Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis

Overview

Keywords: competitive analysis, competitor research, market positioning, SWOT, feature comparison, pricing analysis, battlecard, differentiation, market gap, positioning map, win/loss, moat, go-to-market.

This skill turns scattered impressions about "the competition" into a rigorous, decision-grade analysis. It covers the full arc: define scope, identify the right competitors, collect structured evidence, build comparison matrices, derive positioning, and produce concrete recommendations (where to compete, how to differentiate, what to fix).

Use it for product strategy, sales enablement (battlecards), fundraising decks, market-entry decisions, and quarterly competitive reviews. The goal is always a defensible conclusion backed by a traceable evidence trail — not vibes.

Bundled resources:

• references/frameworks.md — Porter's Five Forces, SWOT, positioning maps, JTBD, value-curve, perceptual mapping, moat taxonomy, with when-to-use guidance.
• references/data-sources.md — where to find legitimate competitive intel, and the ethics/legal guardrails.
• scripts/compare_matrix.py — stdlib-only tool that ingests a competitor JSON/CSV and emits a weighted scored comparison matrix in Markdown.
• templates/competitive-analysis-report.md — fill-in report template.
• templates/battlecard.md — one-page sales battlecard template.
• examples/saas-pm-tool-analysis.md — a complete worked example.

Workflow

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip scoping — most weak analyses fail because the question was never sharpened.

1. Scope the question. Pin down the decision the analysis must serve (e.g., "Should we move upmarket?", "What do we say when a prospect mentions Asana?"). Write a one-sentence objective and name the audience (product, sales, exec, investor). The objective dictates which framework and depth you use.

2. Define the market and segment. State the category, the buyer, the geography, and the job-to-be-done. Ambiguity here makes every comparison apples-to-oranges. Capture this as the "Market Definition" block.

3. Identify competitors across three tiers.

   • Direct: same solution, same buyer (head-to-head).
   • Indirect: different solution, same job (e.g., spreadsheets vs. a PM tool).
   • Aspirational/adjacent: where the category is moving, or who could enter. Aim for 3-6 named competitors plus the "do nothing / status quo" option, which is often the real competitor.

4. Collect structured evidence. For each competitor, fill the same fields (see templates/competitive-analysis-report.md and the dimension list below). Use only legitimate sources — see references/data-sources.md. Cite every non-obvious claim with a source and a date; intel decays fast. Flag estimates explicitly as [est].

5. Build the comparison matrix. Choose the evaluation dimensions that matter to the buyer, assign weights summing to 100, and score each competitor 1-5 per dimension. Use scripts/compare_matrix.py to compute weighted totals deterministically and render the table. Never eyeball weighted scores by hand.

6. Derive positioning. Plot competitors on a 2x2 perceptual map using the two axes the buyer actually cares about (e.g., ease-of-use vs. power; price vs. breadth). Identify white space (unoccupied, valuable quadrants) and red oceans (crowded). See references/frameworks.md.

7. Run SWOT and Five Forces for the subject company against this landscape. Keep each cell to evidence-backed bullets, not adjectives.