SaaS companies make million-dollar decisions on positioning, pricing, and product direction based on gut feel and internal debates. Winston Francois replaces those debates with buyer data and competitive intelligence.
The Problem
Your Buyer Understanding Is Stale or Invented
Most SaaS companies built their personas when they launched and have not updated them since. Meanwhile, the market shifted. New competitors appeared. Buyer priorities changed. Decisions based on outdated buyer understanding lead to messaging that misses, features that nobody asked for, and campaigns that underperform.
Competitive Intel Is Anecdotal
Your sales team reports what they hear in deals. Your product team tracks feature announcements. Nobody is assembling a structured view of how competitors are positioning, pricing, and winning. Without systematic competitive intelligence, you are reacting to fragments instead of seeing the full picture.
Strategic Decisions Happen in a Data Vacuum
Should you move upmarket? Enter a new vertical? Change your pricing model? These are high-stakes decisions that most SaaS companies make based on internal opinions and a few customer conversations. The cost of getting them wrong is measured in quarters, not weeks.
How We Help
Winston Francois delivers market research and competitive intelligence that SaaS teams can actually use to make decisions. We do not produce 80-page reports that sit in a Google Drive folder. We produce actionable intelligence that changes how you operate.
Our [growth strategy](/services/strategy/) team designs research around your specific decision. If you need to understand a new market segment, we structure the research to answer the questions that will determine your go-to-market approach. If you need competitive intelligence, we build the framework your team will use to track competitors on an ongoing basis.
Research methods depend on the question. We use buyer interviews, win/loss analysis, competitive teardowns, survey research, and secondary data analysis. We pick the methods that will answer your question with enough confidence to act, not the methods that produce the thickest report.
Our [product](/services/product/) team translates research findings into product and positioning recommendations. We do not just hand you data – we tell you what it means for your roadmap, your messaging, and your go-to-market.
Every research engagement includes a [measurement](/services/measurement/) component – how will you know if the decisions you make based on this research are working? We define the metrics and tracking before you act so you can validate the research with real-world results.
We also build the ongoing intelligence capability. Point-in-time research is useful, but the companies that win are the ones tracking their market continuously. We set up the systems and processes for your team to maintain competitive awareness after the engagement ends.
What we deliver
- Buyer research with updated personas and decision-making maps
- Competitive intelligence framework and initial analysis
- Strategic recommendations tied to specific business decisions
- Ongoing intelligence playbook and tracking systems
- Validation metrics to test research-informed decisions
Research is only valuable if it changes a decision. Every research question should map to a specific choice your team needs to make.
Our Methodology
Winston Francois runs research engagements on a 90-day sprint model. The first 30 days focus on research design and data collection – defining the questions, selecting methods, recruiting participants for interviews or surveys, and beginning competitive analysis.
Days 31 through 60 are analysis and synthesis. We process the data, identify patterns, and develop findings. This is where raw interviews become buyer insights, and competitive data becomes strategic intelligence. We pressure-test findings with your team before finalizing.
Days 61 through 90 are about activation. We present findings, deliver strategic recommendations, and set up the ongoing intelligence systems. We work with your team to define the metrics that will validate the decisions you make based on the research.
How We Work
In the first 30 days, we align on the specific decisions your research needs to inform. We design the research plan, begin recruiting interview participants, launch surveys if applicable, and start competitive analysis. You approve the research design before we proceed.
During days 31 through 60, we conduct interviews, complete competitive teardowns, and analyze all collected data. We share preliminary findings mid-sprint so you can begin thinking about implications. We also pressure-test emerging insights with your customer-facing teams.
Days 61 through 90 deliver the final analysis, strategic recommendations, and ongoing intelligence framework. We present findings in a working session format so your team can ask questions and begin planning next steps immediately. You leave with both the insights and the system to keep them current.
Ongoing engagements typically focus on maintaining competitive intelligence, conducting regular buyer pulse surveys, and providing strategic advisory as market conditions change.
- Decision-ready buyer insights based on primary research
- Structured competitive intelligence with regular update cadence
- Strategic recommendations for positioning, pricing, or market entry
- Ongoing intelligence capability your team can maintain independently
If your saas / tech company needs market research & insights leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
How is this different from hiring a traditional market research firm?
Traditional research firms produce reports. We produce decisions. Every engagement starts with the specific choice you need to make and works backward to the research that will inform it. We also integrate research findings into your growth strategy and marketing execution, which a standalone research firm does not do. The output is not a document – it is a change in how you operate.
What research methods do you use for SaaS buyer insights?
The method depends on the question. For understanding buyer decision-making, we use structured interviews with recent buyers and prospects. For validating positioning or messaging, we use survey research with statistical rigor. For competitive intelligence, we combine product teardowns, pricing analysis, content audits, and win/loss interviews. We pick the methods that answer your question efficiently.
How many buyer interviews do you typically conduct?
For most SaaS research questions, 15 to 25 structured interviews reach saturation – the point where new interviews confirm existing patterns rather than revealing new ones. We design interview guides that maximize insight per conversation. For quantitative validation, we supplement interviews with survey research targeting larger sample sizes.
Can you do competitive intelligence without talking to our competitors' customers?
Yes. Competitive intelligence draws from multiple sources – public positioning, pricing pages, product documentation, job postings, content strategy, review sites, community discussions, and your own win/loss data. Talking to competitors' customers adds depth but is not always necessary or appropriate. We design the approach based on what you need to know and what sources are available.
How do you keep research from becoming shelfware?
Three ways. First, we tie every research question to a specific decision before we start. If there is no decision attached, we cut the question. Second, we present findings in working sessions, not presentations – your team leaves the room with action items, not just information. Third, we define validation metrics so you can test whether the decisions you make based on the research are actually working.
What does an ongoing competitive intelligence program look like?
We set up a tracking framework that monitors competitor positioning, pricing, product changes, content strategy, and hiring patterns on a regular cadence. Your team receives a monthly brief highlighting meaningful changes and what they imply for your strategy. We also conduct quarterly deep-dives on specific competitive dynamics. The goal is continuous awareness, not periodic surprise.
