Value proposition and price positioning: the place of customer value in the pricing of innovative offers: the case of technology start-ups.

Summary This research is focused on the following question: how do French high-tech start-ups integrate the concept of value for customers? After an exploration of the academic literature, we present an empirical approach, based on our professional background as entrepreneur. This chapter offers a quantitative approach towards primary data: 1 196 managers of high-tech start-ups, with 280 qualified answers. This approach is based on a research model, 6 hypotheses, variables allowing the design of a questionnaire, and a coding system. We finally propose 5 main findings. First, an eleven step process, allowing a start-up manager to position its price. Second, a typology of the value propositions, including 9 possibilities. Third, we established a general weakness of the 58 % of the French high-tech startups value propositions, without correlation between start-ups maturity and value proposition’s improvement. Fourth finding: the poor level of value creation: only 26 % of our panel creates more value than the competition. Our fifth and last main finding will address some macro-economic considerations, using syllogism: the majority of the French high-tech start-ups have an unattractive value proposition. the correlation between value proposition and companies’ performances has been established by the literature: is the value propositions’ weakness could contribute to explain the poor growth of French SME’s, as well as the poor average profitability of French VC’s?.