The “provide value” mantra seems to assume that the we need to (almost forcefully) initiate the transaction: “Here’s some value!” “Please take my value!” “Here’s the value I’ve decided to give you!”
It’s the idea of “provide value first” that gets misconstrued: “Do something nice for folks and they’ll reciprocate.” “Be proactive and offer folks something and you’ll win.” I think a better framework is: “Observe (sometimes for a long time), and respond when you see demand.”
building