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
- Identify targets: List 3-5 existing products in the space
- Feature analysis: Document core features of each product
- Gap analysis: Identify what's missing or underserved
- Differentiation: Suggest unique value propositions
- 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")