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Module 02 · Lesson 05

Pick a market without guessing

Choose a reachable segment with a repeated operational pain and an identifiable buyer.

Last updated August 5, 2026•15–25 minutes•Free AI agent course
What you will learn

Score your market wedge

You will be able to select a market based on evidence of a recurring workflow problem rather than a broad industry label or a fashionable niche.

Why this matters

Good agent work is useful before it is impressive.

‘We build agents for any business’ makes research, sales, delivery, and proof harder. A narrow starting point makes it possible to hear the same language, test the same workflow, and improve one delivery system.

Core concepts

The language that keeps the work clear.

SegmentA group with a shared role, workflow, constraint, and reachable channel—not just a SIC code.
UrgencyA cost of delay the buyer already feels: missed demand, compliance pressure, overloaded staff, or slow fulfilment.
Economic buyerThe person who can approve a project and cares about the operational result.
WedgeThe deliberately small first promise that creates a foothold without pretending to solve the whole business.
The practical method

How to score your market wedge

List familiar environments

Start where you can observe how work is done or reach practitioners for honest conversations.

Look for repeated friction

Search for recurring wait, rework, lost context, and unscheduled follow-up—not generic ‘interest in AI.’

Name a buyer and operator

A buyer pays for the result; an operator knows whether the workflow is actually usable.

Choose a testable wedge

State the market, workflow, user, desired outcome, and the small boundary of the first offer.

Worked example

Worked case: pick a market without guessing

‘Healthcare’ is not a workable first market. ‘Independent physiotherapy clinics that lose web enquiries after hours’ is closer to an observable workflow.

The owner cares about new appointments; front-desk staff care about avoiding duplicate or unsafe booking requests. A narrow after-hours intake and routing workflow can be researched and piloted without claiming to automate patient care.

The offer is specific enough to test, but it leaves clinical decisions and emergency routing to people and established procedures.

Build it in practice

Complete the working artifact

Market: [specific segment]. Buyer: [role]. Operator: [role]. Repeated workflow: [job]. Cost of delay: [observed consequence]. First wedge: [bounded change].
Practice

Before you move on

  • Write three market-and-workflow pairs.
  • Choose the pair where you can speak to both a buyer and an operator.
  • Remove any market that depends on an unverified assumption.
  • The market is narrow enough to research directly.
  • The workflow has a real operating owner.
  • The buyer has a reason to care now.
  • The wedge does not promise a complete transformation.

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