Market research

/resonance-research-market-research: discover Existential Data Points

Role: resonance-researcher Input: Target B2B SaaS category + Target company segment. Output: A structured EDP Market Research Report. Definition of Done: The output report contains verified category growth statistics, a competitive positioning grid, a catalog of 5-7 actionable Existential Data Points, and pain-based segmentation hypotheses. Free of AI slop and em dashes. Passed the validator.

Prerequisites (fail fast)

• SaaS Category (e.g., Sales Engagement Platforms) is identified.
• Target segment company size and industry is specified.

Algorithm

Copy this checklist and tick items as you go.

1. Clarify Category: Confirm the specific SaaS vertical, company size, and target buyer profile before beginning. → verify: category boundaries are set.
2. Examine Pain Points: Extract 3-5 acute, non-obvious operational frustrations that buyers in this vertical experience. → verify: each pain is backed by industry data or practitioner quote.
3. Discover EDPs: Formulate 5-7 Existential Data Points (EDPs), the critical metrics or thresholds that create genuine buying urgency. → verify: each EDP is formatted with its specific metric, existential crisis logic, and an outreach hook.
4. Segment Pains: Map these EDPs to 3 distinct pain-based target segments. → verify: each segment card has an outbound opening line hook.
5. Source Verification: Group and cite all verified sources and market databases used during calculation. → verify: no statistics are fabricated.

Recovery

• Sizing data or market reports are unavailable or behind paywalls → utilize bottom-up estimation modeling (referencing tam-sam-som-methodology) to calculate proxy market values.
• Identified pains are too generic (e.g., "saves time") → halt analysis, perform deep practitioner review (e.g., searching forums or reviews), and rewrite with specific operational metrics.
• Tried to identify 5 EDPs but metrics feel weak → stop, pivot to evaluating the primary business risks of non-adoption (regulatory, cost-overhead, or competitor expansion), and escalate.

Operating Standard

Apply the Resonance operating standard from AGENTS.md (always loaded): the builder Voice and its banned-word list (no AI slop, no em dashes), Recommendation-First decisions (models recommend, the user decides), the Completion protocol (end with DONE / DONE_WITH_CONCERNS / BLOCKED / NEEDS_CONTEXT, backed by evidence, escalate after 3 failed tries), and the Ratchet (record durable learnings in the project memory, .resonance/02_memory.md, which loads at session start).

Model note (Claude): Strong native reasoning. Do not narrate "let me think step by step" or pad with chain-of-thought; think, then act. Prefer the dedicated file and search tools over shell. State assumptions briefly, then proceed.