Market Research Skill for Claude Code

A Claude Code skill that compresses weeks of competitive and market research into a structured strategy document. Type /market-research [industry] [competitor domains] and get back analysis that reads like it came from someone with years in the space.

Combines Exa’s semantic search and research APIs for automated intelligence gathering with Claude’s reasoning for a multi-stage analytical workflow.

Inspired by Rimsha Bhardwaj’s (@heyrimsha) tweet: https://xcancel.com/heyrimsha/status/2030614728591167973

What You Get

A comprehensive strategy document covering:

• Competitive Landscape — positioning map, target customers, differentiators
• Case Study Analysis — who competitors are winning with and how
• Customer Voice — unfiltered reviews, complaints, praise, Reddit threads
• Market Dynamics — trends, funding, regulatory shifts
• The Unspoken Insight — what separates winners from losers in this market
• Foundational Assumptions — structural assumptions the market is built on and how they break
• Seven Powers Analysis — Hamilton Helmer’s framework applied to each competitor’s moats and durability
• Investor Destruction Test — 5 sharp questions that expose real risks, with evidence-based answers
• Gaps & Open Questions — what still needs primary research

Setup

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed
• Python 3
• An Exa API key

Install

1. Clone this repo into your Claude Code skills directory:

git clone https://github.com/Collin128/market-research-skill.git ~/.claude/skills/market-research

2. Install the Python dependency:

pip3 install -r ~/.claude/skills/market-research/scripts/requirements.txt

3. Set your Exa API key:

export EXA_API_KEY=your_key_here

Add the export to your shell profile (.zshrc, .bashrc, etc.) to persist it.

Usage

/market-research property management software appfolio.com, buildium.com, rentmanager.com

/market-research "vertical SaaS for dentists" dentrix.com, opendental.com

/market-research logistics fleet management

Providing competitor domains produces significantly better results. The skill will prompt you for domains if you don’t include them.

How It Works

1. Research-First Collection — Fires 4 parallel Exa Research API tasks (competitive intelligence, customer voice, market dynamics, competitive moats) with Pydantic structured output schemas, while simultaneously running 3 search calls (similar companies, landing pages, tweets) that the Research API can’t replace
2. Structured Synthesis — Research tasks return typed, structured data (competitor profiles, sentiment analysis, trend categorization, moat assessments) that feeds directly into the analytical chain
3. Questioning Chain — Runs a 5-stage analytical chain (Unspoken Insight → Foundational Assumptions → Seven Powers Analysis → Investor Destruction Test → Stress Test Loop)
4. Output Generation — Synthesizes everything into a clean strategy document saved as markdown

Total runtime is typically 2-5 minutes. Exa API cost is approximately $1.50-5.50 per run depending on the number of competitors.

File Structure

market-research/
├── SKILL.md                          # Skill orchestration instructions
├── scripts/
│   ├── exa_research.py               # Exa API data collection
│   └── requirements.txt              # Python dependencies
├── references/
│   └── questioning-chain.md          # 5-stage analytical prompt chain
└── assets/
    └── output-template.md            # Output document template

License

MIT