How to write a Quick Search question

Start with one question

Write the question you would ask someone helping you research a business. There is no special format to follow, and a sentence is often enough.

If you know who you want to help, name them. If you have a product idea, explain what it would help those people do. For example:

What recurring administrative problems do independent fitness instructors face?

You can use the questions in this guide as starting points. Change the customers or the task to match what you want to investigate. There is no need to copy the wording exactly.

Find problems for a particular audience

You can start researching before you have a product idea. Think about a group of people you would like to serve and ask what keeps causing them trouble in their day-to-day work.

Find five recurring problems small cleaning businesses face when scheduling jobs and communicating with customers.

Asking for several problems gives you options to compare. You might begin by thinking about booking software and find that last-minute changes are the issue worth looking into. Let the findings help you decide where to focus.

Explore an idea you already have

If you already have an idea, explain who would use it and what it would help them with. Then ask how they deal with that problem today.

I am considering a tool that helps independent tutors track unpaid lessons. How do tutors handle this today, and what difficulties do they report?

This gives you something to examine beyond whether the idea sounds appealing. Tutors might use spreadsheets, payment reminders or software you have not seen yet. You want to understand where those approaches work and where people still struggle.

Try to leave room for an answer you did not expect. Asking “Why will my app succeed?” makes success part of the question before you have looked at the evidence.

Investigate existing solutions

Before deciding what to build, find out what customers already use. Ask about the job they need to get done, including any manual work involved.

How do small photography studios manage booking deposits? What software and manual methods do they use, and what limitations do users report?

Look beyond products similar to yours. A studio might manage deposits through bank transfers and messages. If that arrangement works well enough, a new app needs to give them a reason to change. The inconvenience of their current process is worth investigating alongside competing software.

Make a broad question more specific

“What business should I start?” leaves a lot for the research to guess. Give it a place to begin: a customer group, a task or a problem you have noticed. Here are three ways to do that.

You do not have to narrow everything down at once. Start with the detail you know. If the answer covers too much ground, use what you learned to write a more focused follow-up.

Add details that matter to you

Sometimes the country, business size or software people already use makes a difference. Include those details when they affect the kind of opportunity you are looking for.

Find recurring paperwork problems for small UK cleaning businesses with fewer than ten employees that could be addressed with a simple software tool.

In this example, a process used by a large cleaning company may not suit a team of five. Naming the country also helps keep the question focused on the market you want to serve.

Include what you know, but do not feel you need to fill in a long brief. If you are still exploring, a customer group and an area of work are enough to start.

Read your question once before searching

Imagine someone reading it without knowing anything about your idea. Would they understand what you want to find out? These questions can help you spot anything missing:

• What do I want this search to answer?
• Have I said who the customers are, if I already know?
• Am I asking about one topic, or combining several unrelated ideas?
• Am I asking an open question, or asking the research to agree with me?

Your first question does not have to cover everything. Read the answer, see what is still unclear and decide whether another search would help.

Ready to try it? Follow the steps in Start a Quick Search.