Scoping is free · reply within 1 business day · sprints from $500
Hiring an analyst who knows the region? There's a cheaper way

You're not buying a report.
You're renting a researcher
for two to four weeks.

Someone who already knows Vietnam and Thailand, sits on your side of the table,
and stays on the question until you can actually make the call.

$500~
Starting price
2–4wk
Fixed scope & price
10+yr
Based in the region
1day
Reply to your first note
Tell me what you're decidingFree scoping · no retainer · no headcount

Not sure it's worth a sprint? Say so — if you don't need me, I'll tell you.

Sprint report cover page Competitor map page Decision memo page
VietnamThailand · CLMV
5Named rivals per map
90Day action window
$0To find out if it fits
Sound familiar?

You've already read everything.
You still can't make the call.

Every one of these is a decision problem, not an information problem

The difference

A report shop is done when the PDF is sent.
I'm done when you can decide.

Buying a report

You get a document, then you're alone with it

  • Brief goes in, PDF comes out, nobody talks in between
  • Findings arrive finished — too late to push back cheaply
  • The follow-up question costs a new engagement
  • Page count becomes the proxy for value
  • Nobody ever asks how the decision turned out
VS
Renting a researcher

You get weeks of someone's time and judgement

  • You hear from me mid-sprint, not only at the end
  • We review together while it's still cheap to fix what I got wrong
  • Short follow-ups after the sprint don't start a new invoice
  • Wrong answers get reported too, including "you don't need this"
  • The written memo is what's left over, not what you paid for
Compare the options

Four ways to answer one question

For a single market decision — not a billion-dollar transformation programme

Big consulting firmSaaS intel toolHire in-house 48 Research
Cost for one question ×$15,000+ △Cheap, but generic ×Salary + visa ◎From $500, fixed
Time to an answer ×6 weeks+ △Instant, unverified ×6 months to ramp ◎2–4 weeks
Knows the local reality △Flown in per project ×Built for US tech sales ◎If you find them ◎10+ yrs in region
Works alongside you △Via account manager ×It's a dashboard ◎They're your staff ◎Direct, whole sprint
Will tell you "don't" △Follow-on work at stake ×No opinion to give △Their job is at stake ◎It has happened
After it ends ×New SOW △Subscription continues ◎Still employed ◎Follow-ups not billed

Comparison is indicative and reflects typical engagements, not a survey of named providers.

See the actual thing

What the work leaves behind

Not the product — but you should still know exactly what lands on your desk

Report cover with the client's question stated on it
The question, on the coverOne business question, named. Not a topic.
Market structure page with capacity utilisation chart
Market structureSize, growth, and where money is actually moving.
Competitor map page with a five-player comparison table
Competitor map3–5 named rivals. Price, share, where they're exposed.
Decision memo page with four recommended actions
Decision memo3–5 moves for the next 90 days — plus what I couldn't verify.

Pages shown are an illustrative sample built for this page. Client work is confidential and never republished.

Free sample

Read a real one before you ask for yours

5 pages · PDFNo call requiredYour email stays with Yoshi

A real brief built from actual trade data: a steel and plastics breakdown, and the three strategies that are still working.

It's the kind of thing a sprint leaves behind. Read it, then decide whether the approach fits your question.

Free · No spam · No mailing list you can't leave

✓

Here's your brief.

Tap below to download.

Download the PDF
Why people pick this

Three reasons, and none of them is page count

1

Rented, not retained

No headcount, no retainer, no standing invoice. Bring me in for one question and let me go when it's answered. Fixed scope and a fixed number before anything starts.

2

Beside you, not above you

Your hypothesis gets argued with rather than flattered. You hear from me during the sprint — the competitor that breaks the pattern, the number that contradicts your assumption.

3

Honest about the gaps

Every memo ends with what I could not verify. Two refused site visits get written down as two refused site visits. You decide with the uncertainty visible.

How it runs

From first message to after the decision

Including the step most firms leave out entirely

01Day 0

You write to me

A paragraph is enough. No intake funnel, no discovery call booked three weeks out. I read it myself and reply within one business day.

02Day 1–2

Scoping and a price

We work out whether this is really one question or three. You get fixed scope and a fixed number before anything starts. Scoping costs nothing, and if you don't need me you'll hear that instead.

03Week 1–3

The work, with you in it

You hear from me while it's running, not only at the end — a competitor that doesn't fit, a number that contradicts your assumption, a question only you can answer. I don't disappear and return with a PDF.

04Before end

Review, together

We go through the findings before anything is final. You push back, I defend it or revise it. The point isn't sign-off — it's catching what I got wrong while it's still cheap to fix.

05After

Follow-up — the part that gets skipped

The sprint ends, the relationship doesn't. When the distributor finally replies three weeks later, or the board asks the question nobody prepared for, write to me. Short follow-ups don't start a new invoice.

Client feedback

What the people who hired me say about it

“I've spent years trying to get my teams aligned across different markets. This report did in 48 hours what I couldn't do in months of meetings.”
C.T.CEO, multi-market business
Southeast Asia
“I was very surprised and excited to receive the market analysis report. It is truly helpful to us. Thanks to it, we will have a new, more practical approach to the market.”
Thuy N.Import & retail business
Vietnam
“Incredibly accurate analysis. The competitive landscape was mapped out with precision — seeing it this clearly made all the difference for our strategy.”

「非常に的確な分析でした。競合他社の状況がここまで明確に整理されたことで、戦略の方向性が大きく変わりました。」

Nagano K.HR development company
Japan

These came from earlier engagements, when I still ran a shorter fixed-format brief. The format has changed since — what clients point at hasn't.
Read what they say they actually got: alignment across markets, a different approach, a change of direction. Nobody mentions the page count.

Who you'd be working with

One researcher. The one doing the work.

YO

Yoshi Osada

Founder · 48 Research
10+ years in Southeast Asia
Vietnam · Thailand · CLMV
Southeast Asia · GMT+7

I don't sell reports. I work the question with you until it's answered.

For years I've worked with companies trying to understand Southeast Asia — not from a textbook, but from the reality of how local markets actually operate.

"Go.""Wait.""Don't waste your money."

Some clients hire me expecting confirmation. Instead, they receive a different answer. All three of those are valuable — and that's the point.

More about how I work → LinkedIn →
Published analysis

See how I think before you hire me

Free, public, and written the same way a sprint memo is

Sep 2026Is Vietnam Still Winning? Yes — But Only If You Can Prove It.→ Sep 2026How Old, How Ready: ASEAN Elder Care — Enter Now, or Wait?→ Sep 20261.4nm Won't Be Made in Southeast Asia. Some of It Will Be Finished Here.→ Aug 2026The Battle for ASEAN's AI Gravity: why megawatts stopped being the scoreboard→ Jul 2026China Will Not Be Replaced. China Will Be Redistributed.→ Jul 2026China+1 Is Dead. Supply-Chain Blocs Are Replacing Countries.→ Jul 2026What Can't Be Rerouted: Why ASEAN's Geography Is Its Real Strategic Value→ Jun 2026The 122 GW Map: Where ASEAN Stands in the Global Data Center Race→ Jun 2026The Map No One Is Drawing: The factors beyond cost and water that quietly shape ASEAN's chip future→ Jun 2026The Invisible Ceiling: People, Power & Water→ Jun 2026The China+1 Chip Map: Who Holds What in ASEAN→ Jun 2026China+1: Who's Really Winning — Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia?→ Jun 2026Vietnam's FDI Bet: Strength or Fragility?→ Jun 2026Thailand Manufacturing vs China: What the 2024–2025 Data Shows→

All insights →

Pricing

One question. One project.
One price you know upfront.

Starter Sprint
A structured second opinion before you commit real money
$500~
USD · 2 weeks
  • One scoped question
  • One deliverable focus
  • One debrief call
  • Fixed price, no overruns
Full Research Sprint
When the decision is real and the budget is moving
$1,500–3,000
USD · 2–4 weeks
  • Market structure, sized not speculated
  • 3–5 named competitors, side by side
  • Opportunity and exposure analysis
  • Decision memo: 3–5 moves for 90 days
  • Mid-sprint contact + review session
  • Follow-up questions afterwards, not billed

No retainers. No endless meetings. Scoping is free — you'll get a fixed number before anything starts.

New · Spot Research

Not a decision. Just a fact.
From someone standing there.

Sometimes a sprint is too much. You need one photo of a shelf, or ten minutes with a shop owner, in a city you'll never visit.

  • Field photosStorefronts, shelves, price tags, street scenes — taken on the day
  • Short interviewsShop owners, customers, distributors, asked your questions in the local language
  • Store checksWhat's stocked, what it costs, what's actually moving
AfricaSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaEast AsiaCaribbeanUKOceania

No AI-written reports. No AI-generated photos. Collected by people I've worked with for years, checked from more than one side, and delivered in your language.

Per item, from
$30–50
One item is a normal order
Quote within 1 business day
See Spot ResearchSeparate service · details on its own page
Questions

Before you write

If the report isn't the product, what am I paying for?
Weeks of a researcher's time and judgement. The market structure, the competitor map, the memo — those are what the weeks leave behind. If the whole thing happened over three calls and a whiteboard and you walked away able to decide, the job was done.
What if you find out I shouldn't do it?
Then that's the answer, and you get it plainly. Some clients hire me expecting confirmation and receive something else. Go, wait, and don't waste your money are all worth paying for.
Why is this so much cheaper than a consulting firm?
Because it's one person answering one question, not a team running a programme. AI handles collecting and sorting, which is genuinely faster than it was three years ago. What it can't do is decide which of five contradictory sources to believe — that's the part you're paying for.
Which markets do you actually cover?
Vietnam and Thailand primarily, plus the wider CLMV region, with work across manufacturing, import-export, retail, education and professional services. If your sector sits outside that, say so in your first message and I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person.
What does scoping cost?
Nothing. You describe the decision, we work out whether it's one question or three, and you get a fixed scope and price before anything starts. If it turns out you don't need a sprint, that conversation still cost you nothing.
How much of my time will this take?
Less than a consulting engagement, more than buying a report. Expect a scoping conversation, a handful of mid-sprint exchanges where I need something only you know, and one review session before anything is final.

If you're about to commit serious money to a new market, let's make sure it's the right call.

Tell me what you're trying to decide. A short message is enough — I'll come back with whether a sprint makes sense, what scope would fit, and a clear price.

No automated funnels. No retainer pitches.

Yoshi Osada · 48 Research
Southeast Asia · GMT+7
Typical reply within 1 business day

Your message goes directly to Yoshi. No mailing list.

✓

Message received.

Reply within one business day with whether a sprint makes sense, and what it would look like.

Scoping is free
Reply within 1 business day
Tell me what you're deciding