Client Project

Market Strategy · 2024

Where should a brain-training game compete?

Where should a brain-training game compete?

Where should a brain-training game compete?

Turning four possible markets into one entry strategy — and a defensible price — for an EEG-controlled training game.

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01

Overview

Our client, Thynk Inc., is a neurotechnology startup behind Skylar's Run, an EEG-controlled game designed to make brain training more engaging and accessible.

Our client, Thynk Inc., is a neurotechnology startup behind Skylar's Run, an EEG-controlled game designed to make brain training more engaging and accessible.

The product worked. The open question was where it should compete first.

The product worked. The open question was where it should compete first.

As part of an eight-week consulting engagement with a 10-member team, I led the Sports Training Vertical while contributing to the evaluation of four candidate markets: education, sports training, mental health, and elder care. Our mandate: assess market size, customer needs, competitive dynamics, pricing expectations, and entry feasibility — and tell the client where to go first.

As part of an eight-week consulting engagement with a 10-member team, I led the Sports Training Vertical while contributing to the evaluation of four candidate markets: education, sports training, mental health, and elder care. Our mandate: assess market size, customer needs, competitive dynamics, pricing expectations, and entry feasibility — and tell the client where to go first.

Interactive

Vertical Opportunity Assessment Summary

Education

Education

Sports
Training

Sports
Training

Elder
Care

Elder
Care

Mental
Health

Mental
Health

Role

Market Strategy Consultant — Sports Training vertical lead

Team

10-member cross-functional consulting team

Timeline

8 weeks · 2024

Tools

Miro

Excel

PowerPoint

ChatGPT / Claude

How I Used AI

ChatGPT and Claude accelerated two parts of this project: synthesizing interview notes into themes, and mapping a 15+ competitor landscape far faster than manual search allowed.

Every AI-surfaced claim about a competitor or study was verified against the primary source before it entered analysis.

02

Executive Summary

The challenge

A product with real neuroscience behind it but no obvious shelf: is an EEG-controlled training game an edtech tool, sports equipment, a mental health intervention, or an elder care product? Each answer implies a different buyer, price anchor, evidence bar, and competitor set — and a startup can only afford one first bet.

The task

Evaluate all four verticals on a common framework rigorous enough to support market entry, positioning, and fundraising conversations with the executive team.

STRATEGY 01

Score every vertical on the same dimensions, so the recommendation would rest on comparison, not enthusiasm.

STRATEGY 02

Within sports, find the entry point with the lowest evidence barrier.

03

Context

Brain-training products have a credibility problem. Thynk had a real answer to it.

The category is crowded with apps making broad cognitive claims backed by thin evidence. Thynk's EEG hardware gave it a real differentiator: the game responds to measured brain activity, not taps on a screen. However, a differentiator only matters relative to a specific market's alternatives and skepticism.

The business problem

Four plausible markets. Spreading effort across all of them meant winning none.

04

Research

My Focus

The sports training vertical

I investigated whether athletes and coaches saw real value in EEG-based cognitive training: where it could fit into existing training routines, and what it would take for them to actually buy it.

How I gathered input

  • Interviews with athletes and coaches on training routines, mental-performance needs, and willingness to pay.

  • Competitive analysis across brain-training, sports-tech, and mental-performance products.

  • Review of scientific literature on EEG-based cognitive training.

  • Used AI LLMs to synthesize interview notes and accelerate competitive scans, validating every finding against primary sources.

Research snapshot

4

Markets evaluated on a common framework

15+

Competitors reviewed

8

Scientific studies examined, spanning 337 participants

What athletes and coaches told us (paraphrased from interview notes):

"I would need to see how this translates into performance on the field"

"This would make sense during the off-season, when we have more time to introduce something new."

"At that price, it would only appeal to serious individual athletes or specialized programs, not an entire team."

"Athletes won't use another training tool unless they can see measurable improvement."

05

Insights

01

Evidence is the gate, not interest.

Evidence is the gate, not interest.

Coaches and athletes were open to cognitive training, but wanted clear, sport-specific evidence before adopting. Generic "brain training improves focus" claims carried no weight. That set the adoption barrier higher for team-level sales than for individuals.

02

The first buyer is an individual, not an institution.

The first buyer is an individual, not an institution.

Selling to teams meant convincing coaching staff, budget owners, and skeptical athletes all at once. Individual athletes and off-season programs could adopt on personal conviction: a faster, cheaper path to reference customers whose results become the sport-specific evidence teams demand.

03

The price anchor came from training services, not apps.

The price anchor came from training services, not apps.

Research indicated an expected range of $600-$750. Buyers compared the product against specialized training programs and equipment, not $10/month brain-training apps. Positioning determines the price ceiling.

Where buyers shelved the product

~$10/mo

Brain-training apps

(Wrong anchor)

$600-$750

Skylar's Run

$$$

Specialized training programs & equipment

06

Recommendation

Prioritize education first, with sports training as the secondary expansion path.

Prioritize education first, with sports training as the secondary expansion path.

01 · Go First

Education

Education

02 · Expand

Sports
Training

Sports
Training

Evaluated

Elder
Care

Elder
Care

Evaluated

Mental
Health

Mental
Health

Why education won

Why education won

It was the only market where evidence, access, and economics all pointed the same way.

A

The proof was already educational. Five studies with elementary-school students across school, after-school, summer-camp, and home settings — roughly 80% improved by an average of one school year in standardized math and reading, even though the game teaches no academic content directly. No other vertical had evidence this measurable.

The proof was already educational. Five studies with elementary-school students across school, after-school, summer-camp, and home settings — roughly 80% improved by an average of one school year in standardized math and reading, even though the game teaches no academic content directly. No other vertical had evidence this measurable.

B

Traction existed. Pilots were planned with a national youth-development network and a Florida school district, with the district superintendent actively supporting the program. Education wasn't a cold start.

Traction existed. Pilots were planned with a national youth-development network and a Florida school district, with the district superintendent actively supporting the program. Education wasn't a cold start.

C

One contract reaches hundreds of users. Twelve headsets under one supervising adult could train 50-100 students per semester, with expansion into private schools, tutoring providers, and a major online-learning platform serving 450,000+ learners already in discussion.

One contract reaches hundreds of users. Twelve headsets under one supervising adult could train 50-100 students per semester, with expansion into private schools, tutoring providers, and a major online-learning platform serving 450,000+ learners already in discussion.

D

The economics matched an existing budget holder. School-level pricing in the tens of thousands per semester fit within existing school budgets, no dependence on individual subscriptions or insurance reimbursement.

The economics matched an existing budget holder. School-level pricing in the tens of thousands per semester fit within existing school budgets, no dependence on individual subscriptions or insurance reimbursement.

E

It avoided the medical bottleneck. Positioning around attention, self-regulation, and academic performance required no diagnosis, physician involvement, or FDA-style pathway, shortening the route to adoption and widening the eligible population.

It avoided the medical bottleneck. Positioning around attention, self-regulation, and academic performance required no diagnosis, physician involvement, or FDA-style pathway, shortening the route to adoption and widening the eligible population.

The Honest Part

My own vertical ranked second, and the framework made the reasons unavoidable.

My own vertical ranked second, and the framework made the reasons unavoidable.

The product logic for sports was strong: attention, impulse control, and composure under pressure transfer naturally to athletic performance, the mechanism is visibly demonstrable, and willingness to pay existed at $600-$750. But the commercialization foundation was weaker.

The product logic for sports was strong: attention, impulse control, and composure under pressure transfer naturally to athletic performance, the mechanism is visibly demonstrable, and willingness to pay existed at $600-$750. But the commercialization foundation was weaker.

Education
Sports

Evidence

Five measurable studies

No sport-specific proof yet

Buyer

Clear hierarchy: district → school

Fragmented: athlete, parent, coach, trainer, team

Traction

Pilots planned & supported

Interest, not yet commitments

Path to scale

One contract → hundreds of users

One athlete at a time, then up-market

07

Results

Presented to Thynk's CEO and executive team.

Our recommendations were structured to support four decisions the company faced: market-entry sequencing, product positioning, expansion planning, and the market narrative for future fundraising.

I presented the sports training vertical: the market logic, the entry-point argument, and the pricing rationale.

I presented the sports training vertical: the market logic, the entry-point argument, and the pricing rationale.

08

Reflection

Recommending against your own work is sometimes the deliverable.

Recommending against your own work is sometimes the deliverable.

I spent eight weeks building the case for sports training, and the framework we built showed education was the stronger first market. Holding the analysis above the attachment is the entire value of this project: it made the final recommendation something the executive team could trust, because no vertical lead could argue their market in on enthusiasm alone.

About me

About me

About me

I'm Patrick Lee, a product strategist and UX researcher who figures out why things work before deciding what to build.

With a background in economics and business, I turn user research into product decisions, and product decisions into business cases.

Resume

Resume

Contact

Contact

Patrick Lee MMXXVI

Patrick Lee MMXXVI