Stage 2.4: Market Context Enquiry
🧠 What this stage is about
Even the best idea can fail if the market isn’t ready — or already crowded.
This stage helps you scan the environment around your idea to understand timing, demand, and differentiation.
🔍 What you'll investigate
- Who else is building similar solutions?
- What trends or timing factors affect your idea’s success?
- Where your product could stand out — or fall short
- Whether customers are solving this already (and how)
🧰 Tools and techniques
- Competitive Benchmarking Grid – lay out strengths/weaknesses of 3–5 alternatives
- Trend Scan – pull signals from blogs, funding rounds, or IP filings
- Customer Substitutes Map – what people currently use (even if it’s not ideal)
- Differentiator Checklist – list where your idea is better, faster, or cheaper
⚠️ Red flags to look for
- Building something that already exists — with no clear difference
- Overestimating market appetite
- Ignoring quiet-but-effective competitors
- Falling in love with the idea, not the opportunity
💬 Notes from the field
“We realised two startups had already failed at our idea. But one succeeded after changing how it was priced. That insight saved our pivot.”“The opportunity wasn’t new — it was just poorly served. That gave us an edge.”
🔗 Related stages
🖼️ Visual overview
💾 Download
Map out the current landscape so you don’t go in blind.