Analyze Trends and Run a SWOT

Map key external trends (technological, regulatory, behavioural) and conduct a SWOT analysis to bring your internal strengths and weaknesses into alignment with emerging opportunities and risks in the environment.

Why it's Matters

Good strategy requires understanding not just the market, but the forces shaping the environment you operate in. By spotting relevant trends and running a clear-eyed SWOT, you can make grounded decisions, identify risks early, and stay aligned with where the world is heading — not just where your roadmap is.

What You Need to Do

Analyze relevant external trends using a structured lens (like PESTEL)
Conduct a focused SWOT analysis to ground your internal reality
Translate both into strategic implications and decisions

How to Approach It

Use PESTEL to explore external drivers:
(You don’t need to use all 6, pick what matters for your context.)

Political - Are there shifts in regulation, trade, taxation, labour laws, or public policy?
Economic - What’s happening with inflation, investor climate, consumer spending, procurement cycles?
Social - Are there shifts in user values, lifestyle, work habits, or expectations?
Technological - Which technologies are reshaping behaviour or unlocking new models?
Environmental - Are there sustainability or climate-related factors impacting product choices or risk?
Legal - What are the emerging compliance or legal risks in your space?

You can also reframe these as “opportunity vs. threat” signals to build a responsive strategy.

Complement with industry-specific trends:

Trends within your sector (e.g. AI maturity in HR tech, consumer health in food tech, etc.)
Emerging customer behaviours, pain points, or platform dynamics

Run your SWOT:

Strengths (of the business) – internal assets, advantages, traction
Weaknesses (of the business) – gaps in capabilities, resources, product-market fit
Opportunities (in the environment) – trends or spaces you’re well positioned to capture
Threats (in the environment) – competitive risk, compliance gaps, tech shifts, dependency

Synthesize into a few core implications:

What changes should you make to your positioning, GTM, or roadmap?

Where do you double down? Where do you de-risk?

Deliverables

Trends summary by category (1-pager or slide)
SWOT matrix (internal + external alignment)
3-5 prioritized strategic implications

How to Tell if You Got It Right

Strategy reflects real-world trends, not just internal ideas
Teams use SWOT output when refining their plans
You’ve surfaced risks or timing considerations early

What to Watch Out For

Listing trends or threats without connecting them to action

Generic SWOTs with no clear owner or next step

Ignoring timing: not all trends need reacting now

Overuse of “nice to know”data instead of decision-making inputs