Every user is already solving this problem somehow. With a tool, a spreadsheet, a virtual assistant, a Sunday-night panic, or by giving up. If you can't name what they use today, you don't understand the problem yet.
The biggest competitor is rarely another startup. It's "doing nothing and suffering." That's the one to beat.
List at least 5 alternatives. Mix the categories so you see the full landscape:
- Direct tools — the obvious software competitors.
- Adjacent tools — products built for something else that get bent into shape.
- Manual workarounds — spreadsheets, group chats, Notion templates, hiring help.
- Do nothing — the user lives with the pain. Always include this.
For each alternative, capture three columns:
| Alternative | What it does well | Where it breaks down |
|---|
| Tool A | Strong feature X | Too expensive for solo users |
| Spreadsheet | Free, flexible | Falls apart at 5+ clients |
Don't guess at the breaks. Read review pages. Search Reddit threads. Skim recent tweets. Real users wrote your research for you. Pull exact quotes when the pain is loud.
You're not hunting for empty space. You're hunting for sleepy space — places where the existing options stopped paying attention.
"I love it but it's $50 a month and I only invoice 4 clients."
"Every tool assumes I have an accountant. I don't."
"I gave up and built a Notion template. It half works."
Three different complaints. Three different gaps. Each one is a wedge.
Cross-reference the gaps against your persona from waypoint 4. A gap that doesn't matter to your user is just trivia.
- Saying "we have no competitors." Nobody has no competitors.
- Listing only software. Spreadsheets and Sunday panic count.
- Skipping reviews because reading 1-star posts feels mean. That's the gold.
- Confusing a feature gap with a market gap. Missing dark mode is not a moat.
Open Notion. Make the table. Fill 5+ rows with real evidence pulled from reviews and threads.
A table or visual map of 5+ alternatives across direct, adjacent, manual, and do-nothing categories. Each row names a specific gap, backed by a real user quote or review.
Every user is already solving this problem somehow. With a tool, a spreadsheet, a virtual assistant, a Sunday-night panic, or by giving up. If you can't name what they use today, you don't understand the problem yet.
The biggest competitor is rarely another startup. It's "doing nothing and suffering." That's the one to beat.
List at least 5 alternatives. Mix the categories so you see the full landscape:
- Direct tools — the obvious software competitors.
- Adjacent tools — products built for something else that get bent into shape.
- Manual workarounds — spreadsheets, group chats, Notion templates, hiring help.
- Do nothing — the user lives with the pain. Always include this.
For each alternative, capture three columns:
| Alternative | What it does well | Where it breaks down |
|---|
| Tool A | Strong feature X | Too expensive for solo users |
| Spreadsheet | Free, flexible | Falls apart at 5+ clients |
Don't guess at the breaks. Read review pages. Search Reddit threads. Skim recent tweets. Real users wrote your research for you. Pull exact quotes when the pain is loud.
You're not hunting for empty space. You're hunting for sleepy space — places where the existing options stopped paying attention.
"I love it but it's $50 a month and I only invoice 4 clients."
"Every tool assumes I have an accountant. I don't."
"I gave up and built a Notion template. It half works."
Three different complaints. Three different gaps. Each one is a wedge.
Cross-reference the gaps against your persona from waypoint 4. A gap that doesn't matter to your user is just trivia.
- Saying "we have no competitors." Nobody has no competitors.
- Listing only software. Spreadsheets and Sunday panic count.
- Skipping reviews because reading 1-star posts feels mean. That's the gold.
- Confusing a feature gap with a market gap. Missing dark mode is not a moat.
Open Notion. Make the table. Fill 5+ rows with real evidence pulled from reviews and threads.
A table or visual map of 5+ alternatives across direct, adjacent, manual, and do-nothing categories. Each row names a specific gap, backed by a real user quote or review.