# Market Research

> Conduct market research to understand demand, segments, sizing, and buying dynamics for products and services. Use when evaluating markets, sizing opportunities, or validating go-to-market assumptions.

- Skill: `itsual/market-research` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add itsual/market-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/itsual/market-research/raw
- Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS)
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: itsual (https://skillmd.com/u/itsual)
- Updated: 2026-09-22
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/itsual/market-research

---


# Market Research

## Overview

Market research characterizes customers, demand, and industry structure. It informs whether a market is worth entering and how it is organized.

## When to Use

- Market sizing (TAM/SAM/SOM style estimates)
- Segment discovery and prioritization
- Pricing and willingness-to-pay exploration
- Category trends and growth drivers

## Core Practices

- Define the market by customer job or need, not only product labels
- Combine top-down and bottom-up sizing when possible
- Triangulate demand signals (search, spend, usage, expert input)
- Distinguish existing demand from latent demand carefully
- Map buying process and decision-makers for B2B markets
- State assumptions in any size estimate

## Principles

- Huge TAM with no path to SAM/SOM is storytelling
- Segments must be reachable and actionable to matter
- Historical growth does not guarantee future growth
- Primary validation beats pure desk-size fantasies for new categories

## Verification

- [ ] Market definition is explicit
- [ ] Sizing assumptions are transparent
- [ ] Implications for targeting and GTM are stated