How Much Research Should You Do for a New Business?

When starting a new business or product development, there are different ways of thinking about whether to:
- Start moving immediately, or
- Do a little research before starting.
Everyone has their own approach.

Even those who say they start moving immediately are likely thinking about it a little bit in their subconscious.

So, how much thinking is appropriate?

Raising expectations and a sense of anticipation

To get people moving, you need expectations. It can be a delusion, but you cannot move without the anticipation that the future will turn out a certain way.

Raising expectations and a sense of anticipation is the first goal of research. You could also call it increasing the urge to act or boosting motivation.

Research alone is boring

In large companies, there are people who only do research. I used to be in a marketing department, and there were many such people around me.

They cut and paste materials from research firms and make documents all day long. If you call that a job, I suppose it is, but there is almost zero sense of creativity. It doesn't excite me.

Initial stage of research (information gathering)

The initial stage of research is all about gathering information.

I collect a massive amount of information. My method is something like this:
- Rough searches on the internet
- Collecting and reading through related books and magazines
- Going to meet people who know, listening to their stories, and asking questions

How much time should you spend?

I have a habit of getting absorbed in information gathering. I don't get bored even after searching for half a day. I just keep getting deeper and deeper into it.

That's why I set a cutoff point at a certain stage to organize things. As a guideline, I set milestones like these:
- 3 hours
- 3 days
- 1 week
- 3 months

The first 3 hours are for internet searches. One hour would be fine, but I tend to get hooked for about 3 hours.

The next 3 days are for reading books and magazines. I go to libraries and bookstores and look at whatever I can get my hands on.

Information that was fragmented from just the internet becomes a three-dimensional overall picture when combined with the systematic knowledge and insights from books.

When you combine the internet and books, the overall picture becomes visible:
- History of the present and past, and the future vision
- Japan and the world
- That industry and other industries
- Role and positioning within the flow of the economy
and so on.

One week is the time to roughly summarize the direction and the outline of the document. I have also summarized and reported in 3 days. If you set a deadline, you can manage to get it done.

Three months is the limit for determining your direction.
If you can't see it after three months, anything beyond that is a waste. It's better to start moving a little.

Have you been able to draw the big picture?

Once you have gathered a certain amount of information, draw the big picture.

It's okay if it's immature, just get it into some form for now.

The overall structure and story.

It doesn't have to be cool, but the goal is to reach a level where you can talk about it for about two hours.

Research is a preparatory stage for getting started.

Research is ultimately just a preparatory stage. It is better to start moving quickly.

However, starting to move without seeing the big picture also leads to a lot of waste.

Set a time limit and think. Think individually. I want to cherish that time.

Don't spend too much time on research! But it is important time.

I value the first three hours and the first three days. Generally, that's where the outcome is decided.

The delusion stage might also be the beginning of research.

Let's try researching in a fun, short, and focused way.