Know the market before you spend on it.
You've got an idea, or a market you want to go after, and you're about to spend real money on it. Before you do, you should know four things: whether the business is real, how big it is, who you're up against, and how you'll actually reach the customer. That's what this answers, in writing, with the sources shown so you can check them. It works the same whether you're a founder with a thesis or an established company going somewhere new.
Pick the question you need answered.
Both start with a working session on the thesis and end with a written brief and a readout. The difference is how far the research goes and whether you leave with a read or a plan.
Market Read
Is the business real, and who are you up against? Market sizing from what already exists, competitive research on up to five named competitors through Rathvane, a positioning read, and a written brief with a readout call. One market, one segment. No fielded survey.
For a founder deciding whether to raise, or a company deciding whether to enter at all.
Market Entry Plan
Everything in the Market Read, plus a customer survey designed and fielded for this engagement with a pricing module, up to ten competitors, up to three markets or segments, and the go-to-market plan: the message, the channels, and what reaching the buyer will cost. The brief is written to be handed to a board or an investor.
For a company that has decided to go and needs the plan the money will follow.
Either package can grow. A fourth market or a second survey moves the price up, and you'll see the number before anything starts. For founders, part of the fee can be equity or a revenue share, agreed case by case.
The thesis session
We start with a working session on the idea itself: the customer, the problem, the price, and what has to be true for it to work. I've sat on the founder side of this, and on the investor side, and I'll tell you where the thesis is thin before we spend weeks researching it.
Market sizing
How many buyers there really are and what they pay today, built up from sources you can check, not a number lifted from an analyst deck. You'll see the assumptions, so you can argue with them.
A customer survey
A survey of the people you intend to sell to, designed and fielded for your engagement. At scoping we agree who gets asked, how many answers it takes for the result to mean something, and how they're found. A panel of consumers is easy to reach; fifty hospital CFOs aren't, and that drives the cost, which you'll see before anything starts. The survey also asks about price: what buyers expect to pay, and where the price starts costing you sales. The brief says plainly what the sample can support and what it can't.
Competitive research and analysis
The named competitors (up to five in the Market Read, up to ten in the Plan): how they price, position and sell, where they're strong, and where they leave an opening. Produced through Rathvane, the intelligence company I founded: AI helps with the reading, and the findings come with their sources, so you can check them before you act.
Regulation and licensing
What it takes to operate legally in the market you're entering: the licenses, the rules and the regulators that matter, and how long they take. A read to plan around, not legal advice; where you need a lawyer, I'll say so.
When not to go
Before the research starts, we agree on what would make the answer no: a market too small, a price the buyer won't pay, a channel that costs too much. Then the brief tells you whether any of them came true.
Positioning
Where you stand against the field, and the message that follows from it. In the Market Read, this is the read you take into a raise or a go/no-go decision.
The go-to-market plan
The channels that reach your buyer, in what order, and what reaching them will cost at a level the business can carry, measured against what each channel typically costs in your category, so the budget starts from evidence. For a startup, it's the plan the seed round funds. For an established company, it's the plan the launch budget follows.
The brief and the readout
A written brief with the findings, the numbers, the sources and the recommendation, then a readout with you and whoever else needs to decide. Written to be forwarded to a board, an investor or a partner, with a one-page version for the investor who reads only one page.
One question at a time
If you don't need a whole package, a single board-level question (a competitor's real pricing, a market's real size, whether a channel works in your category) can be scoped by itself, typically in five to twenty days.
A funded startup between the idea and the launch, or after a first round when the next one needs evidence. An established company putting real money into a new market, a new product or a new channel. In both cases, a decision-maker who wants the answer before the spend rather than after it. Not a fit for a business that has already decided and wants a document that agrees.
Scope and fee
Market Read from $12,500; Market Entry Plan from $25,000. Fixed at scoping according to the markets and competitors in play. You get a written scope and a fixed price before anything starts; the price doesn't move unless the scope does.
Payment
Half on signing, half on delivery of the brief. For founders, part of the fee can be equity or a revenue share instead of cash, agreed in writing case by case, with a cash floor.
Timeline
About three weeks for the Market Read; four to six for the Market Entry Plan, where the survey is usually the long pole. Both set at scoping.
Credits
A Strategy Session fee is credited in full. If the work continues into an advisory retainer within twelve months, a portion of this fee is credited toward it, agreed at scoping.
Confidentiality and ownership
Everything you share is held in strict confidence, and the brief and the research behind it are yours. Nothing about your company or your plans appears anywhere without your written consent.
What it isn't
Intelligence and judgment, not legal, financial, accounting or investment advice. Where a decision needs a lawyer, a CPA or a regulator's answer, I'll say so.
Bring the thesis.
Start with the free fit conversation and tell me what you're entering and why. I'll reply within five business days with a scope, the package that fits, and a price, or a straight answer if I'm not the right person.