Market research is not something reserved for big companies with budgets and agencies. It's the work you do before you start, so you don't burn months and money on something nobody wants. It means one thing only: finding out, with real evidence, who has the problem you want to solve and whether they're willing to pay you to solve it. That's the difference between building on an illusion and building on a real need.
The customer first, not the product
The first step isn't what you sell: it's the person you sell it to. Describe your ideal customeras if you had to recognise them in the street — what they do for a living, how old they are, where they live, the exact problem that keeps them up at night. The most common mistake is saying «my customer is everyone». If it's for everyone, it's for no one. Ten people who look a lot alike beat a thousand generic ones.
Where to find that customer in the real world
On paper you've defined them; now you have to actually find them. Where does the person you described spend their time? If you sell to parents, they're in local groups and outside schools. If you sell to tradespeople, they're at markets and trade fairs. If you sell to professionals, they're on LinkedIn and at events in their field. You don't need a huge audience: you need three concrete places where you could meet ten of them this week.
How to talk to people (the right questions)
This is the part almost nobody does, and it's the one worth the most: talking to people. Don't sell, listen. Run short interviews, ten minutes, with people who really have the problem — not friends and family, who will say yes to be kind. Ask about the past, not the future:
- How do you solve this problem today? You'll find the real competitor, even if it's a spreadsheet or nothing at all.
- What does it cost you not to solve it? You measure how strong the pain is.
- What have you already tried, and why didn't it work for you? You find the open space to take.
Avoid questions that start with «Would you like»: polite answers are worth nothing. Listen to what they actually did last time, not to what they imagine doing.
Studying 3-5 real competitors (where they fail)
If you think you have no competitors, you haven't looked hard enough: the competitor is however people solve the problem today. Pick three to five real competitors, the ones your customer could choose instead of you, and study them in order: what they offer, what they charge, how they present themselves and who they talk to. And above all the reviews. Negative reviews are gold: every one-star is an unhappy customer telling you, for free, where that competitor fails. If in twenty reviews three people complain about slow turnaround, there's your opening: you're the fast one. You study them not to copy them, but to find the gap they leave.
How to size the demand with simple numbers
Now put a few numbers together to size the demand. You don't need precision, you need an order of magnitude. Example: in your area you estimate 200 people with the problem you solve. If even just 5% bought, that's 10 customers. If your service costs €300, that's €3,000. That number tells you straight away whether the game is worth the candle or whether the market is simply too small. These are estimates, not certainties, but a reasoned number beats a gut feeling.
Opinions versus proof: who would actually pay?
Here's the heart of it: telling opinions apart from proof. «Great idea», compliments, likes and «I'll follow you» are opinions: they don't pay the rent. Proof is something else — someone leaves their email to be notified, someone puts down a small deposit, someone asks you «when do you start?». Before you build everything, try asking for a real commitment, however small. If nobody moves while there's still nothing there, that's a valuable signal, not a failure: you found out in a week instead of in six months.
You can do all of this on your own, but it means holding a lot of pieces together: who the customer is, what the interviews said, what the competitors do, whether the numbers hold up. That's where Vanteo works alongside you — it sharpens the direction, runs the analysis on real competitors and remembers what you find out, so every decision starts from what you know and not from a feeling. And when the research tells you there's a real need, the next step is to test it in the field: how to validate a business idea.