Market intelligence

Market Intelligence Skill

A full-stack strategic research skill: market landscape → competitor deep-dives → your edge.

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Step 0 — Extract Product Context

Parse what the user has provided. Map it to these fields:

Field	Status
Product name / working title	Provided / Missing
Product abstract / what it does	Provided / Missing
Target audience	Provided / Missing
Known competitors	Provided / Missing
Stage (idea / prototype / live)	Provided / Missing

If critical fields are missing, ask concisely before proceeding:

• Missing abstract: "What does the product do, in one or two sentences?"
• Missing audience: "Who is this for — any specific role, industry, or demographic?"
• Missing competitors: "Do you have specific competitors in mind, or should I find them?"

Do not ask for more than 2 clarifying questions at once. Use web search to fill gaps where possible.

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Step 2 — Market Research

Use web search as primary source. Search for:

• [product category] market size [current year]
• [product category] industry trends [current year]
• [product category] target audience demographics
• [product category] growth forecast

Reference file for research frameworks → references/research-frameworks.md

2a. Market Trends & Growth Trajectory

• Current market size (cite source + year)
• Projected CAGR / growth rate over next 3–5 years
• Key macro tailwinds driving the market
• Key headwinds or risks
• Emerging sub-trends relevant to the product idea
• Stage of market maturity (emerging / growing / mature / declining)

2b. Target Audience Psychographics & Segments

• Primary segment: demographics, role, context of use
• Secondary segment (if applicable)
• Key motivations and goals
• Core frustrations and pain points (what's broken today?)
• Behavioural patterns: where they spend time, how they buy, what they trust
• Jobs-to-be-done framing: functional, emotional, social

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Step 3 — Competitor Research

Identify 3–5 key competitors. If user provided competitors, include those. Supplement with web search:

• [product category] top companies [year]
• [product name] alternatives
• best [product category] tools / platforms / services

For each competitor, produce a full profile using the template in references/competitor-profile.md.

Cover:

1. Business Overview — what they do, founding, size, funding, target market
2. Product / Service — core features, key differentiators, what they do well
3. Pricing Model — tiers, freemium, enterprise, pricing signals
4. What They Don't Do — gaps, limitations, common complaints (search reviews on G2, Capterra, Reddit, Trustpilot, App Store)
5. Brand Identity Deep-Dive:
   • Voice & Tone: formal/casual, emotional register, vocabulary patterns
   • Visual Identity: colour palette feel, typography character, design language (clinical, bold, minimal, warm, etc.)
   • Messaging & Positioning: tagline, value prop framing, who they speak to
   • Content & Channel Strategy: where they publish, what format, how often, what narrative they own
6. SWOT Analysis:
   • Strengths: what makes them hard to displace
   • Weaknesses: where they underserve or overcharge
   • Opportunities: market moves they could make
   • Threats: what could hurt them (including the user's product)

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Step 4 — Competitive Matrix

Produce a summary comparison table across all competitors + the user's idea:

| Dimension | [Competitor A] | [Competitor B] | [Competitor C] | [Your Idea] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary audience | | | | |
| Core value prop | | | | |
| Pricing model | | | | |
| Key strength | | | | |
| Key weakness | | | | |
| Brand tone | | | | |
| Notable gap | | | | |

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Step 5 — Strategic Edge Analysis

Synthesise everything above to answer: "Why would someone choose this over everything else?"

5a. Unique Differentiators

• What does the user's idea do that no one else does (or does poorly)?
• What combination of features / audience / delivery is genuinely novel?
• Is the differentiation sustainable or easily copied?

5b. Feature Gap Analysis

• Map the top unmet needs from audience pain points against what competitors offer
• Identify the whitespace: high pain, low coverage = highest opportunity
• Flag which gaps the user's idea already addresses vs. still needs to build toward

5c. Go-to-Market Angle Recommendation

• Recommended beachhead segment (smallest viable audience to win first)
• Positioning statement draft: For [audience] who [pain point], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [competitor], we [differentiator].
• Channel recommendations based on where target audience actually lives
• Narrative to own: what story or category can this product define?

5d. Pricing Strategy Suggestion

• Recommended model (freemium / subscription tiers / usage-based / one-time / enterprise)
• Rationale based on competitor pricing and audience willingness to pay
• Anchor pricing suggestion with justification
• What the free tier or trial should include (if applicable)

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Step 6 — Structure the Report

Output a markdown report using this structure:

# Market Intelligence Report — [Product Name]
**Date:** [today]
**Prepared by:** Claude (AI-assisted research)
**Stage:** [idea / prototype / live]

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## Executive Summary
[4–6 sentence synthesis: market opportunity, competitive landscape in one line, 
the user's strongest edge, and the single most important strategic recommendation]

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## 1. Market Landscape
### 1a. Trends & Growth Trajectory
### 1b. Target Audience Psychographics

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## 2. Competitor Profiles
### 2a. [Competitor 1 Name]
[Full profile: business overview, product, pricing, gaps, brand identity, SWOT]

### 2b. [Competitor 2 Name]
[...]

### 2c. [Competitor 3 Name]
[...]

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## 3. Competitive Matrix
[Summary table]

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## 4. Your Strategic Edge
### 4a. Unique Differentiators
### 4b. Feature Gap Analysis
### 4c. Go-to-Market Angle
### 4d. Pricing Strategy

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## 5. Sources & Research Notes
[List key sources used, flag any data that is estimated vs. cited]

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## Caveats
- Market size figures are estimates from secondary sources; validate with primary research
- Competitor brand identity analysis is based on publicly available digital presence
- Pricing signals sourced from public pages; enterprise pricing may differ
- Recommend user testing and customer interviews to validate audience assumptions

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Step 7 — Deliver & Offer Next Steps

• Save report as market-intelligence-[product-name]-[date].md
• Use present_files to surface it
• Offer to:
  • Deep-dive on a single competitor
  • Generate a positioning statement workshop (3 variants)
  • Draft a landing page hero copy based on the GTM angle
  • Build a feature roadmap prioritised against gap analysis

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Research Principles

• Cite sources. Every market stat needs a source and year. Estimates must be flagged as estimates.
• Be specific about competitors. "They have a clean UI" is useless. "Their onboarding is 3 steps with no email verification required" is useful.
• Separate what exists from what's inferred. If a competitor's pricing isn't public, say so and estimate from signals (job postings, review sites, Crunchbase).
• Don't oversell the user's idea. Strategic edge analysis should be honest — flag where the idea is genuinely differentiated vs. where it's "also in the market."
• Brand identity is a system, not vibes. Describe it in terms a designer or copywriter could act on.
• When data is unavailable, say so clearly and recommend where the user can find it (G2, Crunchbase, SimilarWeb, LinkedIn, App Store reviews).