How we survey the field
As We Speak exists to answer one question honestly: who is already building your idea, and are they actually alive and moving? That only means something if you can check the work. Here is exactly how a survey is put together, and what each mark on the report means.
Sourced, dated, and checkable
No claim stands on our word alone. Each one is traceable and time-stamped.
How we find the players
We start from the idea itself and sweep launch directories, funding databases, app stores, review sites, hiring boards, and press. A company earns a place on the roster only when it is demonstrably shipping the thing you described — not adjacent, not aspirational.
Every claim carries a source
Pricing, funding, team size, stage — each fact links back to where we read it. If a claim can't be traced to something you can open and check yourself, it doesn't get stated as fact.
Every claim carries a date
Markets move weekly. Each source records when we retrieved it, and the whole survey wears a prominent 'as of' stamp so you always know how fresh the picture is.
Every survey shows the date it was last checked. A field with an old stamp may have moved since — new entrants, fresh raises, or a listed company going quiet. Treat the stamp as the expiry date on the conclusion, not decoration.
Some facts can't be verified from a solid source — a rumored raise, an estimated team size, a pricing tier hidden behind a sales call. Rather than state these flatly, we mark them uncertain so you can weigh them accordingly instead of trusting them blindly.
How the verdict and the gap are decided
The headline verdict is a judgement built from the roster, not a vibe.
Many active players, several moving fast, and the obvious positions are already taken.
A real field of players fighting over the same audience, with no clear winner yet.
A handful of players and little recent movement — the space exists but few are pushing.
Barely anyone is building this, or the players that exist have left a clear position empty.
The gap is the position nobody is standing in. We plot the active players on the two dimensions that matter most in that market, look for the empty region, and state it plainly — then describe what it would actually take to hold it. It's the part of the survey worth sharing: "11 companies are building this. None of them sell to independents."
How we judge who is actually moving
A logo on a list means nothing. These four signals separate the living from the dormant.
Recent releases, changelog entries, or visible product updates.
Open roles and new team members that show a company is investing.
Funding rounds with an amount and a date, sourced to the announcement.
Coverage, launches, and announcements that signal momentum.
Ready to survey an idea?
Describe an idea and get a free, sourced field survey — or browse the spaces we've already mapped.