What's good about your competitors' products or services? What could use improvement or be replaced with something better? What's your unique competitive advantage? To find out, read reviews on Amazon or Yelp or look for tweets and Facebook posts about the competition.
Want to learn about your competition's weaknesses? Use a SWOT analysis. The W stands for weaknesses! You can find SWOT analyses for most major companies by searching Business Source Complete for "(company name) AND SWOT".
Considering Boulder for your venture? The Boulder Economic Council has lots of facts about doing business in Boulder.
Find a snapshot of Boulder's demographic makeup, or download the BEC Market Profile for more detail.
Be sure to look at the business section of the Daily Camera and BizWest for news and research about local businesses and businesspeople.
How much of your time and capital will be tied up in finding, creating, and receiving your products or materials? Can you outsource? How easy would it be to replicate your product?
A strip mall section in the 29th Street retail center by Hustvedt CC BY-SA 3.0
#/media/File:29th_Street_Mall_Boulder_CO.jpg){kind=link}