Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship pdfdrive com

1. Language Patterns
As mentioned in Chapter 35, language patterns are uncovered through
observation. For example, if many Redditors complain about X, the market is
hinting demand. My forum was born in this manner—a forum I frequented was
rash with disgruntlement—so I created my own. 
Any dislike is the public square
is an opportunity.
Multiple instances of irritation language (“I hate, I wish, I
need”) through multiple mediums (Twitter, Topsy, Facebook, forums)
essentially confirm the seeds of need.
Unfortunately, just because someone “hates” something doesn’t mean they
will pay for its solution. My friend has had one such experience. He wrote:
I once had a situation where 100 out of 100 people surveyed said something was
brilliant, marketable, and provided value. When it came time for the item to hit
the market (with no change in competition or value proposition) 0 out of 100
people bought it.
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Another helpful tool for exposing consumer shifts and possible emerging
opportunities is Google Trends. For example, some years ago “gluten-free”
emerged as a trend and still is a trend today.

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2. Channel Research
Another confirmation method is a channel investigation. Amazon is the best
for this. Find a similar product being sold and check its sales rank and review
quantity. If similar products have many reviews, say 500, you can presume there
is both demand and need. For example, by the time you’re reading this book, 
The
Millionaire Fastlane
will have over 1,500 reviews. Assuming one person reviewed
the book for every 250 readers (.4 percent review rate), you can speculate that my
book has sold around 375,000 copies. This verifies demand for its message and
genre.

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