Market Research

Research existing products/competitors to inform product decisions.

When to Use

• Starting a new project and want to understand the landscape
• Cloning or improving upon an existing product
• Identifying gaps or differentiation opportunities
• Validating product direction against alternatives

Process

1. Identify targets: List 3-5 existing products in the space
2. Feature analysis: Document core features of each product
3. Gap analysis: Identify what’s missing or underserved
4. Differentiation: Suggest unique value propositions
5. Summarize findings for product decision-making

Research Areas

For each competitor/reference product:

• Core features: What does it do well?
• Target audience: Who uses it?
• Pricing model: Free/paid/freemium?
• Technical approach: Open source? What stack?
• UX patterns: What’s the user experience like?
• Limitations: What are users complaining about?

Output Format

[MARKET RESEARCH COMPLETE]

Product space: [description]

Competitors analyzed:
1. [Product A]
   - Core features: ...
   - Strengths: ...
   - Weaknesses: ...
   
2. [Product B]
   - Core features: ...
   - Strengths: ...
   - Weaknesses: ...

Gap analysis:
- [Gap 1]: Description
- [Gap 2]: Description

Differentiation opportunities:
- [Opportunity 1]: How to stand out
- [Opportunity 2]: Underserved niche

Recommended baseline: [Product X] because [rationale]

Guidelines

• Use web search when available to gather current information
• Focus on products users would actually compare against
• Be honest about strong competitors
• Identify realistic differentiation (not just “do everything better”)