time-consuming. Problems – People want fresh herbs/veggies but have no space or knowledge. Patterns – Trends in sustainability, self-sufficiency, home aesthetics, and mental wellness. Passions – Founder loves plants, cooking, and eco-living. Potential – Large urban millennial market, possible subscription model, scalable across cities.
This could evolve into a smart indoor gardening kit with a mobile app for reminders and tutorials — blending tech, design, and sustainability into a clear value proposition.
Why Use the 7 Ps?
The 7 Ps framework turns the vague, often intimidating task of “coming up with a business idea” into a methodical exploration of the world around you. Instead of waiting for a “lightbulb moment,” you now have a toolbox of prompts and lenses through which to explore opportunities.
It also helps ensure that your idea is:
Rooted in real needs (People, Problems)
Context-aware (Place, Process)
Future-focused (Patterns)
Personally meaningful (Passions)
Strategically sound (Potential)
🚀 Want to try it yourself?
Use this simple exercise:
Take one hour.
List three observations for each of the 7 Ps.
Then combine insights from at least 3 Ps to develop one idea.
Bonus: Run that idea through a quick validation checklist (Would people pay for it? Can you build a simple prototype?).
Let your creativity collide with structure — and watch the sparks fly.
Why startups should focus on meaning, not just minimalism
In today’s startup world, speed to market is everything. Entrepreneurs are taught to ship fast, break things, test quickly, and get feedback. Enter the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)—a core concept from lean startup methodology that encourages launching the simplest version of a product to validate assumptions.
The MVP is practical. It’s efficient. But here’s the problem:
🚨 Too many MVPs forget about value.
They prove an idea can technically work, but say little about whether it actually matters to the user.
That’s why I believe it’s time for a shift in thinking—from MVP to MVD: the Minimum Valuable Difference.
What is the MVD?
The Minimum Valuable Difference is the smallest possible change, feature, or action you can introduce that delivers real, meaningful value to your target customer.
It answers questions like:
What pain am I truly relieving?
What task am I genuinely simplifying?
What desire am I directly fulfilling?
It’s not about what’s viable for you—it’s about what’s valuable to them.
MVP vs. MVD: What’s the Difference?
MVP
MVD
Tests feasibility
Creates meaningful impact
Focuses on minimum product
Focuses on minimum transformation
Often prioritises speed
Prioritises significance
Asks “Can we build this?”
Asks “Should we build this?”
Measures engagement
Measures improvement or outcomes
Why MVD Matters More Than Ever
In a saturated digital world, users are overwhelmed by options. The market is flooded with viable products—but few of them make a real difference.
🧠 A basic to-do list app? Been there. 🧠 Another newsletter tool? Yawn. 🧠 A photo filter that changes eye colour? Cool… for 5 seconds.
What people remember—and keep using—are the tools and services that improve their lives in noticeable ways.
Real-World Examples of MVD Thinking
1. Calendly
Their MVD? Eliminating the pain of back-and-forth emails for scheduling. That single, clear difference made users immediately say, “This is better.”
2. Slack
Slack didn’t launch with a full suite of integrations and channels. Its initial MVD was centralised team messaging that actually reduced internal email. That alone got teams hooked.
3. Duolingo
Rather than launch with hundreds of languages, Duolingo focused on one: Spanish. Its MVD was making language learning fun, gamified, and mobile-friendly—solving a problem that textbook apps didn’t.
How to Build with MVD in Mind
Find the Critical Friction Point What’s the single most frustrating or inefficient part of your user’s day? Start there.
Go Deep, Not Wide Don’t try to solve every problem. Focus on one, and do it better than anyone else.
Prototype for Value, Not Just Function Ask: “Does this improve someone’s situation in a tangible way?” If not, keep refining.
Measure Real Outcomes Instead of tracking clicks or installs, look at retention, referrals, or behaviour change.
What the Research Says
Academic literature is increasingly supporting a value-first mindset in entrepreneurial design.
And in the world of effectual entrepreneurship, co-creating value with early users—not just validating an MVP—is seen as the more sustainable approach.
Final Thoughts: What Are You Really Offering?
It’s easy to launch something. It’s harder to launch something that matters.
So the next time you’re planning a product, prototype, or pitch—ask yourself:
Will this make someone’s life measurably better?
If it disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss it?
Am I building for validation, or for value?
Because in the end, traction doesn’t come from being viable— It comes from being valuable.
Case Study: Calendly – From Simple Scheduling to a Minimum Valuable Difference
Overview: A Tool to End Email Ping-Pong
Calendly, founded by Tope Awotona in 2013, didn’t enter the world with an elaborate suite of scheduling features. Its early product was stripped down—yet laser-focused. What it did do, it did exceptionally well: eliminated the back-and-forth of scheduling meetings.
Rather than testing if users would click a scheduling link (MVP logic), Calendly focused on delivering an immediate, meaningful outcome—saving users time and frustration. This wasn’t just a minimal product—it was a minimum valuable difference.
The Problem
Scheduling meetings is a universal pain point. Most professionals were stuck in endless email threads:
“Are you free Tuesday at 3pm?”
“No, how about Wednesday?”
“That doesn’t work for me, maybe next week?”
This inefficient dance cost time and often resulted in dropped opportunities. Tools like Outlook and Google Calendar helped manage time, but not coordinate it between people.
The Insight
Tope Awotona’s insight wasn’t technical—it was human. He asked:
“What’s the smallest thing I could build that would truly remove this pain?”
The answer? A link that lets others pick from your available time slots.
Not a calendar app. Not a meeting manager. Not an all-in-one productivity suite.
Just a solution to the one thing that hurts the most: scheduling friction.
Execution as MVD: The First Version of Calendly
Calendly’s early product had:
Integration with your existing calendar (Google, Outlook)
A link with your available times
Automatic timezone detection
Confirmation emails
That’s it.
But these features, though minimal, delivered maximum difference. Users who tried it once saw the value immediately: no more email ping-pong. It felt like magic.
Customer Response and Growth
Calendly didn’t need fancy marketing. The product spread virally:
Sales teams shared it with clients
Recruiters shared it with candidates
Coaches and consultants added it to their email signature
“The true power of Calendly was in its shareability—it solved a problem so simply that people naturally wanted to pass it along.” — TechCrunch, 2021
Key Metrics That Reflect MVD Success
Over 20 million users by 2022
Used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies
$3 billion+ valuation (without raising early VC money)
More telling than the numbers, however, was the retention. Users didn’t just try Calendly—they stuck with it. Why? Because it had created a daily improvement in their lives.
Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Focus on the Problem, Not the Product Calendly didn’t ask: “How do we build a scheduling app?” It asked: “How do we eliminate scheduling pain?”
Make a Small But Clear Difference Instead of bloated features, aim for impact. What’s the one thing your user will thank you for?
Deliver Emotional Relief The best products don’t just save time—they remove frustration. Calendly’s early adopters felt the difference immediately.
Why lean isn’t enough—and how value creation builds businesses that last
In today’s startup culture, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) has become something of a holy grail. Popularized by Eric Ries in The Lean Startup, the MVP is described as the simplest version of a product that can be released to test hypotheses and gain customer feedback. It’s fast, frugal, and focused.
And yet, as someone who has worked with hundreds of startups and advised entrepreneurship programmes across sectors, I’m starting to ask: Have we gone too far with the MVP mindset?
Too many founders are stuck shipping half-baked products, mistaking viability for value. They aim to “fail fast”—but often end up failing shallow.
It’s time to move beyond MVP hype and refocus on something more enduring: creating real value.
The MVP Trap: Fast But Fragile
Don’t get me wrong—lean thinking has its place. It prevents founders from building in a vacuum and encourages rapid iteration. But over time, the MVP approach has been reduced to “launch anything quick and dirty” without a deeper reflection on long-term customer value.
As academic research begins to show, this oversimplification has real consequences.
“Lean startup methods can result in premature scaling if the learning process focuses on superficial feedback rather than deep value creation.” – Blank & Dorf (2012),The Startup Owner’s Manual
In other words, just because something is “viable” doesn’t mean it’s meaningful. Without understanding the core value you’re delivering—and to whom—there’s a risk of building a product that works but doesn’t matter.
Value Creation: The Real Driver of Lasting Businesses
In contrast, value-driven startups focus on solving real problems for real people in ways that are desirable, feasible, and sustainable. This isn’t just about functionality—it’s about impact.
As strategy scholar Michael Porter argues:
“Competitive advantage is created and sustained when firms deliver greater value to customers or create comparable value at lower cost.” – Porter (1985),Competitive Advantage
Value creation means understanding:
What your customer truly cares about
How your solution improves their life
Why your offer is better than alternatives
This leads to stickier products, stronger word-of-mouth, and deeper emotional engagement—all of which support long-term growth.
Examples of Value-Driven Startups That Went Beyond MVP
1. Canva
In my recent blog on Canva’s early days, we saw how co-founder Melanie Perkins identified a deep pain point: the complexity of design software for non-designers. Rather than simply launch a basic design tool, Canva focused on ease, speed, and beauty from day one. They delivered value—not just a viable product.
2. Notion
Notion didn’t release its first product until years after development. Why? Because it wasn’t just about launching an MVP—it was about creating a tool that people loved using every day. Their focus on elegance, simplicity, and modularity led to high retention and viral growth.
3. Duolingo
Instead of launching a barebones app to test assumptions, Duolingo obsessed over learning outcomes. They made language learning fun, gamified, and research-backed—leading to real user value and a product that has scaled globally with strong loyalty.
Academic Perspectives on Value-First Innovation
Value creation is increasingly seen as the central pillar of innovation in entrepreneurship literature. Sarasvathy’s concept of effectuation—a theory on how expert entrepreneurs operate—places strong emphasis on leveraging existing means to co-create value with stakeholders, rather than just validating hypotheses.
“Entrepreneurs start with who they are, what they know, and whom they know… and interact with others to co-create opportunities.” – Sarasvathy (2001),Effectual Reasoning in Entrepreneurial Decision Making
Likewise, Osterwalder’s Value Proposition Canvas has emerged as a tool that shifts attention from the MVP to customer gains and pains, helping entrepreneurs design products that are deeply aligned with user needs.
From MVP to MVD: The Minimum Valuable Difference
What if, instead of focusing on the Minimum Viable Product, we focused on the Minimum Valuable Difference?
What is the smallest thing you can offer that makes a real difference in someone’s life or work? That’s where true traction starts.
Value-driven startups don’t just ask, Can we build this? They ask: Should we build this? And will it truly help someone?
Final Thoughts: Redefining Startup Success
MVPs can get you started—but only value creation keeps you going.
In a world where users are drowning in “viable” but soulless products, it’s the businesses that focus on deep, relevant, and transformational value that will stand the test of time.
If you’re a founder, ask yourself:
What is the real outcome I’m enabling for my customer?
Am I focused on features, or on transformation?
Would anyone care if my product disappeared tomorrow?
Only when the answer is “yes”—because of the value you create—should you launch.
Want to build a value-driven business from day one? Join our upcoming session on “From Ideas to Impact” at Albion Business School, where we’ll explore the tools and mindsets to make your startup matter.
