Sometimes it is easier to say "people are too stupid for my complex product" than to admit: "I am creating something that nobody fucking needs", right?

Ask the founder of Zume Pizza, who invested hundreds of millions of dollars in creating pizza-making robots. The idea was brilliant — to automate the entire process to ensure perfect quality and speed. He just did not consider that customers wanted hot pizza and did not care who made it.

Let us look at how to avoid such a failure using the example of the "Magic Beans" startup.

Where to Start?

Start by describing your target audience. Do not formulate it in two words like "village idiot", but create a full mental matrix of the consumer. In our "Magic Beans" startup, the consumer looks like this:

• Main Pain: Situational hopelessness and financial stagnation. The consumer is at a point where traditional methods of improving their situation seem ineffective or too slow. This could be someone living paycheck to paycheck, or a small entrepreneur whose business is not growing. They are looking for a way out of the "vicious circle".
• Consumer Goal: A sharp, qualitative leap in prosperity. They are not ready to wait and accumulate for years. Their task is to find a "shortcut" to success that promises a big reward with relatively small initial investments. This could be financial independence or the ability to solve a specific problem (such as paying off debts or buying a home).
• Mental Attitudes

• Risk and excitement tendency: The consumer is ready to take risks if the potential reward seems incredibly large. For them, this is not recklessness, but faith in luck.
• Focus on potential: They evaluate an offer by its prospects, not by current, material value. What matters is not the "bean" itself, but what it can grow into.
• Emotional approach: Purchase decisions are often made under the influence of emotions — hope, inspiration, fatigue from the current situation.

• Success Criterion: Complete life transformation that comes as a result of taking a risk. This is not just money, but proof of their own intuition and rightness. Success is measured not only by profit, but by how much their status and opportunities change.

Thus, the consumer archetype of the "Magic Beans" startup is not a rational investor, but a dreamer-adventurer. Their thinking matrix is built on faith, risk, and the desire to get something incredible.

Now let us continue and find for our client the solution they are willing to pay for.

Value Map

Like the mental matrix, the value map is a way to describe our consumer.

Continuing our example, we will describe our client profile.

Client Profile for "Magic Beans" Startup

Jobs-to-be-done

• Main job: Solve the problem of financial instability and escape poverty.
• Social jobs: Increase their social status and gain recognition in the eyes of others (prove they are "not an idiot").
• Emotional jobs: Get rid of feelings of hopelessness and find hope for a better future.

Pains

• Financial pains: Lack of money for basic needs, debts, inability to realize plans due to lack of funds.
• Emotional pains: Feelings of despair, fear of the future, sense of personal inadequacy.
• Social pains: Pressure from the environment, condemnation for risky actions.

Gains

• Financial gains: Opportunity to get rich quickly, receive large and unexpected income.
• Emotional gains: Feeling of excitement and thrill, sense of hope, self-confidence, joy from achieved success.
• Social gains: Recognition and respect from others, new status in society.

Now let us see how our product can help our client cope with their tasks, heal what hurts, and bring gains:

Value Map: "Magic Beans" Startup

Products & Services:

• "Magic Beans" Kit: High-quality seeds promising incredible results.
• Guide: Brief instructions that strengthen faith in success.
• Community: Online platform for sharing stories and motivation.

Pain Relievers:

• Promise of transformation: Provides direct solution to financial pain.
• Simplicity: Minimal initial effort, which reduces fear of failure.
• Emotional support: Inspiring content and community fight despair.

Gain Creators:

• Potential: The main value is the promise of huge profit that exceeds expectations.
• Sense of control: The growing process gives a feeling of control over ones destiny.
• Proof of success: The product provides material evidence that the risk was justified, leading to social recognition.

It is clearly visible that for the "Magic Beans" startup, the most important element of the value map is the emotional aspect, namely gain creators and pains.

This product does not solve a traditional problem that can be measured in numbers. "Magic Beans" sell hope. A consumer who is in despair and looking for a way out of hopelessness will not buy rationally. Their decision will be based on emotions.

Pains: The consumers deepest pain is the feeling of hopelessness and despair. If "Magic Beans" can convincingly show that they understand this pain and offer its solution, they will immediately establish a strong emotional connection with the client.

Gain Creators: The main gain is not just money, but emotional reward that comes with success: feeling of excitement, faith in oneself, joy from victory. Marketing messages should focus on how these beans will change the clients life for the better, not just on their price.

That is why "Magic Beans" should sell not seeds, but the opportunity to fulfill a dream.

The Greatest Value — Your Idea Worth Bringing to Life

The greatest value you can create at the start is not a product, but proof that your idea is worth something.

If you would like to dive deeper into this tool, we can work together to create a value map for your own product or service idea. Contact us and we will help you!