A spreadsheet of company names is not yet a market map. The useful part is seeing how the landscape fits together: which categories matter, where the important relationships sit, what the current view covers, and what it means for the decision in front of you.

Strawberry can research across company sites, LinkedIn, industry directories, databases, reports, news, connected files, and other relevant sources. It can follow relationships across the web while keeping the sources, dates, and uncertainty visible.

The same workflow can support sales territory planning, an industry landscape, or an investor's ecosystem view without forcing each one into the same output.

Start with the decision the map needs to support

A useful boundary comes from the question: where should a sales team focus, which actors shape an industry, how is an ecosystem changing, or where does an opportunity sit? Define the geography, time horizon, entity types, exclusions, and intended audience around that decision.

Before a broad search, agree on the likely sources, breadth, depth, fields, destination, and first review point. That keeps a market map from becoming an expensive attempt to catalogue everything.

Want to try it?

Ask your Strawberry companion: “Map this market as a sourced landscape of entities, categories, relationships, signals, coverage, uncertainty, and implications.”

Skill

Map a market landscape

Build a decision-specific, sourced view of a market or ecosystem.

Test the categories on a small part of the market

A small, varied sample can reveal that two categories overlap, a regional term means something different, or the obvious directory misses an important part of the landscape. Review those examples before applying the taxonomy more widely.

Strawberry can then expand the accepted definition, deduplicate entities, follow useful relationships, and record why each representative entity belongs. If the evidence stays thin, narrow the claim rather than pretending the map is complete.

Adapt the view to the work

  • For sales: segment the target market, define the relevant account universe, expose whitespace or concentration, compare regions or verticals, and show where prospecting may be most useful.
  • For research: map the entities, relationships, categories, signals, and patterns shaping a landscape.
  • For investing: connect companies, investors, associations, experts, and ecosystem relationships around the investment question.

The output remains a market landscape. It does not automatically become a prospect list, competitive analysis, investment recommendation, or outreach campaign.

Skill

Map a startup ecosystem

Use the startup-specific workflow when startups and investors are the primary object.

Make coverage and uncertainty part of the map

Keep source links and dates beside the important facts. Separate what a source directly supports from a company's own claim or Strawberry's inference, and show which categories, geographies, and source types were covered.

A useful final view includes the taxonomy, representative entities, relationships, coverage notes, important patterns, uncertainty, and implications. Do not claim an exhaustive universe or exact market size unless the method and evidence genuinely support it.

Put the market map to work

If the next job is sales prospecting, Strawberry can turn an accepted market definition into a qualified search with an agreed scope and review point. Prospecting, enrichment, outreach, CRM changes, and external sharing remain separate decisions.

Skill

Find me 30 new leads

Turn an accepted sales market definition into a qualified prospect list.

Share an approved landscape when colleagues need the result, or save the accepted taxonomy, sources, and review method as a reusable skill when the team should repeat the process. A recurring refresh can become a Routine only after the scope, cadence, audience, and review point are clear.

Official Strawberry skill
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name
map-a-market
description
Build a sourced landscape of the entities, categories, relationships, coverage, patterns, uncertainty, and implications shaping a market. Use for market entry, territory or account-universe planning, research landscapes, or broad ecosystem mapping. Do not automatically turn the map into a prospect list, competitive analysis, or outreach campaign.

Map a Market

Make a market legible for a decision. Adapt the taxonomy and output to the user's purpose without forcing Sales, Research, or VC into one another's workflow.

1. Define the decision and boundary

Confirm what decision the map should support, who will use it, the market definition, geography, time horizon, entity types, exclusions, and what would make the work useful. Reuse relevant company context, prior research, files, open tabs, connected apps, and accepted definitions.

Role-specific emphasis may include:

  • Sales: segment the target market, define the relevant account universe, identify whitespace and concentration, compare regions or verticals, and recommend where prospecting should focus.
  • Research: map the entities, relationships, categories, signals, and patterns shaping a landscape.
  • Venture capital: map companies, investors, associations, experts, and ecosystem relationships. Use strawberry/venture-capital/map-startup-ecosystem when the user specifically needs the startup-focused workflow.

2. Confirm scope before broad research

Propose the taxonomy hypotheses, sources, breadth versus depth, approximate scale, fields, destination, and first review point. When boundaries or terminology are uncertain, begin with a bounded sample. Explain material source gaps, access limits, and cost or time tradeoffs. Never start broad or expensive research solely because another workflow detected a gap.

3. Research the landscape

Use authoritative primary sources where possible and corroborate material claims. Follow useful relationships across company sites, public registries, filings, associations, research, connected data, and other approved sources. Preserve links and dates for important evidence.

Build a taxonomy that helps the decision rather than collecting entities indiscriminately. Track category, role in the market, relevant attributes, relationships, geography, signals, and confidence as appropriate. Deduplicate identities and distinguish observed facts from claims and inference.

Treat counts and completeness carefully. Do not claim an exhaustive universe or exact market size unless the method and evidence support it. Label observed counts, partial-source counts, estimates, source bias, unknowns, and stale evidence.

4. Deliver a sourced map

Provide:

  1. the decision, scope, definitions, and exclusions;
  2. a useful taxonomy and segment descriptions;
  3. representative entities with evidence and source links;
  4. important relationships, signals, patterns, whitespace, or concentration;
  5. coverage by source, category, and geography where relevant;
  6. uncertainty, contradictions, and important missing evidence; and
  7. implications and next decisions.

The result is a landscape, not automatically a candidate or prospect list, competitive battlecard, investment recommendation, or outreach campaign.

5. Continue deliberately

For Sales, when the user accepts the target market and wants a qualified prospect list, use strawberry/sales/find-new-customers. Confirm the accepted definition, scope, sources, scale, fields, and review point before transitioning. Keep prospecting, enrichment, outreach, CRM writes, and sharing separate.

For VC, continue to the appropriate diligence or startup-ecosystem workflow only after the user chooses the decision. For Research, agree on the next artifact before expanding into analysis or publication.

Offer to save an accepted taxonomy, source strategy, fields, destination, and review point as a custom skill. Use a Routine only after the mapping method is stable and a useful refresh trigger or cadence exists.