See what is happening outside your business.
We use AI and external market data to help small and mid-sized organizations track competitors, pricing, customer feedback, and opportunities.
Start with one question and a 90-day update. No large implementation. No access to your internal systems required.
Sample Decision Brief · Current as of delivery date
Where do our prices sit relative to five named competitors?
Confidence: ModerateThe answer: Your published price is already competitive. Once scope and customer experience are weighed in, the case is to hold the line, not chase competitors down on price.
The questions that keep getting pushed aside
Most organizations have important external questions that never get answered.
Not because they do not matter. Because day-to-day work wins.
- Where do our prices sit today?
- Which competitors respond faster than we do?
- What are customers praising and complaining about across our market?
- Which grants or tenders are open right now?
- Who are customers really comparing us with?
- What changed in our market last quarter?
This started with a phone call
When I ran my own business, I wanted better information about our competitors. We did not have a research team, so I called them myself.
Half did not answer the phone. Half of those that did answer never followed up with a quote.
That simple research changed how we operated. We made answering the phone and following through on every lead core priorities, and it contributed to our early success.
I assumed this was a small-business problem. After selling the company to a public company, I discovered larger organizations had the same blind spots.
The problem was not size. It was capacity.
Every organization has more important questions than it has research capacity.
— Jonathon Moody, Founder, m|industries
Your team probably can do the research. The question is whether it will.
Important work loses to urgent work. Research crosses functions and ownership is unclear. The first analysis sometimes happens. The follow-up rarely does.
| The usual approach | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| Assign it internally | Other priorities take over |
| Buy software | Someone still has to define and interpret the work |
| Hire consultants | The project is bigger and more expensive than the question |
| Ask ChatGPT | The current evidence still has to be gathered and validated |
| Do nothing | The question stays on the list |
We are not replacing people. We are replacing important projects that never get prioritized.
The capability is not new. The economics are.
Research has traditionally been people-heavy. Collecting, comparing, organizing, and monitoring information took real time, which is why it took a dedicated analyst or a consulting engagement.
AI and automation now handle much of that effort. That makes focused external research practical for organizations that could never justify the cost before.
The technology does the heavy lifting. Experienced judgement still determines what matters.
Start with a Market Baseline and 90-day update
We establish what is true today about one external market question, retain the useful sources and signals, and return after approximately 90 days to show what changed.
You receive:
- one clearly defined question and scope
- current, validated external evidence
- a concise decision brief you can read in ten minutes
- the structured supporting data, which you own
- the signals worth watching
- a 90-day comparison and a straight recommendation on whether continued monitoring is worth it
If the market moves, Market Watch can keep track. If it does not, the baseline stands on its own. No subscription required.
Answer My First QuestionSee what one looks like
Sample Decision Brief · Pricing
Where do our prices sit relative to five named competitors?
Confidence: ModerateThe answer: Your published price is already competitive. Once scope and customer experience are weighed in, the case is to hold the line, not chase competitors down on price.
- Only one of five competitors is genuinely cheaper. Matching each competitor's service description against yours line by line, the other two "lower" prices cover a narrower scope than what you include as standard.
- That one cheaper competitor has the most billing complaints in the market. Roughly 1 in 4 of their recent reviews mentions being billed above the quoted price.
- Calling all five to confirm current pricing surfaced the same pattern. Two quietly lowered their number once we mentioned comparing quotes — both among the competitors with rising complaint volume.
Recommended action: Hold your published price and lead with it. The market's real weak point isn't price, it's trust — and that is already your advantage.
What to watch: Whether the cheapest competitor's billing complaints keep climbing, and whether their quoted price starts drifting toward what they are actually charging.
Sample Decision Brief · Customer Feedback
What are customers praising and complaining about across our competitors?
Confidence: ModerateThe answer: Customers aren't leaving over price, they're leaving over slow follow-up. That's a service gap you can win on, not a discount you need to offer.
- Follow-up complaints outnumber pricing complaints across every competitor's reviews. "Never followed up" or "took days to respond" appears in more low-star reviews than any pricing complaint.
- Mystery-shopping all five with a real enquiry confirmed the pattern. The two competitors with the most follow-up complaints in their reviews were also the slowest to respond to our test enquiry.
- None of the five admit this anywhere in their own marketing. Every one claims "fast, responsive service" on their homepage — the gap between the claim and the reviews is invisible unless you check both.
Recommended action: Lead your marketing with a published response-time commitment. The market's stated promise and its actual delivery disagree, and you can prove yours doesn't.
What to watch: Whether response times drift as competitors get busier, and whether new reviews keep citing the same complaint.
Sample Decision Brief · Market Changes
Is a new competitor entering our market, and should that change our plans?
Confidence: DirectionalThe answer: A well-funded competitor looks to be opening in your service area next quarter. Worth moving up your own timeline rather than waiting to see if it happens.
- Hiring activity points to a new location, not remote growth. Job postings for the same brand appeared in your city for four operating roles in the last six weeks.
- A filed lease permit ties the same parent company to a location near you. Roughly 3km from your primary service area.
- Their existing locations show no signs of being stretched thin. Consistent 4+ star reviews with no capacity complaints, meaning they can likely compete hard here from day one.
Recommended action: Move up your own expansion timeline. Waiting to confirm they've opened costs you the head start.
What to watch: Whether the lease is finalized, and whether hiring activity accelerates further.
We do not just ask ChatGPT
Define the decision
Clarify what the answer could change.
Identify the evidence
Determine which sources matter.
Gather and validate
Collect current information and check it.
Analyze
Compare, classify, and find the material patterns.
Apply business judgement
Separate useful findings from noise.
Build the baseline
Deliver the answer and a starting point for updates.
AI makes the work faster and more affordable. It does not replace the work.
A simple question can change how a business operates
Question
How do competitors handle new customer enquiries?
Research
Our founder called competitors as a prospective customer.
Finding
Half did not answer. Half of those never sent a quote.
Action
Answer the phone. Follow through on every lead. Those priorities helped the business grow and get acquired.
Lesson: The most useful market data is useful because it changes what you do.
Read the Full StoryCommon questions
ChatGPT can help you reason about information you already have. The hard part is defining the question, gathering current evidence, validating sources, resolving contradictions, and applying business context. That is the work we do.
Usually not. We start with external information.
External data often is. We show the gaps and label our confidence rather than pretend otherwise.
No. Larger organizations have the same problem: questions fall between teams and never get owned.
It can be. We recommend ongoing monitoring only when the underlying data moves enough to matter.
What is one question you have never had time to answer?
You do not need it perfectly framed. Start with the question. We will tell you whether it is answerable, what evidence exists, and whether a Market Baseline makes sense.