/startup-design

Research Synthesis Protocol

After ALL waves complete (10-11 agents, depending on whether A3/Regulatory was skipped), synthesize the raw findings into polished deliverables. This step creates the real analytical value — it's not copying, it's connecting.

How to Synthesize

This is reasoning work, not transcription. Read everything first, then think hard about what it all means before writing a single deliverable — the connections you draw here are the analytical value the founder is paying for. Move through these steps deliberately rather than rushing to fill the templates:

1. Read all raw files in 01-discovery/raw/ before writing anything.
2. Look for patterns across sources: what themes repeat? What surprised you?
3. Identify contradictions between sources and explain which you trust more and why.
4. Connect the dots between research areas: how do competitive gaps connect to customer pains? How do market trends affect the go-to-market?
5. Highlight strategic implications — don't just report facts; say what they mean for this startup.
6. Rate your confidence for each major finding: High (multiple Tier 1 sources agree), Medium (some evidence but gaps), Low (limited data, mostly inferred).
7. Aggregate data gaps from all raw files and present them clearly — these become inputs for Phase 8 (Validation).

Output Files

01-discovery/market-analysis.md

Synthesize from: raw/market-size.md, raw/trends.md, raw/regulatory.md, raw/geographic.md

Structure:

• Executive summary (5-sentence overview of the market opportunity)
• Market size with TAM/SAM/SOM breakdown and confidence ratings
• Growth trajectory with key drivers and headwinds
• Market maturity assessment (emerging / growing / mature / declining)
• Unit economics benchmarks (carried from market sizing, used by Phase 7)
• Regulatory summary (key requirements, compliance costs, timeline)
• Geographic analysis (beachhead market, expansion path)
• Timing assessment: why now? What tailwinds and headwinds exist?
• Data gaps aggregated from all market-related research

01-discovery/competitor-landscape.md

Synthesize from: raw/direct-competitors.md, raw/indirect-competitors.md, raw/competitor-gtm.md

Structure:

• Competitive overview (how crowded, market concentration, overall threat level)
• Competitor comparison matrix (features × competitors table)
• Positioning map (describe how competitors position themselves, where the whitespace is)
• Competitor GTM summary (what acquisition channels work, what's saturated)
• Platform risk assessment (which platforms could absorb our functionality)
• Switching cost analysis (what keeps people on current solutions)
• Strategic recommendations: where to compete, where to avoid, how to differentiate
• Vulnerability analysis: which competitors are weakest and why — where can we win?
• Data gaps

01-discovery/target-audience.md

Synthesize from: raw/customer-voice.md, raw/target-audience.md, raw/demand-signals.md

Structure:

• Primary persona (vivid, data-backed, with representative quote)
• Secondary persona (if applicable)
• Anti-persona (who NOT to target)
• Customer pain hierarchy (ranked by frequency × intensity, from customer voice)
• Jobs-to-be-done framework (functional, social, emotional)
• Language map (exact words customers use — feed directly into copywriting)
• Buying behavior (decision process, criteria, cycle length, objections)
• Where to reach them (ranked channels with density and cost)
• Demand validation (search trends, WTP evidence, market validation score)
• Data gaps

01-discovery/industry-trends.md

Synthesize from: raw/trends.md, raw/regulatory.md, raw/demand-signals.md

Structure:

• Macro trends affecting the industry (with timeline and impact assessment)
• Technology shifts and their adoption curve
• Investment and M&A signals (what smart money is doing)
• Behavioral shifts in target customers
• Regulatory trajectory (direction of travel, not just current state)
• What this means for our startup — explicit strategic implications
• Timing scorecard: is now the right time? Rate: tailwinds vs. headwinds
• Data gaps

01-discovery/confidence-dashboard.md

Synthesize from: ALL raw files across all waves.

Structure:

• Overview — How much of the analysis rests on solid ground vs. thin ice
• Claim-level confidence table:

• Highest confidence findings — Claims backed by multiple Tier 1 sources
• Lowest confidence findings — Claims based on single sources, inferred data, or old information
• Critical unknowns — Things we don't know that could change the strategy
• Recommendations — What the founder should verify first, and how

This file helps the founder understand where they're standing on solid ground vs. making decisions based on weak data. It's the meta-layer above the other 4 deliverables.

Cross-Document Connections

After writing all 4 files, add a "Strategic Connections" section at the end of each that links to insights from the other documents. For example:

• In market-analysis.md: "The growth in [trend X] (see industry-trends.md) creates an opening in [segment Y] that [competitor Z] (see competitor-landscape.md) hasn't addressed."
• In target-audience.md: "The pricing sensitivity found here aligns with the $X-Y range from competitor pricing analysis (see competitor-landscape.md)."

These connections help Phase 4 (Strategy) build on concrete research rather than abstract claims.

Post-Synthesis Verification

After writing all deliverables, run the Verification Agent protocol. See references/verification-agent.md for the full process. The verification step checks all deliverables for unlabeled claims, internal contradictions, confidence rating consistency, and startup-design-specific cross-phase coherence (strategy reflects market data, product reflects customer pains, financial reflects business model, validation covers identified risks).

Cleanup

Keep the raw/ directory for reference. Note in PROGRESS.md that raw research files are available at 01-discovery/raw/.