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The startup market peaked in 2021. After that we had a turbulent couple of years. Even the artificial intelligence boom, which attracted huge investments, failed to revive markets hit by the banking crisis and unfavorable conditions across all sectors.
The start of 2024 raises hopes that the venture capital (VC) market will stabilize and funding will begin to recover. This is good news for startups, especially in the tech sector, as new growth and fundraising opportunities emerge. However, these windows of opportunity will not be large enough to satisfy everyone, and competition will be fierce. Open source intelligence (OSINT) could make a difference for those startups that excel at using it.
Related: Think Like a Spy: How Open Source Intelligence Can Give You a Competitive Advantage
Challenges and opportunities for startups
In the heyday of tech startups, the general public and investors were fascinated by the type of visionary, relentless and fast-paced CEOs often dubbed “geniuses” by the media. At least for now, those days are over. The challenging economic climate and lack of available financing requires frugal entrepreneurs who can demonstrate the ability to cut spending and achieve sustainable growth at lower costs.
These startup founders and leaders will encounter both challenges and opportunities, and turning the former into the latter without always having the funding to do so will require creativity.
An opportunity is presented by the recent wave of layoffs in the technology sector which has made much more talent available. However, this year the competition among tech startups will be fierce for everything, including top talent. Additionally, many established legacy companies will be more than happy to welcome Google or Meta outcasts.
Another disruptive factor is that investors are paying more attention to European startups. For American companies, this means even more competition for funding. On the other hand, entering the US market is never easy. If companies in other countries want to reach US audiences, they will need to invest in understanding them and mastering digital marketing.
Additionally, navigating the ever-changing regulatory landscape on both sides of the pond will be challenging. Public and legal scrutiny of the IT sector is increasing. Fintech is under particular scrutiny as one of its latest superstars is now reportedly trading canned mackerel in prison. On the one hand, regulation brings legitimacy and fair opportunities. On the other hand, having to deal with legal proceedings and their outcomes can severely limit innovation.
Finally, technological innovation is happening faster than ever. Startups can use it to implement better solutions and introduce fascinating new products. However, new developments can also make their products obsolete before they even go into operation. Furthermore, perhaps no one implements new solutions into their “business” faster than cybercriminals. And what better target than a promising new company with little or no money to spend on cybersecurity?
What is open source intelligence (OSINT) and how can it help?
Open source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection of information from publicly available sources to produce useful intelligence. In other words, everything that is openly available, from books and archives to what is freely accessed on the Internet, can be analyzed to answer intelligence questions. This resource is vast and powerful beyond imagination. Plus, you can take as long as you need to take it out and use it.
Therefore, this free resource can potentially reduce many headaches for frugal entrepreneurs. The following examples demonstrate how OSINT can help startups grow in a challenging market.
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Market research: You can learn a lot about consumers in particular markets by collecting OSINT about e-commerce, such as which products sell the fastest. Furthermore, OSINT provides valuable competitive intelligence in these markets. For example, you can predict competitors’ plans based on their job postings for particular specialists and in specific regions.
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Identify opportunities in the job market: Following job market events through open web sources can also boost your headhunting efforts. In this case, automated monitoring is the way to go. It allows you to know about layoffs as soon as they are reported or even rumored.
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Adaptation of marketing and pricing strategies: Digital commerce is extremely dynamic. Both customers and competitors may act and react in unexpected ways. OSINT allows you to gather real-time insights and immediately adapt your practices. For example, you can adjust your prices to offer better deals than your competition.
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Navigation risks: OSINT helps you track cyberattack and threat reports and improve your cybersecurity. Additionally, software tools can be used to track international regulations and constantly check for data leaks that could affect you and your customers.
Achieving all this without increasing costs will allow some startups to stand out when making their case to investors.
Related: 3 Reasons Why You Should Spy on Your Competition
How to get OSINT effectively?
The Internet is the world’s largest information resource. Collecting OSINT manually from the Internet is possible, but requires time and personnel. Early stage startups often have neither. Even if they decide to spend a few hours of work sifting through websites and reporting on competitor pricing or the latest technological developments, the results may not be very insightful. Often they will arrive too late to be actionable.
Therefore, the most effective way to obtain OSINT is automated web data extraction. Known as web scraping, this method uses proxies and sophisticated software tools to instantly collect large volumes of publicly available data. Real-time data acquired on a limited budget is exactly what businesses need to survive and thrive in the still-quite turbulent and ever-changing tech startup market.
Related: How Web Scraping Brings Freedom to Search
Today’s big data situation is sometimes compared to the gold rush of the nineteenth century. The gold was there on public lands for anyone to find and take. Another precious asset, data, is also in the public domain and offers everyone an equal opportunity to use it.
Unlike gold, however, the same information remains where it is, even if someone extracts it. However, time is still of the essence because, unlike gold, data loses value over time and can quickly become worthless. Therefore, the race to get to the resource first and make the most of it is still on every day. Startups that consistently and effectively use OSINT will have a strong advantage in competing for growth opportunities in these times of prudent financing.