Somaspace took part in SOFTMOVE with a full-day workshop created for a broad audience — companies, accelerators, professionals, and people exploring the startup path — with one goal: turn complexity into clarity, and clarity into a value proposition and pitch that people actually understand.

The day was structured as a practical journey from “what we’re building” to “why it matters”, and finally to “how to communicate it with impact”, whether you’re speaking to investors, partners, or a general audience.

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Morning – Value-Driven Innovation

The morning focused on the foundations of value-driven innovation: defining a clear value proposition, validating it in the real world, and understanding how to move from a broad market idea to a focused route-to-market.

Key modules

1. Value Definition & Strategy

We started with a simple, often overlooked truth: innovation fails frequently not because the technology is weak, but because value is not delivered or communicated effectively; a reminder reinforced by a key data point shared during the session: 72% of innovative products fail to be delivered.

From there, the work became hands-on, with two core tools:

• Value Proposition Canvas

A structured exercise to align what you build (Products & Services) with who it’s for (Customer Profile: Jobs, Pains, Gains).

The objective: reduce ambiguity and turn a “cool product” into a proposition that is specific, concrete, and testable.

• Positioning formula (market-ready statement)

Participants used a simple template to clarify positioning:

“We help [target customer] who want to [achieve goal], by [solution], unlike [alternative].”

This step helps transform generic messaging into a statement that can guide website copy, outreach, and pitch narratives.

2. Validation & Stakeholder Identification

With the value proposition drafted, the workshop moved into validation, because a proposition is only strong if it survives real conversations.

• Validation loop (4 steps)

1. Identify buyer personas
2. Talk with ideal clients
3. Adjust the customer profile based on feedback
4. Propose (and refine) the solution

Alongside validation, we worked on stakeholder mapping: identifying who influences adoption and growth beyond the end customer (such as accelerators, investors, suppliers, public institutions, and the local community),  clarifying “who needs to believe what” for the project to move forward.

3. The Route to Market

This module connected value to execution: how to focus, win, and expand.

• Market positioning: Market → Sub-market

A practical approach to narrow the target, strengthen differentiation, and accelerate early results.

• Results & expansion

A pathway from initial value delivery to revenue generation and, eventually, market expansion, so communication supports the business stage, not just visibility.

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Afternoon – High-Impact Pitch Review

In the afternoon, the focus shifted from strategy to delivery: how to structure a pitch based on the audience and objective, and how to communicate with presence and credibility in the room.

What we worked on

• Pitch types (and what each must optimize for)

• Soft skills that drive decisions

Beyond slides, we addressed the human layer of persuasion,  the subjective criteria that often decide outcomes: intuition, trust, authenticity, empathy.

• Speaker presence

Practical work on delivery: managing energy, using pauses, and building “superhero presence” to increase clarity, authority, and memorability.

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Closing takeaway

Whether you’re speaking to investors or the public, communication is what turns innovation into traction. The workshop equipped participants with a clear framework to define value, validate it, map stakeholders, choose a route to market, and pitch with impact.

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About ESA BIC Brindisi

ESA BIC Brindisi is part of the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Centre network. It supports start-ups and entrepreneurs developing products, applications, and solutions that use space-based systems (such as satellite navigation, Earth observation, or satellite communications), adapt space technologies to non-space markets, or build innovative products for the space sector. Selected teams enter a 2-year incubation programme that includes funding, access to labs and testing infrastructures, coaching, investor support, and international networking.

https://www.esabic-brindisi.it/

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About DTA – Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale

DTA (Distretto Tecnologico Aerospaziale) is the Aerospace Technology District in Puglia. It fosters innovation and growth across the regional aerospace ecosystem by connecting industry, research, and institutions, and enabling access to expertise, infrastructures, and collaborative opportunities. DTA coordinates ESA BIC Brindisi, supporting the incubation and development of new space-related ventures in Southern Italy.

https://www.dtascarl.org/

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Want to bring value-first communication to your team?

Contact us to start working together on your next project: liftoff@somaspaceagency.com

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