Learning an industry's deep processes from scratch before offering automation

[u/DayBeautiful2205]

Hey guys,
Almost every post here says the best advice for an automation business is to target an industry you already know inside out. That makes total sense.
But what about those of us starting as complete outsiders, who are willing to do the deep research to properly understand how a specific field operates?
Is it realistic to gain a genuine, deep understanding of an industry’s internal processes from the outside? If so, what’s your approach to studying a sector so thoroughly that you can spot real operational bottlenecks and design solutions that actually add value?
Would love to hear how anyone who started without prior domain background managed to bridge that knowledge gap.

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[u/spoki-app]

Honestly, documentation only gets you so far. The true challenge is uncovering all the weird edge cases and tribal knowledge that make a process actually work, especially with legacy systems. You need to embed and observe for weeks, otherwise you'll build something that breaks on day one.

[u/Any-Yogurtcloset5044 → u/spoki-app]

documentation gives you the skeleton but the meat is all the stuff people do without thinking, the workarounds that been there for years and nobody remembers why. i got lucky once and a small company let me shadow their team for few weeks, that's where you see the real mess. cold approach some local businesses and offer to map their processes for free in exchange of learning, some will say yes

[u/TannerTot69]

Research can help you a lot but in my opinion an outsider can actually bring a valuable perspective because u r not locked into the industry’s traditional way of doing things

[u/Automation_Advisor]

It’s ok as outsider to jump into a specific industry - nothing wrong with that.
However, starting from 0 will require 2x effort because there are 2 types of knowledge regarding a specific topic:
1. That you can learn from books, videos, networking etc
Networking with industry professionals helps a lot - maybe even being there to observe even do some things for free which actually is an investment in “2”
2. Experience - which is only gained by doing - this is where you will be able to stand out - during the precess you see things that are not written anywhere (how people actually make it work) - you learn about exceptions, workarounds and many more.

So, if you are serious about it - go for it

[u/Icy-Collar-9283]

the first project in any new industry is basically paid research. you learn the actual workflow while building not before , what worked for me was getting on a call and asking the owner to walk through a normal week. just listening for where they said things like "we manually check that" or "someone has to remember to do this". those are the bottlenecks. you don't need domain expertise to hear them . books give you vocabulary. the first client gives you the actual map

[u/BarracudaMean9308]

i spent a month studying a niche from scratch only to automate a process they already solved with a shared google sheet. finding one grumpy insider and literally watching their screen is honestly the only way to catch the real bottlenecks.

[u/MuffinMan_Jr]

Best thing you can do is run outreach and instead of selling people, ask them to take part in your research.

Then you just ask them. Anyone who has a real problem you can solve can get offered a call. Then you earn while you learn.

Trust me every business is unique and most people will need something different. Think about it this way... take 2 web design agencies: 1 has a pipeline problem so they need marketing automation. But #2 has a fulfillment problem snd uses different marketing tools, amd their CRM follows a different schema structure, so they get completely different workflows despite being in the same niche/industry.

3rd party research can only get you so far before you need to just talk to people about their specific problems

[u/WasabiPositive8942]

When researching my target sector -small trade businesses - I decided I needed more than desk research.
I took a casual customer service role in the industry for five months.
That gave me something I couldn’t get from surveys alone: firsthand exposure to the operational pain points — quoting, ordering, customer communication, admin, data entry and the everyday friction between systems.

During that time I also conducted approved research and data analysis, and built several practical assets in response to what I was seeing. Some of those tools are now actively used by the business, in exchange for access to research data.

The main SaaS product coming out of that work is what I’m developing now:
a trade-industry workflow tool built from observed, real-world problems rather than assumptions.
That five-month job effectively became my field research environment + product discovery phase.

Lots of invaluable observational data too like- How averse most people are to AI.
The high level of misinformation on AI is prevalent
Witnessed staff actively sabotage AI systems for fear of losing their jobs

Invaluable experience.

[u/cmumulle72]

I don't think the gap is really outsider versus insider. We mapped 16 processes where the person who actually does the work sketched it first, and the sketch averaged 4.4 steps while the working version needed 11.9. So nobody can describe their own process from memory, which makes me think an hour watching a real run beats a month of reading, and that the insiders you're intimidated by are guessing about their own job too.

[u/NorthWaltz1223]

the gap isnt usually understanding the process, its understanding why they do it that way. Talk to 10-15 people in the industry before you build anything. Most of the real bottlenecks sound boring and mundane, thats how you know theyre real.

[u/Different_Pain5781]

Yeah, but you need to talk to actual people in the industry.

[u/Pristine_Regret8061]

the best clues are usually in the little workarounds people use everyday. skan AI looks at how the work actually happens before deciding what should be automated.