Competitive Intelligence Researcher Needed to Identify High-Growth Expertise-Based Businesses

Objective Build a searchable database of successful businesses that monetize expertise through digital products, education, consulting, coaching, memberships, communities, and other scalable knowledge-based business models. My goal is to identify high-growth, under-the-radar businesses with compelling offers, strong market positioning, and objective evidence of success. I'm looking for business models and industries that are generating meaningful revenue but are not the common online businesses discussed everywhere. This project has the potential to become an ongoing competitive intelligence engagement. I'm looking for someone who can help build and maintain a long-term market intelligence database over time. Businesses to Research Please prioritize businesses that monetize expertise through offers such as: Online courses Coaching programs Consulting Memberships Communities Workshops Digital products Templates Toolkits Newsletters Done-for-you (DFY) services Productized services Other digital knowledge-based business models Well-Known Markets to Exclude To keep the research focused on discovering overlooked opportunities, please exclude businesses that primarily operate in the following well-known markets: AI automation agencies Amazon FBA Shopify Dropshipping Crypto Stock trading Forex Sales training Relationship advice Dating advice Fitness coaching Weight loss coaching Nutrition coaching Spirituality Manifestation Media buying YouTube automation General "make money online" offers What I'm Looking For Please prioritize businesses that: Solve expensive, urgent, or meaningful problems Serve a clearly defined audience Have unique positioning Operate in overlooked or underserved markets Have a defensible competitive advantage or specialized expertise Have premium pricing or strong customer demand Show strong, objective evidence of market traction Demonstrate long-term growth potential I'm not looking for businesses simply because they're popular. I'm looking for businesses that appear to be successful based on measurable indicators rather than marketing claims. Examples of positive signals include: Active paid advertising Long-running advertising campaigns Professional sales funnels Premium pricing Multiple successful offers Strong customer engagement High website traffic Strong SEO presence Consistent content publishing Large or highly engaged communities Growing team size Media appearances Podcast interviews Other objective indicators that suggest the business is established or growing Please do not limit your research to any specific industry. I'm intentionally looking across a wide variety of markets because I want to discover opportunities I may not have considered. Phase 1 Deliverable For this initial project, I'd like you to: Develop your research methodology Create a clean, well-organized database in Google Sheets, Airtable, or Notion Research and analyze the first 25 businesses that meet the criteria above Include a brief explanation for why each business is worth studying If the quality of your work is excellent, I plan to continue expanding this database to hundreds or even thousands of businesses over time. For Each Business, Please Collect Company or brand name Founder Website Industry Offer or program name Business model (course, coaching, consulting, membership, community, etc.) Product or service type Price (if publicly available) Estimated annual revenue (if a reasonable estimate can be made) Confidence level for the revenue estimate (High, Medium, or Low) Explanation of how the revenue estimate was determined Estimated number of employees or team size (if publicly available) Target customer Core promise or transformation Unique Selling Proposition (USP) Lead magnet (if applicable) Sales funnel type (webinar, VSL, application, quiz, challenge, etc.) Platform used (Kajabi, Skool, ClickFunnels, Thinkific, Circle, etc., if identifiable) Primary traffic source (SEO, Paid Ads, YouTube, Social Media, Partnerships, Referrals, etc.) Primary customer acquisition method Social media profiles Approximate audience size Evidence of active paid advertising Evidence of market traction Notable differentiators Research sources used A short explanation of why this business is worth studying Research Methodology I'm looking for high-quality competitive intelligence, not basic internet research. Please use a combination of free and paid research tools whenever appropriate. If you already have access to professional research platforms, I encourage you to use them to improve the quality of the research. Examples include, but are not limited to: SimilarWeb SEMrush Ahrefs SpyFu BigSpy PowerAdSpy Foreplay Meta Ad Library TikTok Creative Center Google Search LinkedIn Reddit Company websites Industry publications Podcasts Other legitimate competitive intelligence tools If you use additional tools, please include them in your research methodology. You may also use web scraping or automation tools where appropriate, provided they comply with applicable laws and the website's Terms of Service. The goal is to build the highest-quality database efficiently using legitimate research methods. Please prioritize objective evidence over marketing claims. Don't assume a business is successful simply because the founder claims they generate millions in revenue. Instead, look for measurable indicators such as advertising activity, search visibility, website traffic, audience engagement, professional infrastructure, pricing, estimated team size, and other observable signs of business growth. Deliverable Format Please organize the research in Google Sheets, Airtable, or Notion. The database should be clean, searchable, easy to sort and filter, and designed so additional businesses can easily be added over time. To Apply Please include the following in your proposal: Examples of competitive intelligence, market research, or competitor analysis projects you've completed. The research tools you regularly use. How you would identify businesses that are growing but are not yet widely known. Three sample businesses that fit this project and explain why you selected them. Your estimated timeline for completing the first 25 businesses. To confirm you've read this entire job description, please begin your proposal with the words "Market Detective."