A market structure drawn from inside a business is tested against the companies actually operating in it, so the map matches the market rather than the org chart.
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From an inside-out market map to 32 investment memos in one day
Client
Date
$10B+ global security services group
09/2026
The challenge
A $10B+ global security services group runs a digital division selling risk intelligence. It had a map of that market drawn from the inside, and no way to test it against the outside: who was really operating in each box, how large each was, and what the map had missed. A full study meant commissioning one.
The solution
FifthRow deployed a market mapping and acquisition screening layer. A market definition goes in; a category structure tested against outside evidence comes out, with the sub-markets under it sized and every company operating in them assessed to the same investment-memo standard.
138,305
analyst-hours equivalent, 217 FTEs39 companies
assessed on one 13-section standardMarket structureOwn category map tested outside-in
Company assessment39 companies, one 13-section standard
Landscape sweep32 investment memos in one working day
Research questions39,135 source-verified questions answered
Analyst-hours equivalent138,305 hours saved; equivalent to 217 FTEs
The division had a category map of its own market, drawn from the inside by people who sell into it. The question was whether it matched the market as the companies operating in it actually describe themselves.
Core Activities
- Tested the division's own category structure against outside-in evidence
- Named the companies actually operating in each category and sub-category
- Sized attractiveness, size and growth one category at a time
- Set the group's own service portfolio against the categories found
- Surfaced the whitespace between what the market offers and what the group sells
The Results
A category structure the division could defend outside its own walls: every box populated with the companies working in it, sized and sourced, and read against the portfolio the group already sells.
20,255
analyst-hours equivalent, market structure workNaming the companies in a market is the easy half. The division needed each one assessed to the same depth, so a strong candidate could be told from a well-marketed one rather than argued about.
Core Activities
- Assessed 39 companies on the same thirteen sections, in the same order
- Covered thesis, business model, addressable market, moat, financials and exit path
- Produced 32 of those memos in one working day, each in about an hour
- Held acquisition and partnership candidates to the identical standard
- Re-ran the candidates that mattered, so a memo refreshes rather than restarts
The Results
A comparable memo on every company in the landscape, each carrying the source base behind it, so candidates could be ranked against one another instead of read one at a time.
~1 hour
from a company name to a 13-section memoKnowing the field is not the same as knowing where you stand in it. The same evidence base was turned back on the group's own offering.
Core Activities
- Mapped the group's own services against the competitor set the research found
- Compared products feature by feature wherever offerings overlapped
- Read competitor pricing and differentiation across the whole set
- Tracked market share and share movement among the leading players
- Located the gaps between what the field offers and what the group sells
The Results
A position the division could state and support: where the group's offering sits against the field, on the same evidence base that produced the map itself.
1,601
source-verified questions behind the competitor mappingAlongside the incumbents, the division needed the companies not yet on anyone's list, and some view of how the field could move rather than only how it looks today.
Core Activities
- Sourced early-stage companies out of scientific and technology news
- Profiled startup technology and patent positions ahead of any approach
- Followed named companies for launches, funding and partnership moves
- Scanned political, economic, social, technological and environmental horizons
- Wargamed competitive scenarios against the group's own position
The Results
A shortlist of early-stage candidates profiled to the same depth as the incumbents, and a set of tested scenarios, so the landscape reads forward as well as sideways.
16,799
analyst-hours equivalent, scouting and scenario workWhat it proved
A category map drawn from inside the business went in. What came back was a structure tested against outside evidence, the sub-markets under it sized, and 39 companies assessed on the same thirteen sections – 32 of those memos produced in a single working day, each in about an hour. Across the engagement, 1,273 runs answered 39,135 source-verified research questions against 76,727 sources.
The division came out holding a market picture it could put in front of the group: a category structure with the operators named in each box, a comparable memo on every one of them, and its own portfolio measured against the field. One person produced all of it, which is how the division works – one operator runs the research and distributes it to everyone else. Across those 1,273 runs the platform records 138,305 analyst-hours saved, the equivalent of 217 full-time analysts over the period. The comparison was never against internal headcount, which was already committed. It was against a commissioned market study, something the group had got round to two or three times in five years.
Results
| Metric | Benchmark | Result | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market structure | A category map drawn inside-out, with nothing to test it against | Structure tested outside-in, sub-markets sized and sourced | Internal assumption replaced by evidenced structure |
| Assessment standard | No settled method; each review scoped from scratch | 39 companies, the same thirteen sections each | One standard applied across the whole set |
| Assessment throughput | Candidates assessed only when a study was commissioned, two or three times in five years | 32 investment memos in one working day | Episodic commissioning replaced by same-day coverage |
| Analyst-hours saved | Manual desk research and commissioned consultants | 138,305 hours across 1,273 runs | Equivalent of adding 217 full-time analysts over the period |
Every company in a landscape is assessed on the same sections in the same order, so candidates are comparable rather than merely described.
A market is assessed end to end instead of at the handful of companies someone had time to look at.
One person covers an entire vendor landscape and hands the result to the teams that need it, rather than commissioning the work outside.
The memo structure stays in the catalogue, so the next candidate enters an existing standard rather than a blank brief.
Each section of a company assessment carries the source base behind it, so a conclusion can be checked rather than taken on trust.
Finding the next high-growth US metro in five days
Client
$5B+ Global Design and Engineering Firm
Date
08/2026
5 days
naming the next growth marketMaking consultants 3–5× more productive on the research behind their work
Client
$30B+ Global IT Services and Consulting Group
Date
08/2026
3–5×
productivity on consulting deliveryFor Enterprises
ProofSee all
From a standing start to an AI venture serving small businesses
From 72 patents to 4 commercialisation-ready technologies
Cutting a four-month research cycle to six weeks across five validation workstreams
From a weekly newsletter to a self-running innovation radar
A full year's validated-concept target, met in the first quarter
A utility innovation lab that answers its own questions in a day
Finding the next high-growth US metro in five days
FifthRow – The Agentic Consultancy
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