You Don’t Need Industry Data. You Need Conversations.
Someone asked me:
“I’m building a tool and I need a lot of industry data. How do I get it?”
Here’s my honest answer:
Don’t start with data.
Start with people.
If you chase datasets first, you’ll collect noise. If you talk to the right people first, the data will come to you—often freely, and with context you can’t scrape.
This idea comes straight from **The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick. Not the part people quote on Twitter—but the part founders actually need.
The Simple Playbook
If you think you “need industry data,” do this instead:
- Pick 10 organizations that live inside the problem you care about
- Identify ~100 people across those orgs (operators, managers, practitioners—not execs)
- Reach out using an ask framework, not a pitch
Your goal isn’t validation.
Your goal is understanding how work really happens.
The Ask Framework (No Pitching Allowed)
This is the structure I use, adapted from The Mom Test:
Vision
“I’m exploring how teams handle [specific workflow].”
Framing
“I’m trying to understand what actually breaks down in real life.”
Weakness
“I don’t have enough visibility yet, and I’m worried I’ll build the wrong thing.”
Pedestal
“You’ve dealt with this longer than I have—your perspective would help.”
Ask
“Would you be open to a short conversation so I can learn how you do this today?”
That’s it.
No demo. No deck. No product claims.
The Thing Most Founders Miss
The best industry data is not:
- In reports
- In dashboards
- In scraped databases
It’s in:
- Workarounds
- Complaints
- “We just live with it”
- “Don’t get me started…”
Those only show up in conversations.
And when you do this well, something interesting happens:
- People share internal docs
- They forward spreadsheets
- They introduce colleagues
- They ask when they can try what you’re building
That’s not customer acquisition.
That’s earning your way in.
If you’re building something real, skip the data hunt.
Talk to people.
Let clarity come first.