- Learn what market research is and why it matters
- Explore multiple methods of market research
- Conduct your own market research activities to gather insights about your users, their needs, and the existing market.
- Use AI-powered research tools to help identify competitors, analyze market trends, and gather insights that will feed into your SWOT analysis.
Introduction to Market Research
Market research is the process of gathering information about the environment your solution will exist in. At this stage, you’ve validated your solution with stakeholders and should have a solid understanding of your target audience.
Now it’s time to investigate the competitors already addressing similar problems, the industry standards, and market trends.
Conducting market research allows you to make informed decisions about how to position your solution, what makes it unique, and where the best opportunities lie. It’s possible to identify trends shaping your field, recognize what others are doing well, and find gaps or unmet needs your idea can fill. These insights reduce risk, strengthen your strategy, and increase your chances of building something that succeeds in the real world. There are multiple ways to conduct market research, and businesses combine multiple methods to arrive at a well-rounded understanding of their market. Let’s go over some of those major methods now.
Competitor Research
Competitor research is the process of examining other companies, products, or solutions that address the same problem as your idea. It helps you understand what already exists in the market, what works well, and what could be improved.
By learning from competitors, you can identify opportunities to differentiate your solution, offer unique value, and avoid mistakes others have made. This research is critical because even if your idea is good, it will be more successful if it meets unmet needs or provides a better experience than existing alternatives.
By taking the following steps, you’ll get a better picture of who your competitors are and how to stand out. Using these insights ensures your solution focuses on real opportunities, communicates clear advantages to users, and guides your decisions about features, messaging, and strategy.
🔍 Identify Competitors
Start by looking for products, services, or organizations that solve the same problem. Consider direct competitors (those offering very similar solutions) and indirect competitors (those targeting the same user needs through alternative approaches or industries).
Where to look:
- Search engines (search for the problem)
- Product directories (G2, Capterra, Crunchbase)
- App Stores
- Communities (WhatsApp, Discord, LinkedIn Groups)
- Academic sources (research papers, case studies)
- Competitor websites
📝 Gather Information
Explore their products or services thoroughly. Note features, pricing, user experience, marketing strategies, and customer reviews. Pay attention to both strengths and weaknesses. Screenshots, notes, or spreadsheets can help keep this information organized.
⚖️ Compare with Your Solution
Do a thorough analysis of each competitor and then gather the key information in a comparison table, along with your solution. What problem does each competitor solve? See the Competitor Research activity below.
📊 Look for Patterns
Competitor research can reveal trends in the market. For example, if multiple competitors offer similar features, it may indicate what users expect or value most. Conversely, features that are rare or missing could represent opportunities for innovation. Data visualization, such as feature comparison charts, like the one in activity below, can help you see patterns more clearly and communicate insights effectively.
✅ Take Action
Use your findings to refine your idea. You might remove unnecessary features, add functionality that addresses unmet needs, or adjust your marketing approach to highlight what makes your solution unique. Competitor research is most valuable when it directly informs the decisions you make about your product and strategy.
💡Unique Value Proposition
Competitor research and market analysis help you uncover your unique value proposition. By examining what competitors do well, where they fall short, and which user needs are unmet, you can identify opportunities for your solution to provide distinct value.
Ask Yourself:
- Which problems are competitors solving effectively, and which are being neglected?
- What opportunities exist to offer something different or better?
- How can our solution fill gaps or address unmet needs in ways competitors do not?
ACTIVITY 1
Competitor Research with AI
Estimated Time: 45 minutes
You can accelerate competitor research by using AI to help you identify, gather information, and analyze who your competitors are. You will use the worksheet below as a guide for questions to ask. You can then copy and paste the information you get back from the LLM into the worksheet.
1. Open LLM Chat
2. Prompt to Identify Your Top Competitors
In the AI chat, prompt:
I am building [ENTER YOUR SOLUTION, BRIEFLY EXPLAINING THE MAIN FEATURES]
Please identify my top 3 competitors, answering these questions:
[COPY AND PASTE THE FIRST PAGE OF THE WORKSHEET, FOR EXAMPLE:]
Name:
Website:
- How does this product work?
- What problem does it solve?
- Who is the target user
- What is their key differentiator/value proposition?
- What technology stack do they use (e.g., public cloud, specific AI models, datasets)?
- What is their revenue model/pricing structure (e.g., freemium, usage-based, tiered
subscription)? What is the price point for the target user? - What are their main strengths? (What do they do really well? What do users/reviews praise?)
- What are the weaknesses or gaps? (What’s missing? What do users complain about?)
- What problems does it NOT solve?
- What should you adopt from their approach?
- What should you avoid or do differently?
- What can you improve from their solution?
3. Review the Response
The LLM will generate a response.
- Copy the results back to your worksheet.
- Look closely at each competitor listed, and the responses to the questions.
- Do you see any trends, or interesting insights?
4. Check the Competitors Yourself
While it is amazing how much information you could gather on these competitors with just the click of a button, but you can’t always trust LLMs for accurate information.
- Go to the website for each competitor, and spend some time looking at the information there.
- Verify the information provided is correct, and add any additional information or insights you gain with your internet search.
- Ask the LLM to provide other links as backup for their information. It might provide review or industry links that can be helpful and lead to deeper insights.
5. Identify Strengths and Weaknesses
- Go to page 4 of the worksheet and look at the first table on the page.
- Prompt the AI:
Please identify 3-5 competitors (including the ones already identified).
For each competitor, list
- target users
- pricing
- biggest strengths
- biggests weaknesses
Please provide the results in table format.
- Copy and paste the response, which should be a table, into your worksheet.
- Review the table, check for accuracy, and look for anything interesting that jumps out at you.
6. Compare Top Features
- Look at the second table on the page 4 of your worksheet.
- List out the top 3 features of your app.
- Prompt the AI:
Here are the top 3 features of my app [LIST YOUR FEATURES] Add my app to the table. For my app and each competitor listed, note whether or not they include that feature. Add any helpful notes.
- Copy and paste the response to your worksheet.
- Review, check for accuracy, add you own notes.
7. Synthesis and Strategy
- Look at the prompts at the bottom of page 4 in the worksheet.
- Take 5-10 minutes to answer those questions yourself, based on what information the AI has helped you gather.
- Now prompt the AI to answer these questions.
- Compare the response with your own analysis. What is the same? What did you miss?
8. Your Competitive Advantage
Do the same with the questions on page 5 of the worksheet.
- Take 5-10 minutes to answer those questions yourself, based on what information the AI has helped you gather.
- Now prompt the AI to answer these questions.
- Compare the response with your own analysis of your advantage. What is the same? What did you miss?
- Take some time to really highlight your competitive advantage. You want to make sure to capitalize on that.
Industry Benchmarking
Industry benchmarking is the process of comparing key metrics and performance standards across an entire market to understand what “good” looks like. While competitor research focuses on individual companies, benchmarking looks at the bigger picture.
Benchmarking also includes quantitative measurable data, rather than the mostly qualitative data gathered in your competitor analysis. It reveals the standards and expectations within an industry, showing where competitors are performing well, where gaps exist, and opportunities for your product to stand out. Benchmarking also provides context for evaluating your own solution against the broader landscape rather than just individual competitors.
By taking the following steps, you’ll build a clear picture of industry standards and use real data to guide your product goals and improvements.
🔍 Identify Metrics
To start, identify which metrics are most important for your solution. Focus on metrics that reflect how well a solution meets user needs or business goals. Ask yourself: What do users care about most? What drives satisfaction, adoption, or loyalty? Which aspects of a competitor’s offering are considered critical by customers?
Examples across Industries:
- Food delivery apps: Average delivery times, customer ratings, repeat order frequency
- E-commerce: Cart abandonment rates, website load time, conversion rates
- Mobile Apps: App store rating, daily active users (DAU), retention rate
- Healthcare: Patient wait times, treatment success rates, patient satisfaction scores
- Education: Course completion rates, student engagement, accessibility
- Environment: Carbon reduction targets, community participation rates, adoption of sustainable practices, measurable ecological impact.
- Social impact organizations: Donation conversion rates, volunteer engagement, program reach, impact measurement outcomes
- Humanitarian organizations: Response time to crises, number of people served, efficiency of resource distribution, beneficiary satisfaction.
For AI/Tech startups, key metrics include:
- User engagement/retention: Daily active users (DAU), Monthly active users (MAU), 7-day/30-day retention rates
- User satisfaction: Net Promoter Score (NPS), app store ratings
- Conversion/Monetization: Free-to-paid conversion rate, in-app purchases
- Trust and Security: SOC 2, ISO 27001, authentication methods
- AI Performance: Accuracy, relevance, latency, hallucination rate
📝 Collect Data
Once you decide which metrics to research, gather information from multiple sources. Some of these metrics can be difficult to find, and some are behind paywalls. Do the best you can to investigate these metrics to ensure you have a broad picture of the industry.
Take careful notes and track where each piece of information comes from. This makes it easier to compare across competitors and verify your findings.
Where to find data:
- User engagement/retention:
- Academic papers and research studies
- Industry blogs (Amplitude, Mixpanel, Pendo)
- Industry reports (High Alpha/OpenView, Benchmarkit, SaaS Capital)
- User satisfaction:
- Software review sites (G2, Capterra)
- App & Play Store reviews and ratings
- Industry reports (Qualtrics, ChartMogul)
- Conversion/Monetization
- Investor decks (Crunchbase, Slideshare)
- Marketing, industry sites (OneSignal, Qualtrics)
- Pricing/willingness to pay
- Competitor pricing pages
- Analytics platforms (UXCam, AppTweak, App Store Optimization Statistics 2025)
- AI Performance
- Tech review sites
- Competitions leaderboards (Hugging Face, Kaggle)
- Academic papers
⚖️ Compare and Analyze Data
Once your data is collected, look for patterns, trends, and gaps. Use a comparison table to visualize the data (see example below).
Questions to ask:
- Which metrics consistently exceed or fall below the industry average?
- Where do competitors perform well, and where do they underperform?
- Which areas show opportunity to differentiate your solution from the standard?
Finally, translate your findings into action: set measurable goals for your solution, prioritize improvements that matter most to users, and identify opportunities to stand out from the crowd.
Here is an example comparison table. Create your own comparison based on your research. There is a similar template in the activity below to help visualize and compare.
Metric/ Competitor
Industry Benchmark
Calm
Wysa
Headspace
Our Solution
30 day retention
3.7%
4%
3.5%
3.2%
Not yet tested
SOC2 compliance
Type I
Type II
Type II
Not found
Type II
Aiming for Type II
Avg subscription price
$7-10/mo
$12/mo
$8/mo
$13/mo
$9/mo
Market Size
It’s one thing to understand who your market is, but it’s also extremely important to understand how big it is. Market size is an estimate of how many people could potentially use your product or service and the revenue that opportunity could generate. Knowing this helps you make better decisions about where to focus, how to grow, and how to explain the potential of your venture to investors or partners.
Before calculating numbers, it’s helpful to understand three key terms that startups use to define market opportunities: TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Available Market), and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market).
These terms give a framework to think about your opportunity, from the broadest possible market down to what’s realistically achievable early on. At this stage, your aim should be a realistic, but sizable SOM. You should also think about future plans to enlarge your SOM to better capture the whole market.
You start from broad (TAM), then hone it down to more realistic numbers (SAM) to short-term achievable goals (SOM). Let’s dive a bit deeper into what TAM, SAM, and SOM are and how to calculate them.
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
TAM (Total Addressable Market) is the total revenue opportunity if every potential customer used your product. Your TAM gives you a sense of the full scale of the opportunity you’re stepping into. It helps you understand whether the problem you’re solving affects a small niche or millions of people, and whether the long-term potential of your idea is big enough to sustain a venture.
When investors review a startup, they often look at TAM first because it answers a simple question: Is this a big enough opportunity to be worth pursuing? A clear TAM helps you explain the broader future you’re building toward, even if you won’t reach that market right away.
Where to find the numbers:
Public data: Government statistics, industry associations, or UN/World Bank data for global estimates.
Industry reports: Market research firms often publish market size estimates.
Comparable products: Look at similar markets or competitor reports and scale for your product.
Surveys or online tools: Conduct simple surveys or use platforms like Google Trends to estimate demand.
Example:
Imagine you’re building a language-learning app. To estimate TAM, start with a broad question: How many people worldwide are trying to learn a new language each year?
You search industry reports and find that an estimated 1,000,000 people actively spend money on language-learning tools. If your app will cost $50 per year, then your TAM is:
1,000,000 customers x $50 = $50,000,000
Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM)
SAM (Serviceable Available Market) is the portion of TAM your startup can realistically serve given your product, resources, and geography. SAM grounds your idea in reality. It takes the huge landscape shown by TAM and narrows it down to the segment you can actually reach based on your product, your target audience, and your current constraints. Understanding your SAM helps you focus your energy. What part of the market should you really be designing for right now?
It also helps you avoid trying to build for “everyone,” which usually leads to a product that resonates with no one. A well-defined SAM shows that you understand who you can serve today and how your product genuinely fits into their lives.
How to calculate:
- Start with your TAM.
- Demographics: Narrow by target age, income, or interests.
- Geography: Limit to countries or regions your product can currently reach.
- Customer type: Focus on the specific group of people who can realistically use your product right now based on access, needs, and readiness. Exclude groups you can’t serve yet, like users who lack the right technology, need advanced features you haven’t built, or live in regions you can’t reach.
- In addition, you can use surveys, focus groups, or competitor customer data to estimate your reachable segment.
Example:
Narrow that large global TAM value to the specific segment you can realistically serve. Maybe your app will only launch in certain countries first, and those countries represent 20% of the global language-learning market. So your SAM becomes:
$50,000,000(TAM) × 20% = $10,000,000
Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)
SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market) is the portion of SAM you can capture in the short term, often during your first launch or year. SOM brings everything down to the earliest stage of your startup: the traction you can realistically expect when you launch. This number helps you set practical goals for your first year, such as how many customers you might acquire, what revenue you might generate, and what success should look like at the beginning.
SOM also helps you think honestly about your resources, competition, and go-to-market approach. For investors, SOM signals that you’re not just dreaming big. you understand how growth actually happens and can map out those first achievable steps.
Where to find the numbers:
Competitor analysis: Estimate what share similar startups captured in early stages.
Marketing budget and reach: Consider how many customers you can realistically reach with your current channels.
Pilot studies or pre-launch testing: Early interest, sign-ups, or beta users give real-world data.
Expert input: Mentors or advisors can provide realistic adoption percentages.
Example:
Finally, ask: Of that $10 million SAM we can actually reach, how much can we expect to capture early on? If research shows that similar apps typically win 5% of their reachable market in their first year, then your SOM is:
$10,000,000(SAM) × 5% = $500,000
Here’s how you tell the story using your market size research:
TAM: “The global language-learning market is worth $50 million annually.”
SAM: “We’re starting in three countries where we can realistically serve learners, representing a $10 million opportunity.”
SOM: “Based on what similar apps achieved, we expect to capture $500,000 in revenue in year one by acquiring 10,000 paying users.”
You show you understand the big picture (TAM), you are realistic about your starting point (SAM), and you set an achievable first-year goal (SOM).
A Warning About Market Size
It’s tempting to inflate these numbers. “Our TAM is $10 billion!” sounds impressive, but if it’s not credible, it actually hurts you. Investors and mentors can spot inflated market sizes immediately.
Better to have a smaller, well-researched number than a huge number you pulled out of thin air. If your TAM is genuinely small, that’s valuable information—it might mean you need to expand your solution, find adjacent markets, or reconsider the opportunity.
Social Listening & Trend Analysis
Social listening and trend analysis is the process of observing both online conversations and broader market patterns to identify opportunities, gaps, and emerging trends. You’ve listened directly to your stakeholders through interviews to validate your problem and solution. Social listening is different because it observes natural conversations, gathers more spontaneous opinions, and reaches a much larger audience.
Social listening focuses on real-time discussions by monitoring social media, forums, reviews, and other online platforms to see what users are saying about problems, products, or solutions. Trend analysis looks at industry shifts, competitor activity, and emerging technologies that may affect your market. A trend is identified when a topic, behavior, or need appears consistently across multiple sources, persists over time, or gains increasing engagement.
This video gives a good overview of social listening.
The steps below will help you understand what users value, where current solutions fall short, and how your idea can stand out. By combining user-level insights with market-level trends, you can make informed decisions about features, messaging, and positioning.
🔍 Identify Sources
Focus on platforms where your target audience is active, such as WhatsApp, X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or specialized forums and communities where potential users are sharing thoughts and opinions about problems and products.
📈 Trend Analysis
There are a variety of sources to gain insight to wider market trends. Industry blogs (like the Harvard Business Review), nonprofit/government data (such as from the World Bank), newsletters, market research reports (such as Statista or searching with Google’s Dataset Search), and news outlets can also provide insight into larger trends.
🧠 Choose relevant keywords and topics
Think about the problem your solution addresses, related terms, competitors, and common industry phrases. Using the right keywords ensures you capture meaningful conversations and data.
👀 Monitor
Tools like Google Alerts or social media platform native search functions can help you track conversations. Regular monitoring allows you to see emerging patterns rather than relying on isolated posts. It may also be helpful to compile relevant articles and data in one place in your notes. You can record the number of mentions, posts, or engagement metrics over time to see which topics are growing or persistent across multiple sources.
📊 Analyze insights
Look for recurring themes, questions, or complaints. Patterns might reveal what users care about most, what features are frequently requested, or areas where competitors are falling short. Visualizing data with charts, word clouds, or trend graphs makes it easier to spot key insights and communicate them to your team.
🚀Take Action
Use insights to refine your solution or strategy. Social listening informs feature improvements and user experience adjustments while trend analysis can inform feature prioritization and marketing strategies.
Example: Social Listening for a Food Delivery App
Imagine you find these three social media posts about a food delivery app.
- What insights could you gain from these posts?
- What actions could your team take based on these insights to improve your solution or better meet users’ needs?
For example: These insights could lead the team to prioritize faster delivery, partner with local healthy restaurants, or highlight these features in their marketing to differentiate their solution.
Example: Identifying a Trend from Market Data
Imagine you’re exploring trends in volunteer engagement for local environmental initiatives. Over the past three months, you track news articles, nonprofit newsletters, and publicly available volunteer sign-up reports. The number of new volunteers each month for the local plant-a-tree program are shown in the graphic.
From this, you observe that volunteer sign-ups for environmental programs are steadily increasing and identify the trend of growing community interest and participation in local environmental efforts.
DEEP RESEARCH WITH AI
You have identified your main competitors and learned about them with the help of AI. But you need deeper information about your market such as industry trends, customer pain points, benchmarks, and best practices from successful companies in order to have a full, comprehensive view.
Deep Research is a feature in some AI tools that goes beyond simple questions. Instead of answering from memory, Deep Research tools browse the web, read hundreds of sources, and synthesize what they find into a comprehensive report.
When you use Deep Research:
- The AI receives your question
- It creates a research plan and breaks it into smaller tasks
- It searches the web and reads hundreds of articles, reports, and websites
- It synthesizes findings into a structured, multi-page report
- It returns the report to you (this can take 5-10 minutes, sometimes longer)
You can leave while it works. Deep Research runs in the background on Google’s servers. You can close your browser, switch to another app, or even turn off your computer. When the report is ready, Gemini will notify you. This means you do not need to stay connected during the wait time.
This is different from regular AI chat, which answers instantly but only uses the AI’s training knowledge.
What Deep Research Is Best For
Deep Research excels at gathering global information that exists across many online sources
|
Research Need
|
Deep Research Helps With
|
Example
|
|---|---|---|
|
Industry benchmarks
|
Metrics, standards, growth rates
|
“What is the average user acquisition cost for food delivery apps?”
|
|
Customer pain points
|
Aggregated complaints from reviews worldwide
|
“What do customers complain about with existing transportation apps?”
|
|
Market trends
|
Emerging technologies, market shifts
|
“What trends are shaping the artisan marketplace industry?”
|
|
Best practices
|
How successful companies operate
|
“How did successful farmer-to-restaurant platforms grow?”
|
|
Pricing research
|
Common pricing models in your industry
|
“What pricing strategies do mental health apps use?”
|
What Deep Research isn’t good for
Deep Research draws from global, primarily English-language sources. It may be less helpful for:
- Finding local competitors in smaller regional markets (your Competitor Finder + your own knowledge is better for this)
- Local pricing and market conditions specific to your city or country
- Region-specific regulations (research these through local government sources)
For your market research, use Deep Research for the global context (trends, benchmarks, pain points) and combine it with your local knowledge and manual research for regional specifics.
Tool Options
Different AI tools offer Deep Research features:
|
Tool
|
How to Access
|
Free Tier
|
Best For
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gemini Deep Research
|
~5 queries/day
|
Comprehensive web research
|
|
|
Perplexity.ai
|
5 Pro queries/day
|
Quick research with sources
|
|
|
ChatGPT Browse
|
ChatGPT Plus subscription
|
Paid only
|
If you already have Plus
|
Important: If Gemini is not available in your region, use Perplexity.ai as an alternative. Both produce good research results.
ACTIVITY 2
Conduct Deep Research
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
In this activity, you will use Deep Research to gather detailed information. Complete the steps below for each of the following research topics:
- Topic 1: Industry benchmarks and success stories (excellent for setting goals and learning best practices)
- Topic 2: Research on the 3 metrics for market size in your solution area
- Topic 3: Social listening and research trends in your market or industry (excellent for identifying opportunities and threats)
- Topic 4: Find customer pain points with existing solutions (excellent for identifying opportunities)
1. Open your Deep Research tool
If using Gemini:
- Go to gemini.google.com in your browser
- Sign in with your Google account
- Look for “Deep Research” in the interface (may appear as a button or option)
If using Perplexity.ai:
- Go to perplexity.ai in your browser
- Click “Sign Up” to create a free account (you can use Google or email)
- Once signed in, you will see a search box in the center of the page
- Type your research question in the search box
- Click the search button or press Enter
- Perplexity will search the web and show results with source citations
- For deeper research, look for “Pro Search” option (limited to 5 per day on free tier)
Note: Perplexity shows sources for each statement, making it easy to verify information. Results appear faster than Gemini Deep Research (usually 1-2 minutes instead of 5-10 minutes).
2. Craft your Research Prompt
For each research topic below, you will need to provide a prompt that covers all of the items you want to know more about. You can either come up with your own or utilize the included templates and suggestions.
Plan your queries carefully.
Write your question before submitting to avoid wasting a query on a poorly-formed prompt.
Free Tier Limits:
- Gemini: Approximately 5 Deep Research queries per day
- Perplexity: 5 Pro searches per day on free tier
Industry Benchmarking
I am building [brief description of your solution] in the [industry/market] space, to solve [brief description of your problem].
[copy and paste some or all of the questions in the Industry Benchmarking Worksheet]
Market Size
I am building [brief description of your solution] in the [industry/market] space, to solve [brief description of your problem]. I have identified my target market as [list target market].
Please provide numbers for Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) for my product.
Also provide links to research backing up these figures.
Social Listening and Market Trends
I am building [brief description of your solution] in the [industry/market] space, to solve [brief description of your problem].
I have identified my target market as [list target market].
Provide 2–3 online platforms where my target audience is active.
Find relevant keywords, hashtags, or communities related to the problem I am solving or my solution.
Note recurring themes, frustrations, or suggestions.
Customer Pain Points
My top competitors are [list 3-5 of top competitors from Activity 1].
Look at:
- Reviews on app stores, software review sites, and social media
- Common complaints about current solutions
- Features that customers wish existed
- Reasons customers switch between products
- Underserved user groups or use cases
Provide specific examples and quotes where possible.
3. Submit and wait for results
Deep Research takes time because it is reading hundreds of sources. Expect to wait 5-10 minutes, sometimes longer for complex topics!
When the research is complete, make sure to read through the full report and then copy the report to a document for future reference.
4. Document the Results
- Copy and paste the prompts and responses into the worksheets provided or a new Google doc.
- Review the responses carefully, adding notes.
- Go back to the AI tool you are using and ask for clarification if needed, or go to a standard LLM for followup if you are out of credits.
Feeling Stuck?
|
Problem
|
Solution
|
|---|---|
|
Deep Research taking more than 15 minutes
|
This is longer than normal. Try refreshing the page. If still processing, start a new query.
|
|
Cannot find Deep Research option in Gemini
|
Make sure you are on gemini.google.com (not the API). Look for “Deep Research” button or mode selector.
|
|
Results are too general
|
Add more specific context to your prompt. Include your industry, location, and target audience.
|
|
Reached free tier limit
|
Switch to the alternative tool (Perplexity if you were using Gemini). You can continue tomorrow.
|
|
Tool not available in my region
|
Use Perplexity.ai which has broader availability.
|
SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis is a structured tool used to evaluate your solution from both internal and external perspectives. A SWOT analysis can integrate all the insights you’ve gained from the other analyses you have performed as part of your market research.
It helps you understand your:
Strengths
What Your Solution Does Well
What You Have: Skills, resources, or access that others don't.
What You’ve Proven: Insights or assumptions already validated through user testing.
What Sets You Apart: Domain expertise, unique perspective, or specialized knowledge that gives your team an edge.
Weaknesses
Where Your Solution Could Improve
What You Lack: Specific skills, resources, or tools your team doesn’t yet have.
What Users Noticed: Feedback or criticisms gathered during interviews or testing.
What Worries You: Aspects of execution or delivery that could pose challenges.
Opportunities
Opportunities to Grow
Why Now: Market shifts or timing factors that make this the right moment for your solution.
Who Else You Could Serve: Adjacent or overlooked user segments that align with your mission.
Who Could Help: Partnerships, networks, or resources you could tap into to expand impact.
Threaths
External Risks to Watch
Who Else Is Competing: Existing competitors or alternative solutions in the space.
What Could Change: Technologies, trends, or user behaviors that could make your solution less relevant.
What Could Block You: External constraints such as regulations, funding limitations, or market barriers.
With all the information gathered, now is a good time to synthesize your findings to get a clear picture of your strategic plan and a possible solution refinement. The SWOT is a succinct, yet powerful way to start to synthesize the information you’ve gathered so far and identify key factors to your team’s success.
ACTIVITY 3
SWOT Analysis & Strategic Planning
Estimated Time: 60 minutes
In this activity, with the help of AI, you will:
- Conduct a SWOT analysis of your idea with the template provided.
- Based on the SWOT, fill out the strategic action plan as a result of your findings.
1. Open your Deep Research tool
Open your tool of choice from above for your deep research.
Note you may have to wait if you have run out of credits.
2. Craft your Prompts Using the Worksheet
- Create a prompt to fill out the SWOT table in the worksheet. If you are in the same chat thread, the AI tool should already have the context of your problem, market, and solution.
You can also provide links to the previous research documents to give more context if necessary. - Then craft another prompt to complete the strategic planning secction of the worksheet.
4. Document the Results
- Copy and paste the prompts and responses into the worksheet.
- Review the responses carefully, adding notes.
- Make any necessary changes, continue prompting, and change anything you disagree with in the responses.
Remember, AI is doing the heavy lifting for synthesizing and analyzing the information. It is still important for you as founder to set forth your own ideas and think deeply about your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Use AI as an assistant, not the final answer to your research.
Synthesizing Your Market Research
You’ve now used multiple research methods to learn more about your market. But don’t just prompt AI, fill out the worksheets, and stop there. It makes sense to summarize what you have learned and to make an action plan to make sure you are successful. This synthesis will help you to determine your minimum viable product (MVP) features. It will also enable you to fill out your next major business document, your lean canvas.
Here are some categories to organize your findings:
1
Competitive Landscape
- What are common strengths across competitors?
- What are common weaknesses?
- What gaps exist that no one addresses well?
2
Market Standards (from benchmarking)
- What metrics define success in your space?
- What do users expect as a baseline?
- Where does the market underperform?
3
User Sentiment
- What frustrations appear repeatedly?
- What language do users use to describe problems?
- What trends are emerging in user needs and behavior?
4
Your Strategic Position (competitive landscape + market standards + user sentiment)
- Your Unique Value Proposition: How are you different and better?
- Your Target Metrics: What benchmarks will you aim to beat?
- What is your biggest risk?
Reflection
Remember: market research is an iterative process. Insights from one round of research may lead to new questions or ideas, which you can continue exploring in the future. Take a few moments to think about what you learned and how it can shape your solution.
Additional Resources
- The Ultimate Guide to Competitive Research for Small Businesses – Entrepreneur
- Industry Benchmarks and the Entrepreneurial Mindset – FasterCapital
- SWOT Analysis Examples: From Small Businesses to Startups and Large Corporations – Business News Daily
Competitor Research
- Crunchbase — Database of startups and companies
- Product Hunt — Discover new products and competitors
- G2 — Software reviews and comparisons
