Market Research Form Guide
The following form is designed to help you identify the available markets that your invention could potentially enter. The information below is a recap from our class discussion on market opportunity analysis. Please refer to this guide in filling out the Market Research Form.
Total Available Market
Determine the size of the total available market (How big is the universe for this product or service?):
- How many people would want/need the product or service?
- How large is the market if they all bought this product or service?
How to find it:
- Consult industry analysts with expertise in the market or search market-centric databases (i.e.IBIS World, LexisNexis Academic)
- Wall Street Analysts
Served Available Market
Determine the size of the served available market (How many can the product or service realistically reach through identified sales channels?):
- How big is the section of the total available market?
- How many people have the money to buy this product or service at the current price?
- Understand the quantity of units and the revenue dollars if the entire population of section identified in the market bought the product or service.
How to find it:
- Talk to potential customers
Target Market
Determine the size of the target market (Who will be most likely to buy this product or service?)
- Specifically, who will buy this product or service in years 1, 2, and 3?
- How many customers does this represent?
- How large is the market if they all bought?
How to find it:
- Talk to potential customers
- Identify and talk to potential channel partners
- Talk to potential competitors
Other Market Size Questions
- How big can this market be?
- How much of it can we get?
- What is the market growth rate?
- What is the market structure?
- Is it fixed, mature, or does it fluctuate?
Helpful Hints
Key Resources
- IBIS World – for big picture market data – search in the Research Tool search box for “IBIS”
- LexisNexis Academic – for info on specific companies – search in the Research Tool search box for “Lexis”
- Lesson 1.5B: Business Models and Customer Development and Lesson 3: Customer Segments
- Go to
- Click on “Take the Class” on the right side and sign in
- If you do not already have a user account, you will need to create one
- Don’t worry – it is free
- In the upper left use the lesson navigator pull down menu to navigate to the lesson
Market Research Form Guide
LSU NSF I-Corps Sites Team:Entrepreneurial Lead:
Academic Lead:
Business Mentor:
Market Opportunity Analysis
Identify the total available market, served available market, and the target market for your product. Find dollar figures for each segment of the market. Additionally, include data on growth trends or projections for that segment of the market.
Refer to Steve Blank’s Lesson 1.5B: Business Models and Customer Development.
Market Name / Total Revenue or Customers / Number of Market Players / Growth Trends / Source (Citation)What is the total available market?
What is the served available market?
What is the target market?
Value Proposition
Identify potential customer segments and develop a hypothesis for each potential customer segment.
Refer to Steve Blank’s Lesson 3: Customer Segments for help with this section.
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):Hypothesis:
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):
Hypothesis:
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):
Hypothesis:
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):
Hypothesis:
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):
Hypothesis:
Customer Segment: / Total Market: / Source (Citation):
Hypothesis: