In this article, we will introduce the process and different data types that you will want to utilize within Discovery to be able to analyze a market. As fully analyzing a market is a long-winded and multi-layered process, what is detailed here is only the beginning of how you would want to go about performing this task.
Analyzing markets is key because it enables you to get an understanding of where it currently stands and if it is a sensible option for you to operate within it. It can also help you to see who the key players within the market are and any start-ups that are popping up within it.
To be able to analyze a market within Discovery, there are 6 key data types that you will want to drill into, which are as follows:
- News
- Market Reports
- Companies
- VC Investments
- Papers
- Patents
Before you even set up your search, you will want to create a pair of pinboards to save relevant results to later on. One of these pinboards should be based on general market research and the other should contain a list of companies.
Once you have done this, you will then want to start building out a comprehensive search for this market. The best way to do this, is to make use of the Simple Search.
Now you have built out your search, you can then start drilling into the different data types.
News
News is important when performing market analysis since it allows you to stay up-to-date with all the latest notable updates relating to this market.
You will often get a lot of results for news irrespective of your search criteria which can lead to a lot of noise. If this is the case, then it is wise to make use of the filters on the left-hand side of the page to refine your results down. This could be for example to refine down to only see results from the last month or from specific topics.
Once you have found results of interest, you will then want to save them to the previously created market research pinboard.
Market reports
Market reports are essential when performing market analysis since they allow you to see both the historical data regarding this market and where it is expected to be in the near future.
There are two different ways of searching for market reports within Discovery. You can either find them through the search you have already build and performed or you can search for them in the specific markets area of the platform. This is a more focused form of searching for markets and can provide you with more details for each market rather than through market reports.
If you notice that there is a lack of market size within the corresponding reports, then this indicates a technology area that is very new.
When you find any reports of interest, you will then want to save them to the research pinboard.
Companies
Companies are meaningful to look at when analyzing markets since they allow you to determine who the key players operating within it are and any start-ups that are making their mark.
You will often get a lot of noise when looking at the list of companies that results from a specific search that you've performed. Common examples are social media or video-sharing platforms as they are often linked to on websites. You will want to exclude these from your search to improve the accuracy of your results.
Once you have obtained an appropriate result set, you will want to look into the profile of the resultant companies of interest to see if they are relevant.
If you are specifically interested in start-ups, then you will want to filter down to only companies founded in the last 5 years. You can find more details about how to identify start-ups within Discovery in the following article: How to Identify Start-Ups Within Discovery.
When you find any (either start-ups or established) companies of interest, you will want to save them to your company pinboard.
VC Investments
VC Investments are great to look at when performing market analysis since they allow you to see which companies have been invested in and are likely to become much bigger players in the near future within this area.
Searching for VC Investments is another way to find companies of interest within this technology area. This often helps if you are searching specifically for start-ups.
You will want to again save any companies of interest you find through this method to your company pinboard.
Papers
Papers are vital when it comes to performing market analysis as it not only allows you to see new publications surrounding this area but also any universities or specific experts who have a focus towards it.
As this is such a far-reaching data type, you often get a lot of noise in your results for it. Because of this, you will want to refine it to areas of interest by using topics.
Another way of finding papers is by looking at the top universities found for this search and the papers that have been published by them in this technology area. In addition, you can take a look at the top experts who are originally writing up this papers.
Once you have build up a set of interesting papers using these methods, you will then want to save them to your research pinboard.
Patents
Patents are also paramount when performing market analysis since they allow you to see the latest inventions and potential products that could be released within this area.
When it comes to patents, you will want to filter using IPC codes to narrow your results down to specific technology areas of interest.
You will then want to take a closer look at interesting patents and save any of them that are relevant, to your research pinboard.
You can also save patent assignees of interest to your company pinboard. One thing to bear in mind here, is that these tend to be older assignees because of the long filing process required for patents.
Conclusion
Once you have filled up your pinboards with relevant data items, you will then want to take a closer look at each of them and make comments where appropriate.
After you have done all this, you are then ready to perform further analysis based on your results.