Business Research Proposal: Evaluating the Disruptive Potential of Sora2

Part 1: Information Collection

Recommended Frameworks

• Framework Teaching:
  • Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD): This framework helps us understand the real motivations behind why a customer uses a product. Instead of focusing on user demographics, we focus on the "job" they are "hiring" the product to do. For example, people don't buy a drill because they want a drill; they buy it because they want a quarter-inch hole in the wall. The "job" is creating the hole. We need to figure out the fundamental goals users are trying to achieve when they open Sora2 instead of TikTok or Instagram.
  • Disruptive Innovation Theory: This theory, developed by Clayton Christensen, explains how new entrants can successfully challenge industry leaders. Disruption often happens when a new product is simpler, more convenient, or more affordable, initially appealing to a niche audience ignored by incumbents. It may not be "better" on the metrics that leaders care about (like video resolution in the early days), but it opens up creation or consumption to a whole new population.
• Applicability Explanation:
  • JTBD is perfect for this problem because Sora2's success depends not on its technology alone, but on what new "jobs" it enables for creators and viewers that were previously difficult or impossible.
  • Disruptive Innovation Theory will provide a lens to assess whether Sora2 is just a fleeting novelty or a genuine long-term threat. It helps us evaluate how it's competing—is it changing the fundamental rules of content creation and consumption?

1. Web Search Plan

• Search Content & Rationale:
  • "Sora2 user retention rate vs TikTok first month": Initial download numbers are vanity metrics. Retention is what signals a sticky product. This helps us understand if Sora2 has staying power beyond the novelty phase.
  • "Sora2 creator monetization and copyright policy": A platform's ability to disrupt depends on building a sustainable ecosystem. Understanding how creators can profit and how intellectual property is handled is crucial for assessing its long-term viability. Recent reports show OpenAI is actively evolving its copyright policies, moving from an "opt-out" to an "opt-in" model for using characters, and exploring revenue sharing.
  • "Analyst reports on AI-generated content market forecast": This provides a top-down view of the total addressable market and growth projections, helping to frame the scale of the opportunity. The market is projected to grow significantly, with some estimates reaching over $80 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of over 30%.
  • "Meta Project Vibes features and release date" & "Google Veo 3 vs Sora2 comparison": It's critical to analyze Sora2 not in a vacuum, but against its direct competitors. Understanding the feature sets, quality, and strategic approaches of Meta's Vibes and Google's Veo 3 provides essential competitive context. Meta's Vibes, for example, is positioned as a co-creator tool tightly integrated with Instagram and Facebook, focusing on remixing.
  • "User sentiment analysis of Sora2 on social media and app store reviews": This qualitative data helps uncover what early adopters love and hate. This will provide initial hypotheses for the user interviews. Users praise realism but some criticize the content as "AI slop" and worry about a lack of authenticity.
  • "Early brand advertiser experiments on Sora2": Where advertisers spend their money is a strong signal of a platform's commercial potential. Identifying early case studies helps in evaluating monetization strategies.

2. User Interview Plan

• Interview Subjects:
  1. Active Sora2 Creators (3-5 users): Users who have created and published multiple videos.
  2. Active Sora2 Viewers (3-5 users): Users who primarily consume content on the platform.
  3. Lapsed Sora2 Users (3-5 users): Users who tried the app but stopped using it.
  4. Professional Creators from TikTok/Instagram (3-5 users): Influencers whose livelihood depends on existing platforms and who have not yet heavily adopted Sora2.
• Interview Core Questions & Analysis Purpose:
  • For Active Creators:
    • Question: "Walk me through the last time you had an idea for a video. How did you decide to use Sora2 for it instead of, say, your phone's camera and TikTok?"
    • Analysis Purpose: This uncovers the specific "job" Sora2 was hired for. Was it speed? Lack of equipment? The desire for a surreal aesthetic? This directly feeds the JTBD analysis.
    • Question: "Describe the feeling or feedback you get from your Sora2 creations compared to content you've made for other platforms. What’s different about the audience's reaction?"
    • Analysis Purpose: To understand the social and emotional rewards. Is the validation different? This helps assess the stickiness of its social features.
  • For Active Viewers:
    • Question: "Think about the last time you found yourself scrolling on Sora2 for more than a few minutes. What was the content like? What kept you engaged?"
    • Analysis Purpose: This identifies the "job" from a consumption perspective. Is it pure novelty? Awe at the technology? The appeal of hyper-imaginative content?
    • Question: "How does the time you spend on Sora2 fit in with your use of other apps like TikTok or YouTube?"
    • Analysis Purpose: To understand if Sora2 is substituting time from other platforms or creating new moments of consumption.
  • For Lapsed Users:
    • Question: "Can you tell me about your initial experience with Sora2? What were you hoping it would do for you, and where did it fall short?"
    • Analysis Purpose: This is crucial for identifying the primary barriers to adoption and the weaknesses that incumbents could exploit.
  • For Professional Creators:
    • Question: "What are your initial thoughts or concerns about incorporating a tool like Sora2 into your workflow? What would it need to do to become essential for you?"
    • Analysis Purpose: To understand the switching costs and feature gaps from the perspective of power users whose business models are tied to the current ecosystem. This helps test integration and partnership hypotheses.

Part 2: Information Analysis

Analytical Process

1. Synthesize 'Jobs-to-be-Done':
   • How-to: Go through all interview transcripts and categorize user stories and motivations into 3-5 core "Jobs." Label each job with a descriptive, verb-first title (e.g., "Express a complex creative vision instantly," "Entertain myself with novel, otherworldly content," "Create professional-looking content without professional skills"). For each "Job," detail the functional and emotional outcomes users are seeking.
2. Conduct a Disruptive Innovation Analysis:
   • How-to: Use the insights from the JTBD synthesis and web search to evaluate Sora2 against the principles of disruption.
     • New-Market Disruption: Are users hiring Sora2 for jobs that were previously unaddressed? For example, are people who never created video content before now doing so because the barrier to entry (skill, equipment) has been removed? Your interviews with new creators will answer this.
     • Low-End Disruption: Is Sora2 offering a "good enough" solution for a job that is over-served by complex, expensive tools (like professional video editing software)? Your interviews with professional creators will provide this perspective. The fact that brands are already using it for ads suggests this is happening.
3. Map Competitive Scenarios:
   • How-to: Based on the disruption analysis, develop 3 distinct, plausible future scenarios for the market.
     • Scenario 1: Niche Tool. In this future, Sora2 fails to retain a broad user base and becomes a specialized tool for advertisers and creative professionals, similar to a stock video service. What to look for: Stagnating user growth, low retention data from web searches, and interview feedback from casual users indicating the novelty wears off.
     • Scenario 2: Integrated Feature. Here, the core value of AI video generation is absorbed by incumbent platforms. Meta's integration of "Vibes" into Instagram is a real-world example of this. Sora2 could thrive through API partnerships. What to look for: Competitors launching similar features, and professional creators from interviews stating they'd rather use these tools within the platforms they already know.
     • Scenario 3: Platform Shift. In this scenario, Sora2 successfully builds its own social graph and creator ecosystem, pulling significant engagement away from TikTok and Instagram. It would succeed in becoming a destination, not just a tool. What to look for: High retention rates, evidence of a strong creator monetization program, and viewers telling you they are choosing Sora2 over TikTok.
4. Formulate Actionable Recommendations:
   • How-to: This is the final output for your client. Tailor the recommendations based on the most likely scenario you've identified.
     • If the client is a competing platform (e.g., Meta, TikTok):
       • Recommendation Example: "Our analysis suggests Scenario 2 (Integrated Feature) is most likely. Sora2's core 'Job-to-be-Done' is empowering non-creators. We recommend immediately prioritizing the development of an in-app, user-friendly AI video generator. The first milestone is to launch a beta to 10% of users within 4 months to preempt Sora2's network effects. Success will be measured by the adoption rate among new content creators, not just existing power users."
     • If the client is an adjacent company (e.g., a creative software company, investment firm):
       • Recommendation Example: "Our research indicates Sora2 is building a new creative value network (Scenario 3). We recommend exploring an API integration partnership to allow our users to access Sora2's engine within our software. The key KPI to monitor over the next 6 months is the growth of Sora2's creator monetization payouts; if they grow faster than 20% month-over-month, it signals a strong, defensible ecosystem."