Professor Elaine Chen, Director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, will be joined by Sanna Gaspard, Ph.D., CoFounder & CEO of Rubitection in an interactive workshop on how to build the right solution that solves the right problems for your target customers. We will cover how to describe your solution concept so it speaks to your customers, how to think about your competitive advantage and how to position your solution so it is different and better than the alternative. We will use Sanna's company, Rubitection, a medical devices company, as a case study to see how these frameworks and skills apply in real life.

2. Fall: Innovation focus,
culminating in the
Ideas Competition
Impact via Innovation &
Entrepreneurship @ DEC
Fall:
Innovation
Spring:
Entrepreneurship
Summer:
Acceleration
Spring:
Entrepreneurship focus,
culminating in the
$100k
Summer: Accelerate
your progress and get
ready to launch
Elaine Chen
Dir, DEC
Karen Donohue
Founder, Humanlogic
Sanna Gaspard
Founder & CEO,
Rubitection
Alex Zorniger
VP, Power to
Hydrogen
Idicula Mathew
EIR, DEC & Cofounder &
CEO, Hera Health
Virtual Events: Wednesdays 12-1pm
Innovating with
Impact series

4. Connect with us!
go.tufts.edu/
entrepreneurship

5. Today’s topic:
Building the right solution
Problem
selection
Problem
definition
Solution
develop-
ment
Distribution
and
adoption
IMPACT

6. Sanna Gaspard, Ph.D.
CoFounder & CEO, Rubitection

7. Problem selection

8. Defining the problem

9. Defining the solution

10. Developing the solution

11. Unique value proposition

12. Differentiation & Competitive advantage
The #1 thing the customer cares about, in their words
(not a feature or specification but a benefit)
Good
Bad
The
#2
thing
the
customer
cares
about
Status quo:
“do nothing”
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Competitive
solution
Your solution:
Always up and to the right
(flip the axes if necessary! Eg.
instead of saying “Cost”, say
“Affordability”)

13. Moore’s positioning statement
For [target customer]
Who wants/needs [a compelling reason to buy]
The [product name] is a [product category]
That provides [these key benefits].
Unlike [the main competitor],
The [product name] [provides these key differentiation
points].

14. Recap
No one cares about a bag
of features. Always ask:
“What’s in it for them?”
Create a solution that is
different and better than all
the alternatives out there
Build your core to make
it difficult or impossible
for fast followers to
catch up with you
Know your benefits &
unique value
proposition (UVP)
Differentiate
Make your solution
protectible

15. Elaine Chen
Dir, DEC & POP
Gus
Robinson, A23
Student
coordinator
Nicole
Frankel, A22
Student
coordinator
Gracie
Jendrezak, A22
Student
coordinator
Carol Denning
Head of Program
Administration
Idicula Mathew
EIR, DEC
Connect with us!
go.tufts.edu/
entrepreneurship