ecc-market-research

name	ecc-market-research
description	Conduct market research, competitive analysis, investor due diligence, and industry intelligence with source attribution and decision-oriented summaries. Use when the user wants market sizing, competitor comparisons, fund research, technology scans, or research that informs business decisions.
origin	ECC

Market Research

Produce research that supports decisions, not research theater.

When to Activate

• researching a market, category, company, investor, or technology trend
• building TAM/SAM/SOM estimates
• comparing competitors or adjacent products
• preparing investor dossiers before outreach
• pressure-testing a thesis before building, funding, or entering a market

Research Standards

1. Every important claim needs a source.
2. Prefer recent data and call out stale data.
3. Include contrarian evidence and downside cases.
4. Translate findings into a decision, not just a summary.
5. Separate fact, inference, and recommendation clearly.

Common Research Modes

Investor / Fund Diligence

Collect:

• fund size, stage, and typical check size
• relevant portfolio companies
• public thesis and recent activity
• reasons the fund is or is not a fit
• any obvious red flags or mismatches

Competitive Analysis

Collect:

• product reality, not marketing copy
• funding and investor history if public
• traction metrics if public
• distribution and pricing clues
• strengths, weaknesses, and positioning gaps

Market Sizing

Use:

• top-down estimates from reports or public datasets
• bottom-up sanity checks from realistic customer acquisition assumptions
• explicit assumptions for every leap in logic

Technology / Vendor Research

Collect:

• how it works
• trade-offs and adoption signals
• integration complexity
• lock-in, security, compliance, and operational risk

Output Format

Default structure:

1. executive summary
2. key findings
3. implications
4. risks and caveats
5. recommendation
6. sources

Quality Gate

Before delivering:

• all numbers are sourced or labeled as estimates
• old data is flagged
• the recommendation follows from the evidence
• risks and counterarguments are included
• the output makes a decision easier