Blue Ocean Finder

Competition Is a Race to the Bottom

Fighting for the same customers as everyone else means lower margins, slower growth, and constant pressure.

Red Ocean Battles

Competing head-to-head with established players means fighting for shrinking profit pools.

Me-Too Products

Building what competitors have means you're always behind, competing on features and price.

Margin Compression

Price wars and feature parity erode your margins until there's nothing left.

What You Get

Actionable insights to find and capture untapped market opportunities.

White Space Mapping

Identify gaps in the market where customer needs aren't being met by existing solutions.

Unmet needs analysis
Feature gap identification
Positioning opportunities

Underserved Segments

Discover customer segments that are overlooked by current market players.

Non-customer analysis
Tier-jumping opportunities
Adjacent market entry points

Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create

The classic Blue Ocean framework applied to your specific competitive landscape.

What to eliminate
What to reduce below standard
What to raise and create new

Value Innovation Strategy

Concrete strategies to create new value curves that make competition irrelevant.

Differentiation focus areas
New demand creation tactics
Cost reduction opportunities

How It Works

From competitive analysis to uncontested market space

1

Map the Competitive Landscape

The Blue Ocean Finder pulls from your competitor intelligence to create a strategy canvas showing how all players compete on key factors. This reveals where everyone is clustered and where the opportunities lie.

2

Identify Non-Customers

We analyze who's not buying from your industry and why. Three tiers of non-customers represent different levels of latent demand. These groups often hold the key to blue ocean opportunities.

3

Apply the Four Actions Framework

AI generates specific recommendations for what to eliminate (factors competitors take for granted), reduce (below industry standard), raise (above standard), and create (entirely new). This breaks the value-cost trade-off.

4

Define Your Blue Ocean Strategy

Get a concrete strategy canvas for your new value curve, along with messaging that communicates your differentiation. You'll know exactly how to position against (or rather, away from) competitors.

Real-World Example

See how the Blue Ocean Finder helps real founders

Elena, Fitness App Founder

Building a workout tracking app

The Challenge

Elena was building another fitness tracking app into a market with hundreds of competitors. Her validation showed demand, but also brutal competition from well-funded incumbents. She needed a way to differentiate beyond features.

The Solution

The Blue Ocean Finder revealed that all competitors focused on the same factors: workout variety, social features, gamification, and metrics tracking. It identified a massive non-customer segment: people intimidated by fitness apps. The ERRC framework suggested: eliminate complex metrics, reduce social pressure, raise simplicity, and create "anti-perfectionism" messaging.

The Outcome

Elena pivoted to target "reluctant exercisers" with a stripped-down app that celebrated showing up over performance. Her acquisition cost dropped 60% because she wasn't competing for the same keywords as everyone else. She's growing 15% month-over-month in a space everyone thought was saturated.

What Sets This Apart

Compare approaches to finding market opportunities

Traditional Competitive Analysis

Focuses on beating competitors
Feature-matching mindset
Same customers, same battlefield

Reading the Book

Theory without application
No data on your market
Generic examples

Applied to your specific market
Actionable ERRC recommendations
Identifies non-customers

Advanced Tips

Maximize your blue ocean opportunities

Look Across Industries

The best blue oceans often come from combining elements of different industries. Use the tool to analyze how adjacent industries solve similar problems differently, then create something new.

Interview Non-Customers

Once you identify non-customer segments, go talk to them. Understand why they haven't bought from your industry. Their objections become your product requirements.

Be Ruthless About Elimination

The hardest part of blue ocean strategy is elimination. Features you eliminate free up resources to invest in differentiation. If competitors all have something, that doesn't mean you need it.

Build Barriers

Once you find a blue ocean, competitors will follow. Plan for this. Build network effects, lock in customers with switching costs, or create capabilities that are hard to replicate.

Available on Growth+

Blue Ocean Finder is included with Growth and Business plans

Growth

$4,997/year

Business

$9,997/year

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Blue Ocean Strategy?

Blue Ocean Strategy, coined by Kim and Mauborgne, is about creating uncontested market space rather than competing in existing markets (red oceans). Instead of fighting over existing customers, you create new demand and make competition irrelevant.

How does it work with my validation?

The Blue Ocean Finder uses your market analysis and competitor intelligence to identify where competitors are over-serving customers and where they're leaving gaps. It then suggests strategic pivots or positioning that would let you escape direct competition.

What if my market has no blue oceans?

Every market has opportunities for value innovation. Sometimes the blue ocean isn't a new market but a new way of delivering value - combining industries, changing the buyer group, or redefining the product scope. We'll help you find it.

Is this only for new startups?

No! Blue Ocean analysis is also powerful for existing businesses looking to break out of competitive stalemates or find new growth vectors. Many successful pivots come from Blue Ocean thinking.

How long does the blue ocean last?

Blue oceans eventually turn red as competitors catch on. The time varies by market: some last years, others months. The analysis helps you identify defensibility strategies to extend your advantage, like building switching costs, network effects, or brand loyalty before competition arrives.

What if the recommendations are too radical?

Blue ocean strategy intentionally challenges assumptions, so recommendations may feel uncomfortable. That discomfort often signals opportunity - if it were obvious, competitors would already be there. You can implement recommendations incrementally, starting with less dramatic changes while testing customer response.