Founder / Entrepreneur Guide

I need to understand an industry I'm entering before I commit resources.

You're launching into an unfamiliar industry. You know your product — but you need to understand the market, the risks, and what it takes to compete before your first customer meeting.

Working example

Motor Vehicle Manufacturing ISIC 2910

You're launching a B2B fleet management SaaS platform. You know software, but motor vehicle manufacturing is your first customer segment — and you need to understand it deeply before your first sales call.

Journey 1

Map the competitive landscape before your first customer meeting

Understand what drives competition in your target industry, which risks affect new entrants, and where your product fits in the value chain.

Industry Browse

Find your target industry

Browse the industry directory and search for your target market.

Search by industry name or ISIC code. If you're unsure of the exact classification, try a broad keyword — the search handles synonyms. Motor Vehicle Manufacturing is ISIC 2910.

Browse page showing alphabetical industry list with search box
Go to Industry Browse

Industry Hub

Read the industry overview

Open the industry hub page and read the executive summary.

The executive summary is written for an outsider. Read it first for context, then scroll down to see which risk scenarios are currently active — these are score-triggered conditions, not generic warnings.

Industry hub page showing executive summary and attribute fingerprint
Go to Industry Hub

Industry Scorecard

Review the 83-attribute scorecard

Open the Scorecard to see how the industry scores across all 11 strategic pillars.

Pay attention to Market Dynamics (MD) for competitive intensity and Financial Risk (FR) for capital requirements. As a new entrant, high scores in these pillars signal high barriers.

Industry scorecard showing pillar scores and attribute grid
Go to Industry Scorecard

Strategies Overview

See the strategy frameworks pre-applied

Open the Strategies overview to see which frameworks have been applied to this industry.

Click through to Porter's 5 Forces — it explicitly scores and describes the threat of new entrants. This is the most important framework for your context.

Industry strategies overview showing available frameworks
Go to Strategies Overview

Porter's 5 Forces

Read the Porter's 5 Forces analysis

Open the Porter's 5 Forces strategy page for a pre-built competitive analysis.

The 'Threat of New Entry' force is your most relevant section. It covers capital requirements, economies of scale, and regulatory barriers — all scored 1–5 with explanations.

Porter's 5 Forces analysis showing five force scores
Go to Porter's 5 Forces

After this journey

You can walk into your first sales call knowing the structural competitive forces, 2–3 confirmed risk conditions, and the exact barriers a new entrant faces — backed by a scoring framework, not just intuition.

Journey 2

Find adjacent industries where your product might also work

Identify structurally similar industries that face the same problems your product solves, so you can prioritise your go-to-market expansion.

Industry Hub

Go to your primary industry page

Open the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing industry hub.

Scroll down to the 'Similar Industries' section. This lists industries ranked by attribute fingerprint similarity — they share structural characteristics, not just surface-level category labels.

Industry hub page showing similar industries section
Go to Industry Hub

Compare Tool

Pick an adjacent industry to compare

Open the Compare tool and select Motor Vehicle Manufacturing vs. an adjacent industry.

Try Motor Vehicle Manufacturing (2910) vs. Manufacture of Air and Spacecraft (3030). Both are large-scale, capital-intensive manufacturers with complex supply chains — your product logic may transfer directly.

Compare tool showing two industry selection inputs
Go to Compare Tool

Compare Results

Read the attribute divergence

Review which attributes score similarly and which diverge significantly between the two industries.

Focus on Supply Chain (SC) and Digital Maturity (DT) attributes. Where both industries score low on DT, there's unmet demand for digital tooling — that's your TAM expansion signal.

Compare results showing attribute divergence visualisation
Go to Compare Results

Adjacent Industry Hub

Check confirmed risks in the adjacent industry

Open the adjacent industry's hub page and scroll to 'Confirmed Active Risks'.

If the same risk conditions are confirmed in both your primary and adjacent industry, your product likely addresses a systemic need — not a niche one. That's your expansion argument.

Industry hub showing confirmed active risk scenarios
Go to Adjacent Industry Hub

After this journey

You have a ranked shortlist of 2–3 adjacent industries where your product addresses the same structural problems — each backed by attribute-level evidence, ready for a TAM slide in your pitch deck.

Journey 3 — Explore next

Coming up

Identify the risk conditions most likely to affect new entrants

Use the matched risk scenarios for your target industry to identify which financial, operational, or competitive conditions are currently triggered — and what the tactical playbook response looks like. Start on the industry hub page and scroll to 'Confirmed Active Risks', then click through to any matched scenario for business impact analysis and mitigation steps.

Go to Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Ready to explore?

Start with the working example for this guide — or search for any industry.