本框架的起點是基於企業的作用。可能有些人士會說企業的作用是為社會創造和提供價值，但這答案未免太高層，導致一些企業變為追求科技的完美或其他不切實際的目標。其實一家企業最基本的作用必然是能帶來收入，因為沒有收入的企業是沒有生存空間的。本人相信運用這個簡單的聚焦便可以回答 “怎樣才可以讓初創企業的產品成功”這個關鍵問題。畢竟科技無論多寶貴或重要，最終還是需要變為產品才能發揮力量的。本人還相信通過這個聚焦更可以清理很多創業家的迷惑，讓他們可以更清楚理解他們的現狀以及需要採取的措施。

基於這個信仰，本人在二零一二年選擇回到香港科大創業中心來進一步確實這想法的可行性能，以及通過服務各階段的創業家來把十幾年的經驗提煉成一個創業框架。通過這四年的時間，二萬九千人時的講座，十多名企業家的輔導，以及中間的眾多次修正，這框架的材料最終在二零一六年才能面世，而在之後一年的努力下才能把這本書寫出。本框架的主要功能是通過一套完整的系統來指導企業去把他們的概念或技術進化成一個有突破口，有增長點的產品設計要素以及相關的推廣方案。為了實現這功能，該系統需要指導企業去找出關鍵的價值主張(V)，相應的市場突破口(P)和市場增長點(G)，以及產品(P)的六個關鍵設計要素。這四各環節加上最後的推廣方案(P) 便是本框架以VPGPP命名的原由。

有些朋友可能會問這個VPGPP框架和市場學的4P框架有何區別。其實這兩個框架的目的並不一樣，因此雖有相似之處，但其效果或用途就自然是天與地別。比如，本VPGPP框架是為了解決初創企業需要發展第一個產品，組合第一個團隊，以及在沒有品牌沒有渠道前提下啟動銷售的種種獨特難題。相對來說，4P是用來幫助較大型企業來管理他們的推廣，產品，銷售點以及價格的工具。所以如需要說他們的關係，那就只可以說VPGPP最後的兩個P便包含了4P在內，但這兩個P也同時需要與另外三個環節(VPG)互相協調的。

在香港科大的四年里其實還提煉出了銷售管理，融資策略以及人士管理其他三個模塊，但基於時間的考慮，最後還是決定先把這個VPGPP框架推出，好讓更多初創企業能更早得益。這個VPGPP框架已經幫助了十幾家企業，其中包括幾家已經達一億人民幣銷售量的企業。我相信本書能夠幫助你理解你的狀況以及需要採取的措施。如你對書里任何概念有疑問，或想分享你的意見，我歡迎你通過以下的官方渠道發信息給我。我一定會看所有的信息，但不一定能回覆每一個讀者的問題。同時如你願意跟其他人士分享你的問題，請你考慮通過我的微博交流，這樣既可以把眾多問題組合也可以讓我的回覆能幫助更多讀者。祝你一切順利，乘風破浪。

Since 2011, I have been working with entrepreneurs, and have found an increasing number of startup companies struggling to survive. Many of these companies either have promising technologies or very innovative ideas, but sadly, these companies are struggling and many don’t really know how to get out of their current predicament. Making things worst is that there is now almost too much entrepreneurship training, courses, workshops and lectures that in my experience only creates more confusion. It’s sort of like today there is a course on algebra, tomorrow there is one on trigonometry, and then there is one on calculus. All of these are important and valuable, but without some kind of a framework or structure, these elements will add to the sea of information that entrepreneurs cannot mentally file away and use. This is the motivation for this book.

The framework starts with the purpose of any company. We can say that companies are to create or deliver value to society, while these are all very correct, but I would rather say that “companies need to have revenue.” That’s because, without revenue, the company will die. Using this very simple lens, I can develop a coherent framework to answer the simple question of “What does it take for a startup product to be successful in the market.” Technology is great and important, but it is only useful if it can be successfully turned into a product. I also found that through this one framework, many of our fallacies can be addressed, and the result is an increased clarity on the issues and challenges ahead of us.

It was with this conviction that I chose to return in 2012 to HKUST’s Entrepreneurship Center, and the hope was that by working more closely and intensely with many different levels of entrepreneurs, that I would be able to develop and fine-tune a more coherent, effective and helpful framework. In the 4 years at the Entrepreneurship Center, I was able to condense my 17 years of startup experience into different versions of this framework, and along the way have given 160,000 contact-hours of lectures to CEO’s of startup’s and medium enterprises. By September of 2016, the framework was essentially mature, and it was time for me to move on, which brings me to the current book.

This book focuses on a framework that could guide a company to translate its ideas and technologies into market penetration points, and then into product design criteria and then finally into a market promotional program. Basically, this is accomplished by helping companies identify the value proposition that could generate a “need” response at the “Penetration” market group, and to develop the proper product design elements that can both enable sales into this group, as well as enabling sales growth in the “Growth” market group. This is called the VPGPP framework, because it lines up the Value proposition with the Penetration and Growth groups, and then guides the result toward the appropriate Product design elements, whose value is then communicated to the market through the culminating Promotional program.

Some readers may be wondering the differences between this VPGPP framework and the 4P framework commonly used in marketing. Well, the VPGPP was developed to target issues that are vital to the survival of a startup, and requires very tight interweaving of the Value, Penetration, Growth, Productization & Promotion in order to succeed. From this perspective, we can think of the 4P’s as being embedded into the last two P’s of VPGPP framework, but which are in-turn subject to the overall Value, Penetration and Growth strategies. So, while these two frameworks bear some similarities, their usages and values are totally different. The 4P’s are mainly used by more established companies to manage their product, pricing, promotion and place strategies, while the VPGPP addresses the unique challenges startups face trying to develop products for the first time, trying to assemble the first team, and trying to sell products without any brand recognition or any sales channel.

There are of course other topics like sales management, financing management and internal team management that are also crucial to startups, but I decided that with the present VPGPP framework, you should be able to make sufficient progress to allow you to get help in these areas from other sources in the market. This framework has already helped dozens of companies ranging from startups to those with over 100 million RMB annual sales. I hope this framework could also help you. If you should have any questions on this material, or even if you simply wish to express your liking or dis-liking with any part of this book, please feel free to drop me a note through the official channels below. I will read all your inputs, and will do my best to respond to some of your questions…but no promises. Good luck.

李博士於一九六五年出生于香港，父母分別來自天津與上海。李博士十歲時隨家人移民紐約，従十四歲起，便出外到快餐店打工，零星賺錢以貼補家用。他自幼熱衷科技發明創新，有幸得到两位當時顶尖科學家的教導，之後鑽研了一項激光的研究，贏得美國西屋獎也同時獲得里根總統的接見。一九八三年，由於全州高中畢業考試出色，兼得紐約州的獎學金以及美國著名庫珀聯盟的全學費獎學金。李博士學業上廣泛進取，選讀電子工程與機械工程，成為該學院一百三十年歷史裏第二人，四年內按期完成雙學位課程。一九八七年，李博士入讀美國羅格斯大學，成為機械工程系研究生，之後在九零和九三年，先後獲得碩士和博士學位。在一九九三年， 為後代能在中華文化傳統中成長，李博士舉家遷回香港，到香港科大工學院任教，也同時為國際著名企業提供以每年百萬港幣顧問費的服務。在一九九九年獲得終身教授任職後被美國硅谷的一家後來在美國上市的初創企業聘請為香港總監。之後在二零零一至一二年先後成立和出售了嘉合集團，以及從香港科大的MBA課程畢業。在二零一二至一六年回到香港科大任職創業中心主任，在期間把科大的創業指數從全港排名第四推進第一。為了退休後繼續為國家服務，二零一六年后分別建立了創道以及加入了中創協。二零一七年榮幸的被選為深圳市海外高層次人才。

李博士是一位科學家，教育家，和創業家。自一九九三年已經累積十幾年教育經驗，十七年創業經驗，二十幾年的顧問經驗以及五年的指導初創企業的經驗。在期間已幫助十多間初創和中型企業成功突破困境。

Born in Hong Kong in 1965, and at the age of ten, he immigrated to the U.S. alongside his parents and six siblings. With many to feed in the family, Steven helped to support the family by working in fast food chains since the age of fourteen. Steven was a young science prodigy, and during high school years began training under the direct supervision of world-renowned physicists and chemists at the City College of New York. The project earned him the Westinghouse Award and admission into The Cooper Union on full scholarship. When he graduated in 1987, he was the second student in Cooper Union’s 130 years history to graduate with two majors in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. In 1990 and 1993, he respectively obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Rutgers University in mechanical engineering, and wishing to immerse his future offsprings in Chinese culture and environment, Steven returned to Hong Kong in 1993 to assume a faculty position at the HKUST School of Engineering, during its founding stage. In 1999, Steven received his tenureship, and was recruited by a silicon-valley startup Analogictech (later listed on Nasdaq) to become the Hong Kong CEO. In 2001, Steven founded the CT group, which was later sold to another company in 2011. After resigning his tenured faculty position in 2006, Steven was invited back to lead the HKUST Entrepreneurship Center in 2012, which was the same year he completed his part-time MBA degree from HKUST. By 2016, when Steven left the Entrepreneurship Center, the university’s innovation index in Hong Kong had climbed from number 4 to number 1.In 2017, Steven was admitted into Shenzhen’s Overseas Talent Scheme.

Since 1993 Steven has been actively consulting for major international corporations, bringing in consultancy fees of more than 1 million HKD per year. Currently, Steven is a much sought after consultant, and continues to help startups and medium enterprises through his current associations with InnovationPath and HCIEA.