The Value Deny: Finding Opportunity in What You Can't Buy
List what you should be able to buy but can't, or how a familiar product ought to work but doesn't.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
A concrete idea-generation exercise Rumelt used with students. You hunt for 'value denies' — things you should be able to buy but cannot, or everyday products that fall short of how they ought to work. By imagining the ideal version and listing what blocks it, you surface new business opportunities.
Origin
Richard Rumelt, an exercise he ran with MBA students at UCLA. He connects it to how Salesforce began ('it shouldn't be a computer, it should be a web page').
Core principles
- 01Ask what you should be able to buy but cannot at any price
- 02Design by imagining how something ought to be, then list what a perfect version must do
- 03Opportunities are often blocked by missing materials, regulation, or entrenched interests, so hunt where innovation is actually possible
- 04Simple, familiar objects (a window) are rich targets because you can reason about them without heavy research
How to run it
- 1
Hunt for value denies
Notice things you want to buy but cannot: baggage insurance on a non-stop flight, a home remodeler guaranteed to be on time, dropping luggage off downtown and having it appear checked-in at the airport.
Pro tip Keep a running list of your own frustrations where money can't currently solve the problem.
- 2
Define the perfect version
Pick a familiar product and enumerate everything it should do. A perfect window should let in light but not heat, air but not noise, and keep out bugs.
Pro tip Use a physical, familiar object you can reason about in the room without research.
- 3
Locate the solvable gap
Compare the ideal to reality and find where a real innovation could close the gap, checking whether materials, regulation, or incumbents block it.
Pro tip Look specifically for places where innovation is legally and physically possible; some gaps (car dealer laws, plumbing codes, union rules) exist to protect jobs and resist change.
Watch out Many opportunities are blocked by regulation or entrenched interests; don't pour effort where innovation can't happen.
In the wild
Rumelt notes Salesforce started from asking how CRM should be: not a computer install but a web page, like Amazon for books.
→ Reframing the ideal form of the product became the founding insight for the company.
Students listed what a window should do — admit light but not heat, air but not noise, keep out bugs. Rumelt points to MIT students who built auditory filters that let in air while blocking noise at certain frequencies.
→ No perfect window exists yet, but the exercise reveals concrete, buildable improvements and business openings.
Common mistakes
Ignoring regulatory blockers
Pursuing a gap that is walled off by codes, unions, or dealer laws wastes effort; check feasibility before investing.
Dismissing simple products
Treating everyday objects as too mundane misses that their familiarity makes them the easiest place to spot improvement.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and product people generating new venture or feature ideas from everyday friction
Not ideal for
Teams that already have a validated problem and need to execute rather than ideate
From the transcript
“what I called the value Deni now what is it that you should be able to buy but you can't”
“look around you look at everything you've got and say well how shouldn't be and there's opportunities there”
“that's how sales worth.com got started was well how should this be”
“a lot of the times the opportunities are blocked by the lack of certain materials or regulation”
From the episode
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy
Richard Rumelt