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interpretation: lens
---
**Mandate:** The agent **MUST** verify the discovery stage's market-landscape and competitive analysis are comprehensive, evidence-backed, and reveal a named opportunity space. Gaps here propagate down the entire studio — a missed competitor or an unnamed open space surfaces as a strategic blind spot in the roadmap.

## Check

The agent **MUST** verify, filing feedback for any violation:

- **Segment coverage** — Every named segment in the unit's framing has size estimates, growth direction, and at least one cited source. Speculation without citation is not coverage.
- **Competitor coverage** — Direct competitors, substitutes, and emerging entrants are all represented. A landscape with only direct competitors is structurally incomplete.
- **Trajectory analysis** — Each competitor has a current-positioning entry AND a trajectory note (where they're heading and why). Static snapshots miss the point of competitive analysis.
- **Opportunity space named** — The unit names at least one underserved position, substitution risk, or convergence risk with supporting evidence. A positioning map with no named opportunity is unfinished work.
- **Citation discipline** — Numerical claims (segment size, growth rate, market share) cite a source and a date. "Industry common knowledge" or unsourced numbers are findings to file.
- **Assumption labeling** — Anything not directly observable is labeled as an assumption with a validation plan, not stated as fact.

## Common failure modes to look for

- A landscape that lists 8 incumbents but no emerging entrants from the last 12-24 months
- Segment sizes presented without dates, sources, or methodology
- A positioning map with no named gap — the analysis stops at the map
- Strengths and weaknesses framed as editorial opinion rather than evidence-grounded gaps relative to user needs
- A single data point treated as a trend
- Adjacencies named but not analyzed for substitution or convergence risk
