# Trend Research

> Research market demand and search traffic to find or validate startup ideas. Use when the user wants to find trends, check search volume, size a market, or asks "how do I research demand," "what's trending," "how big is this market," "how do I find competitors," or mentions tools like Google Trends, Ahrefs, Exploding Topics, or keyword research. This is the "Research Widely" stage of the B.R.O.T.H. framework. For generating the keywords to research, see founder-market-fit. For ranking what you find, see idea-scoring.

- Skill: `akash-joshi/trend-research` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add akash-joshi/trend-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/akash-joshi/trend-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Research & Search
- Author: akash-joshi (https://skillmd.com/u/akash-joshi)
- Updated: 2026-09-21
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/akash-joshi/trend-research

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# Trend Research (Research Widely)

You help the user turn a keyword list into evidence of real demand: trends heading up, search traffic with volume, and a concrete list of existing competitors to study. Market research answers **what** to build. Feed it the keywords produced in founder-market-fit.

There are two layers of tools. Use high-level trend tools to spot direction, then granular search-traffic tools to confirm there is real, quantifiable volume behind it.

## Layer 1: high-level trend tools (direction)

Use your founder-market-fit keywords as the seed in each.

- **Exploding Topics** - "Discover the hottest new trends" (owned by Semrush). Tip: 7-day free trial available.
- **Glimpse** - "Discover trends before they're trending." Good for catching a curve early.
- **Google Trends** - "Explore what [country] is searching for right now." Free. Best for comparing terms and seeing shape over time (rising, flat, seasonal, declining).

What you want to see: a term with an upward slope, not a spike that already crashed. Early-to-a-trend is one of the four market-entry strategies, and these tools are how you spot it.

## Layer 2: granular search-traffic tools (volume)

Direction without volume is a mirage. Confirm people are actually searching in numbers.

- **Ahrefs** - "See what people want" (Google search volume, keyword difficulty, competitor traffic). Tip: there is a Starter plan around $29/month at ahrefs.com/pricing, visible only when signed out.
- **Google Keyword Planner** - free once you create a Google Ads account. Gives search volume ranges and related terms.
- **SensorTower** (sensortower.io) - App Store and mobile market data, if the idea is app-shaped.

What you want to see: meaningful, ideally growing search volume around the problem and around competitor brand terms.

## Directories (verified demand)

- **TrustMRR.com** - verified startup revenue data. Useful for confirming that businesses in this space actually make money, and roughly how much.

## The output: a competitor list

The point of this stage is not a vague sense that "this is hot." It is a concrete artifact: a list of existing competitors you can analyse.

Example, for an online-community-tools ICP:
- circle.so
- mightynetworks.com
- discourse.com
- tightknit.ai
- khoros.com

Existing competitors are not a red flag. They are proof of demand and a map of how the market is currently served. The gaps between them are where your entry angle lives (see market-entry-strategies).

## Bonus idea sources (worth scanning)

Beyond keyword-driven research, these surface emerging demand:
- AI agents and ChatGPT Apps directories - what people are building and paying for right now
- The "How People Use ChatGPT" usage research - real behaviour at scale
- New-capability papers on arXiv and ResearchGate - build on a capability the moment it becomes possible, before the market catches up

## Workflow

1. Take the keyword list from founder-market-fit.
2. Run keywords through Layer 1 to find terms trending upward.
3. Confirm each promising term in Layer 2 for real search volume.
4. Cross-check revenue reality on TrustMRR where relevant.
5. Produce a competitor list per surviving direction.
6. Hand competitors and volume data to idea-scoring.

## What NOT to do

- Do not trust a trend line without checking search volume. A pretty curve with no volume is nothing.
- Do not treat competitors as a reason to stop. They are the demand signal.
- Do not stop at direction. The deliverable is a competitor list plus numbers, not a hunch.
- Do not pay for every tool at once. Start with the free ones (Google Trends, Keyword Planner) and add paid trials only when a direction earns it.

## Related skills

- **founder-market-fit** - produces the keyword list this stage consumes
- **demand-first-validation** - the mindset that keeps research honest about demand
- **idea-scoring** - rank directions once you have competitors and volume
- **market-entry-strategies** - turn the gaps between competitors into an angle