What to preserve
Identify the needs that sustain current value and should not be weakened by lower-priority initiatives.
Strategic Intelligence and Prioritization for Products and Services
Decide where to invest in products and services.
Choose which customers to serve, which offerings to strengthen, and what should move forward on your roadmap.
We use Need-Based Decision Science to connect relevant customer needs with business data and recommend where to focus resources, create value, and capture it.
Needs belong to people.Business priorities improve when they begin with evidence from the people who experience those needs.
How teams made their choices
- 500+Companies served by George Eich
- 650+Startups mentored through Startup SC
- 60+Startups supported through Cubo Itaú
Companies George Eich has worked with
- Techne
- Climoo
- PSA
- Ambev
- Evous
- Locates
Institutions and startup programs
- Sebrae
- ACATE
- MIDITEC
- Cubo Itaú
- Startup SC
The Need Gap 2026The challenge is not finding needs. It is knowing which ones truly matter.
59FocusMaps analyzed in the consolidated study
1,423customer needs mapped
80.32%were selected by fewer than 30% of customers in their respective studies
Articles and concepts
Articles on decisions and priorities.
- ListenIdentify what customers and teams are asking for.
- ValidateCompare customer impact and the resources each request requires.
- DecideChoose what moves forward, what waits and what leaves the agenda.
When Everything Competes for Priority
Different customers. Different needs. Limited resources.
Each area sees a legitimate part of reality. The problem begins when requests, opportunities, trends, and opinions start competing for resources as if they had the same strategic impact.
Customer
“Requests an improvement.”
Sales
“Sees an opportunity.”
Product
“Defends the roadmap.”
Leadership
“Must decide where to allocate limited resources.”
The strategic question is not who is right. It is which needs justify changing the organization now.
8/10mapped needs were selected by fewer than 30% of customers in their respective studies.
What the Data Reveals
Listening to a need is the beginning. Deciding where to invest requires evidence.
The Need Gap 2026 brings together 1,423 needs mapped across 59 FocusMaps, drawing on research involving 1,309 customer companies.
The study reveals that the challenge is not finding needs, but distinguishing which ones are relevant enough to guide decisions capable of generating and capturing value.
Source: The Need Gap 2026. Consolidated analysis of 1,423 mapped needs across 59 FocusMaps. Results apply to the analyzed sample; see the study for the methodology.
From Evidence to Direction
What leadership needs to see before deciding.
The Institute does more than deliver data. It organizes evidence so leadership can distinguish what should be preserved, where there is room to expand value, and what should stay off the agenda.
Where to expand value
Recognize relevant needs that still create room for product, innovation, positioning, or expansion.
What not to fund
Prevent isolated requests and low-impact possibilities from becoming permanent complexity.
For your company
Product and Service Strategy
We help your leadership team set a direction for customers, offerings, portfolio, and investments. The Strategic Prioritization Study is part of the research behind those choices. The solution is available as a cohort or a dedicated project.
Customers and offeringsDecide who to serve, which needs should guide your offerings, and how to differentiate them.
Portfolio and roadmapChoose which products, services, and initiatives to strengthen, test, or drop.
InvestmentsDecide where to focus resources to sustain your core business, expand, or innovate.
Business Applications
Strategy decisions in practice
EVOUS · International expansion
A new offering reached existing customers in eight countries.
The team tested an offering built around a relevant need in its existing customer base.
8 countrieswith sales of the new offering to existing customers in 60 days
Repositioning
The purchase driver was not the one the company was communicating.
The evidence led to a revision of positioning and commercial direction.
2×revenue over the observed 9-month period
Evous
ICP, roadmap, and investments were realigned with customer needs.
The company reduced dispersion and concentrated resources on priorities with stronger fit.
+245%ARR growth in the documented case
Who Leads the Work
George Eich
“Even perfect execution cannot correct a wrong priority.”
More than ten years ago, George founded CoBlue, a pioneer in OKRs in Latin America. Experience with hundreds of companies moved his work from execution to an earlier question: what truly deserves to be a priority? Today he develops Need-Based Decision Science and the ICAN metric.
500+companies advised
10+ yearsin strategy and execution
About the strategy and the evidence
What does the Institute deliver through Product and Service Strategy?
An evidence-based recommendation on which customers, offerings, initiatives, and investments to prioritize. The work can be done through a cohort or a dedicated project, depending on the company’s decision.
What is the role of the Strategic Prioritization Study?
It is the research stage of the solution. The team analyzes evidence about relevant customer needs and uses tools such as ICAN when the decision calls for it.
What is the main finding of The Need Gap 2026?
Of the 1,423 needs mapped across 59 FocusMaps, 80.32% were selected by fewer than 30% of customers in their respective customer bases.
Data to discuss why companies can execute relentlessly and still prioritize the wrong things.
The Need Gap 2026 brings together evidence on relevance, concentration of priorities, and implications for strategy, product, and innovation.
What decision does your company need to make now?
Bring the decision, the alternatives under consideration, and your deadline. The Institute helps identify which evidence is missing before resources are committed.
Request a conversationNext decision
Which priorities truly deserve your resources?
Tell us what you need to decide. Our team will follow up to understand the context.