FIELD GUIDE 01 · BEFORE YOU BUILD

Choose a niche you can prove.

A practical chapter for finding a specific B2B market, learning how its work really gets done, and checking whether a costly problem has a buyer behind it.

Start the niche scorecard Read a hypothetical walkthrough

Read in order · keep your notes close

THE SEQUENCE

Move from a market idea to evidence.

Each step should make the next conversation more specific. Keep a short record of what you saw, heard, and still need to learn.

01

Start with an edge you can reach.

List industries you understand, people who will speak with you, and places where practitioners already gather. Access makes it possible to learn; it does not prove that a market is good.

Write down who you can contact this week and why they might trust you with an honest answer.

02

Name a buyer in a specific situation.

Define a candidate as a type of organization, a role, and the context in which a recurring job happens. “Small businesses” is too broad; a useful niche makes it clear whose workflow you will study.

Use: “For [type of organization], [role] handles [job] when [context].” Keep the sentence about the buyer and work, not your future product.

03

Build a short list, then look for evidence.

Compare a few clearly named candidate markets. Look for public signs of the workflow and its cost: job descriptions, specialist tools, operating documents, repeated complaints, or a manual service people already pay for. Keep the source and date beside each observation.

Separate what you observed from what you are guessing. An empty evidence column is a reason to investigate, not a reason to award a high score.

04

Map the current workflow and its workarounds.

Before proposing anything, understand what happens today, which people and systems are involved, where delays or mistakes appear, and how the team gets around them. Existing workarounds can reveal effort; they do not automatically prove budget or urgency.

Ask for a recent example and, when appropriate, an artifact such as a blank template or a redacted process document.

05

Use the scorecard to choose what to test next.

Score each candidate using evidence you can point to. If a factor is unknown, leave it unscored until you investigate it. The score is a way to compare learning priorities, not a market-size forecast or a promise of success.

Complete the scorecard below, then use its lowest-evidence criteria to shape your next conversations.

06

Interview buyers about their last real example.

Talk to people who do or approve the work. Ask about what already happened, how often it happens, and what they did next. Listen for their language and follow the story before mentioning any solution idea.

A useful starting target is 8–12 conversations across the candidate niche; treat that as a working sample, not statistical proof.

07

Look for repeated pain, then test commitment.

Compare interview notes for the same recent problem, meaningful consequences, existing spend or effort, and a clear owner. When that pattern appears, ask for a specific next action at a stated price and record what the buyer actually does.

A compliment is a signal to ask a follow-up. A paid pilot, purchase step, or dated evaluation with the right people is stronger evidence.

TOOL 01 · COMPARE CANDIDATES

A niche scorecard for your shortlist.

Score up to three candidate markets against the same questions. Give a score only when you can point to evidence; leave unknowns blank.

Use the same scale for every criterion: 1 = weak or contradicted evidence · 3 = a specific but limited signal · 5 = repeated, recent buyer evidence.

These are proposed decision bands, not industry benchmarks. A low score may mean “unknown”; investigate it before rejecting a market.

MARKET 010 / 8 scored
Repeated painRecent examples from more than one buyer; frequency is clear.
Repeated pain score
Meaningful consequenceTime, money, risk, or service quality is affected.
Meaningful consequence score
Existing workaroundPeople spend effort or money to get around the problem.
Existing workaround score
Clear owner and budget pathYou can identify who owns the workflow and how spend is approved.
Clear owner and budget path score
Buyer accessYou can reach real practitioners and decision-makers.
Buyer access score
Room in current alternativesBuyers can explain what existing tools or services fail to cover.
Room in current alternatives score
Shared workflow across buyersThe same job and problem appear across organizations in the niche.
Shared workflow across buyers score
Reason to act soonA deadline, recurring loss, or operational trigger makes delay costly.
Reason to act soon score
Score all eight criteria to see a comparison band.
MARKET 020 / 8 scored
Repeated painRecent examples from more than one buyer; frequency is clear.
Repeated pain score
Meaningful consequenceTime, money, risk, or service quality is affected.
Meaningful consequence score
Existing workaroundPeople spend effort or money to get around the problem.
Existing workaround score
Clear owner and budget pathYou can identify who owns the workflow and how spend is approved.
Clear owner and budget path score
Buyer accessYou can reach real practitioners and decision-makers.
Buyer access score
Room in current alternativesBuyers can explain what existing tools or services fail to cover.
Room in current alternatives score
Shared workflow across buyersThe same job and problem appear across organizations in the niche.
Shared workflow across buyers score
Reason to act soonA deadline, recurring loss, or operational trigger makes delay costly.
Reason to act soon score
Score all eight criteria to see a comparison band.
MARKET 030 / 8 scored
Repeated painRecent examples from more than one buyer; frequency is clear.
Repeated pain score
Meaningful consequenceTime, money, risk, or service quality is affected.
Meaningful consequence score
Existing workaroundPeople spend effort or money to get around the problem.
Existing workaround score
Clear owner and budget pathYou can identify who owns the workflow and how spend is approved.
Clear owner and budget path score
Buyer accessYou can reach real practitioners and decision-makers.
Buyer access score
Room in current alternativesBuyers can explain what existing tools or services fail to cover.
Room in current alternatives score
Shared workflow across buyersThe same job and problem appear across organizations in the niche.
Shared workflow across buyers score
Reason to act soonA deadline, recurring loss, or operational trigger makes delay costly.
Reason to act soon score
Score all eight criteria to see a comparison band.

Suggested result guidance · proposed starting heuristic

32–40 · PrioritizeTake the candidate into buyer interviews; confirm the evidence and ask for a concrete next action.

24–31 · InvestigateUse the lowest-scoring criteria to decide what you need to learn next.

8–23 · Rework or parkRevisit the niche definition or move on unless new buyer evidence changes the picture.

TOOL 02 · BUYER CONVERSATIONS

Ask about what already happens.

Use these as written, replacing the bracketed phrase with the buyer’s job. Follow their examples; do not introduce your product idea to rescue a quiet answer.

01

Current workflow

  1. Think about the last time you had to [complete the workflow]. What happened from start to finish?
  2. Who was involved, and what tools, documents, or handoffs did you use?
  3. How often does this come up? When did it last happen?
02

Pain and consequences

  1. Which part is hardest to get right or takes the most effort?
  2. Can you walk me through the most recent time that went wrong or took longer than expected?
  3. What happened because of it? Who or what was affected?
03

Workarounds and alternatives

  1. What do you do when the usual process does not work?
  2. What have you already tried to make this easier? What happened?
  3. Do you spend money, staff time, or outside help on this today? How does that work?
04

Buying context

  1. Who owns this process, and who would be involved in changing it?
  2. How have purchases related to this work been approved before?
  3. What would need to be true for this to become a priority, and when is that decision usually made?

Keep the conversation neutral. Ask for the last real example, not whether someone likes a hypothetical product. Do not pitch, defend an idea, or count politeness as evidence.

HYPOTHETICAL WALKTHROUGH · PRACTICE THE TOOLS

A founder plans a repair-shop workflow interview.

This is a practice scenario only. Every example input below is hypothetical. No buyer interviews, customer evidence, scores, market verdict, or outcomes are represented.

Hypothetical scenario input

An aspiring founder considers independent bicycle repair shops. The hypothetical buyer is a service manager, and the hypothetical job is coordinating repair status, parts approvals, and customer updates.

Practice scorecard state: all eight criteria stay blank. A scenario is not evidence, so there is no total or decision band to interpret.

Existing scorecard criterion

Repeated pain

Recent examples from more than one buyer; frequency is clear.

Hypothetical practice input: Leave this blank until real conversations establish frequency and recent examples from more than one buyer.

  • Existing interview prompt: How often does this come up? When did it last happen?

Existing scorecard criterion

Meaningful consequence

Time, money, risk, or service quality is affected.

Hypothetical practice input: Leave this blank until a buyer describes a concrete effect on time, money, risk, or service quality.

  • Existing interview prompt: What happened because of it? Who or what was affected?

Existing scorecard criterion

Existing workaround

People spend effort or money to get around the problem.

Hypothetical practice input: Record a current workaround and any effort or spend only after an interviewee describes it.

  • Existing interview prompt: What do you do when the usual process does not work?
  • Existing interview prompt: Do you spend money, staff time, or outside help on this today? How does that work?

Existing scorecard criterion

Clear owner and budget path

You can identify who owns the workflow and how spend is approved.

Hypothetical practice input: Do not assume the service manager controls the budget; establish the workflow owner and approval path first.

  • Existing interview prompt: Who owns this process, and who would be involved in changing it?
  • Existing interview prompt: How have purchases related to this work been approved before?

Existing scorecard criterion

Buyer access

You can reach real practitioners and decision-makers.

Hypothetical practice input: No contact route is supplied in this hypothetical. The founder would need to identify real practitioners and decision-makers they can reach.

There is no interview answer to invent for this criterion. Check access separately with real contacts.

Existing scorecard criterion

Room in current alternatives

Buyers can explain what existing tools or services fail to cover.

Hypothetical practice input: Name tools or services and their gaps only when buyers describe their own attempts and experience.

  • Existing interview prompt: What have you already tried to make this easier? What happened?

Existing scorecard criterion

Shared workflow across buyers

The same job and problem appear across organizations in the niche.

Hypothetical practice input: One imagined shop cannot establish a shared workflow; compare accounts from separate organizations before scoring.

  • Hypothetical prompt adaptation: Think about the last time you had to coordinate repair status, parts approvals, and customer updates. What happened from start to finish?
  • Existing interview prompt: Who was involved, and what tools, documents, or handoffs did you use?

Existing scorecard criterion

Reason to act soon

A deadline, recurring loss, or operational trigger makes delay costly.

Hypothetical practice input: Assume no deadline or trigger; record one only if a buyer describes a real reason to act and when.

  • Existing interview prompt: What would need to be true for this to become a priority, and when is that decision usually made?

Keep the interview answers empty until conversations happen. Then save dated notes and sources, score only what those notes support, and leave unknowns blank.

TOOL 03 · WILLINGNESS TO PAY

Look for an action with a cost.

Mark an item only after you have observed it. A buyer’s enthusiasm can start a conversation; their time, access, process, or money makes the signal more concrete.

0 of 5 actions observed

A checked item means the action happened. This is a working record, not a combined purchase score.

Praise, survey answers, a waitlist signup, or “I’d use that” are interest—not a buying action. These actions vary in strength; payment or a real purchase step is clearest.

A GROUNDED NEXT STEP

Choose, investigate, or set it aside.

Choose to validate further when buyers repeat the same recent pain and at least one is taking a specific buying action.

Investigate when the problem sounds real but the owner, urgency, budget, or buying path is still unclear.

Set it aside when examples stay hypothetical, workarounds are easy, or no one will spend time on a concrete next step.