Stage 2.2: Understand Industry
🧠 What this stage is about
Before you design anything, it's essential to understand the space you're entering.
This stage helps you explore the industry landscape so you’re building with eyes wide open — not guessing.
🔍 What you’ll explore
- Current trends and shifts in your market
- Key players and business models
- Common problems customers face
- Standards, regulations, and compliance issues
- Industry-specific risks or blockers
🧰 Tools and research methods
- Competitor Snapshot – profile 3–5 relevant businesses or products
- SWOT Analysis – identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
- Sector Reports – desk research into published trends and insights
- Regulatory Review – understand any must-follow rules early
⚠️ Easy mistakes to avoid
- Only looking at surface-level competitors
- Ignoring indirect or substitute products
- Confusing a saturated market with a bad one
- Overlooking boring but critical details (like safety regs or logistics)
💬 Peer perspective
“This part helped us stop chasing trends and start solving real, painful problems in our niche.”“Our first idea didn’t survive this stage — and that was a good thing. It saved us time and money later.”
🔗 Related stages
🖼️ Visual overview
💾 Download
A template to quickly document what matters — and leave out what doesn’t.