Help needed: Research methods when working with VC?

Hi all,

So, I landed a part-time student analyst position, with a VC fund, next to my studies, which I'm really stoked about.
My role is within the division for web - and tech startups.

I will be doing a lot of due dilligence work on competition, markets and so forth in relation to each individual project that the fund is either involved in, or considers to be involved in.

However, the division doesn't have a particular setup to carry out this sort of research. And to be honest, it feels like they expect me to invent the wheel and come up with some sort of a template or model that contains some metrics from market research, that can give a quick overview of a specific web-startup's situation in a given market - but in a generic way, such that it can be used/modified for any project.

For instance, one of these metrics could be something like "site traffic" - look at how much user traffic competitor sites have as a way to measure the total market and its players.

Does ANYBODY know where you can find relevant metrics for research of web/tech startups in a VC fund?

Much apprecaited, if anybody could help.
Thanks