industry-learning-sprint
Industry Learning Sprint
Overview
A structured 3-step process (financial reports → expert dialogue → unique view) for building a working industry mental model in approximately one week. The sequence is strict: financials before experts, experts before view formation. Financial reports reveal how an industry actually works stripped of marketing narrative; gross margin, capex pattern, and disclosed risk factors encode economic reality.
Neighbors: probabilistic-thinking (assign confidence intervals before expert conversations) · first-principles (stress-test the view after Step 3) · confirmation-bias (audit Step 3) · non-consensus-thinking (evaluate if the view is truly non-consensus) · narrow-gate-strategy (identify the leverage point for focused entry).
When to Use
Trigger conditions: Entering an industry for the first time (investor, founder, executive, advisor) · Evaluating an acquisition or partnership in an unfamiliar sector · Preparing for a high-stakes expert conversation with limited prep time · Producing an investment thesis or market entry recommendation under time pressure.
When NOT to use: Deep domain expertise already exists · Timeline under 48 hours (mark output as preliminary) · Industry is primarily informal/unregistered (financial reports will be unrepresentative).