For 15 years, I wrote down goals…and never hit them. Work goals? Done. Personal goals? Still on the list years later.

I feared failure. I felt anxious. I felt guilty taking time for myself. I didn’t want to face the tradeoffs that achieving those goals demanded. So I avoided my own goals.

While established companies have familiarity and brand as a currency of trust among customers, a startup has to rely heavily on building trust through a strong value proposition that leaves the customer feeling understood and motivated to act. Therefore, value propositions are important for startups to win early sales.

A social entrepreneur should be actively building and testing the assumptions in the business model from day one. Using a canvas to model the business makes the process easier and faster.