Opportunity Scanner
Where are the gaps? Which ones compound?
Business Alignment
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What industries do you know from the inside? | [list] |
| What forces are reshaping those industries? | [list] |
| What's your conviction that these forces are real? | HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW / NONE |
| What existing research do you have? | [links or "none"] |
Gap Matrix
Rows = industries you know. Columns = forces reshaping them. Cells = opportunities. Mark unknown cells with ?.
Minimum: 3 industries x 4 forces. If fewer, your field of vision is too narrow.
| Industry | Force A: [name] | Force B: [name] | Force C: [name] | Force D: [name] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Industry 1] | ||||
| [Industry 2] | ||||
| [Industry 3] | ||||
| [Industry 4] |
Every ? cell is a prompt. Every filled cell is a claim. Every empty cell is ignorance.
Idea Signals
For each ? cell, score five signals. Weak = unverified. Strong = evidence-backed.
| Cell (Row x Col) | Frequency | Urgency | Clarity | Feasibility | Compounding | Total Strong |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Industry] x [Force] | weak / strong | weak / strong | weak / strong | weak / strong | weak / strong | /5 |
| [Industry] x [Force] | ||||||
| [Industry] x [Force] |
Signal Definitions
| Signal | Weak | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Heard it once | Heard it from 3+ independent sources |
| Urgency | "Someday" problem | "This quarter" problem with budget |
| Clarity | Vague pain | Named workflow, named waste, named cost |
| Feasibility | Requires invention | Requires assembly of existing pieces |
| Compounding | One-time value | Each transaction makes the next better |
Top 3 Opportunities
Rank by Total Strong signals. User selects one to proceed.
| Rank | Cell | Total Strong | One-sentence opportunity | Selected? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Industry] x [Force] | /5 | [what's the gap] | |
| 2 | [Industry] x [Force] | /5 | [what's the gap] | |
| 3 | [Industry] x [Force] | /5 | [what's the gap] |
Sentence Test
State the selected opportunity in one sentence:
"[Industry] businesses waste [what] because [force] hasn't been applied to [specific workflow]."
If you can't fill that sentence, the gap isn't clear enough. Go back to the matrix.
Questions
Which cell in your matrix scares you the most — and is that fear a signal to avoid it or a signal that you've found real friction?
- If you scored all cells honestly, which "strong" signal is actually just borrowed conviction from someone else's analysis?
- What industry are you deliberately not putting in the matrix — and why?
- Which force is everyone talking about but nobody has applied to YOUR industries yet?