| name | market-mapping |
| description | Use when the user wants to map the competitive landscape, understand where profit concentrates, identify white space, or size the opportunity. Also use when the user mentions 'competitive landscape,' 'who are my real competitors,' 'market analysis,' 'where is the opportunity,' 'profit pool,' 'customer segments,' or 'who is winning in X space.' |
Market Mapping
Maps who's in the space, where profit concentrates, and who the real customers are — before committing to a position.
Market Mapping Philosophy
Profit ≠ revenue. The largest player by revenue is often not extracting the most margin.
Incumbents ≠ real competition. Your real competitors are whoever your best customers would choose if you didn't exist.
Segment by behavior, not demographics. "SMB marketing teams" is a demographic. "Teams who currently manage 3+ agencies and spend 20h/week on reporting" is a behavioral segment.
Player Categories
Tier 1 Incumbents — market leaders; define the rules, pricing norms, and default buyer expectation.
Tier 2 Challengers — aggressive growers; define the disruption vector.
Adjacent Players — different business model, same customer pain. The most underestimated threat.
Emerging Threats — pre-product or very early, but signal where value is shifting.
For each category: name 2-3 representative players, their business model in one line, and what they're optimizing for.
Profit Pool Analysis
- Identify every role in the value chain (supplier → builder → distributor → customer success → end user)
- Estimate gross margin at each stage
- Find the stage where margin concentrates — that's where bargaining power lives
- Distinguish: who creates value vs who extracts value
Proxy signals when hard data is unavailable: fundraising multiples, pricing power, CAC relative to LTV, churn rate.
The question to answer: "If I had to pick one position in this value chain to own, which has the most defensible margin?"
Customer Segmentation
Segment by three axes:
- Pain intensity — how much does this hurt, in money or time lost per month?
- Willingness to pay — what budget exists, and who controls it?
- Reachability — how do you get to them, and how expensive is that motion?
The segment worth targeting: highest pain × WTP × reachability.
White Space Detection
White space = a gap where:
- Pain is high (people are actively complaining, paying for workarounds)
- Solutions are weak (incumbent tools are 10+ years old, complex, expensive)
- No dominant player has locked in the segment
White space must be specific enough to build a product thesis: "Agencies with 5-20 employees who manage paid social for e-commerce clients — no one has built a reporting tool specifically for this workflow."
Output Structure
- Market map — 3-5 player categories with brief characterization
- Competitive moves to watch — the 1-2 strongest players' next likely moves
- Target segment — defined by pain + WTP + reachability
- Profit concentration — where in the value chain margin sits and why
- White space — specific enough to anchor a product thesis
Common Rationalizations
| Rationalization | Reality |
|---|
| "Our market is too new to map" | Map what exists adjacent. New markets are undefended segments of old markets. |
| "All segments look attractive" | Apply the pain × WTP × reachability filter. If multiple still look equal, you need more data. |
| "We compete with everyone" | Name the 2-3 players your best customers would choose if you didn't exist. That's your real competitive set. |
| "Profit pool analysis requires data we don't have" | Use proxy signals: fundraising multiples, pricing power, CAC vs LTV, churn rates. |
Quality Bar
