Chapter 4. Conducting Competitive Research You were right. I was on the wrong track. We’re deep in the valley, how deep in the gulley. And now in the canyon. Out in the yonder. — SONIC YOUTH (1984) NOW THAT YOU HAVE A STRONG POSITIVE SIGNAL THAT YOU’RE ONTO something, you need to ask, “Why hasn’t this solution been built yet?” I hesitate to say that everything has been done, but pretty much everything has been attempted. It’s because individuals and companies have been designing products for distribution and consumption on the Internet for more than 20 years! Knowing what has actually worked or failed is crucial to identifying a competitive advantage. So, in this chapter and the next, we will look more deeply into Tenet 1, Business Strategy (Figure 4-1). Figure 4-1. Tenet 1: Business Strategy