You are
the desk research.
Your job on April 17 is to put a competitive frame around the team's prototype — what else exists, what they cost, why this wins. You have ~3 hours of build time to assemble it and 60 seconds in the pitch to land it. The pre-flight here is about walking in with your tools open and your hypothesis already drafted, so you spend the day refining instead of starting from zero.
Five items. Total time investment: under an hour.
- 01
Read the spec end to end
Once is enough. As you read, keep a list of comparable products that come to mind — not just direct competitors, but adjacent tools the buyer might already use.
- 02
Sketch the likely competitive landscape
Five to ten names. The obvious ones (the big SaaS players in the category) and the not-so-obvious ones (the in-house builds, the spreadsheets the buyer is currently using, the consulting hours this product would replace). The deeper your sketch, the less time you spend Googling on the day.
- 03
Bookmark your research tools
G2, Capterra, Crunchbase, LinkedIn, vendor websites. Whatever you use to do desk research fast. Bookmark them. Open them in tabs the morning of April 17 so you're ready to dig the moment Discovery ends.
- 04
Draft 'what I need from the Builder' before Discovery
Comp slides need data from the prototype. Pricing comparisons need actual pricing model output. By the end of Discovery, you should be able to tell the Builder: "I need the prototype's pricing output by 2 PM and a screenshot of the main view by 2:30 to plug into my comp slide." Specific asks, specific times.
- 05
Acknowledge recording consent
Every working session is recorded. Your competitive findings get captured and become reusable IP for the firm.
Your slide is one slide. Make it count.
You get one slide in the pitch — the Comp slide. About 60 seconds of demo time. Density matters more than breadth. One good comparison table that tells the buyer story is worth ten generic competitor logos.
The Client Advocate will validate your citations.
If you can't say where a number came from, don't put it on the slide. The CA will ask in front of the room. Show your work.
On the two larger teams, there are two of you.
If your team has 7 people, there are two Market Analysts. Decide upfront who chases competitive comps (vendors, features) and who chases pricing comps (what they charge). Don't both chase the same data.
The characteristic mistakes. Read them so you can notice yourself making one on the day and correct in real time.
Googling during Build Sprint 1
By Sprint 1 you should already have your research tools open and your competitive landscape already sketched from pre-flight. Sprint 1 is for filling in, not for starting. If you're still at the "who competes in this space?" stage at 11:30 AM, you're behind.
Producing a comp slide with 15 competitors
Density beats breadth. Three specific comparisons that tell the buyer story beat ten generic logos with check marks next to features. The slide has 60 seconds of pitch time. Make every logo earn its place.
Chasing pricing data without coordinating with the Pricing Strategist
You both need pricing signals, but from different angles — you need what competitors charge, they need what the buyer's current labor costs. Split the work in Discovery or you'll duplicate effort and produce two conflicting numbers.
Keeping findings to yourself until Polish
The Narrator needs your data early enough to weave it into the pitch. Hand things over as you find them, not in a batch at 3:15 PM. Your comp slide should be 80% drafted before Polish starts — Polish is for polish, not for first drafts.
Every working session is recorded. Your research findings — even the ones that don't make it onto the comp slide — get captured in the transcript and become reusable for the firm.