360° search checklist

This checklist goes with our article on how to do a 360° search. The purpose of the checklist is to guide you through the mechanics of a 360° search, so that you can focus on the topic, not on the mechanics.

Here is the checklist (you might also find our 360° search flowchart useful):

Get 7 ± 2 sample findings

Venture Capital

• check 5 latest and 5 biggest fundings
• interesting or unexpected investors?

Markets

• check biggest and fastest-growing markets
• check context markets
• companies

Patents

• check top-7 documents in 360° view
• tag clouds and additional search terms inspired from findings
• person-company graph (recognize anyone?)

Science Publications

• check top-7 documents in 360° view
• tag clouds and additional search terms inspired from findings
• person-organization graph (recognize anyone?)

Technology Blogs

• check top-7 documents in 360° view
• tag clouds and additional search terms inspired from findings
• "Emerging Technologies" tag cloud

Industry News

• check top-7 documents in 360° view
• companies in 360° view

Research Projects

• recognize names in 360° view?
• zoom in on SBIR fundings ("Show" -> "SBIR funding")

Clinical Trials

• check top-7 documents in 360° view
• diseases in 360° view
• tag clouds and additional search terms inspired from findings

Zoom in and iterate

Zoom in

• 3 most "promising" finding areas

Iterate

• coordinate with problem owner if this is not you