Competitor teardown

Competitor Teardown

Turn a competitor's website into a structured intelligence report: how they position, what they sell, how they get customers, and where they're weak.

What it does

Produces a complete competitor profile from public information only. It reads the competitor's site the way a strategist would — homepage, product/pricing/about pages, blog, and footer — and reconstructs their positioning, offer, funnel, and go-to-market, then judges where they are strong and where they are exposed.

When to use this skill

• "Here's a competitor: <url> — break them down."
• "Research <company> for me."
• "How does <competitor> position themselves / make money / get traffic?"
• Building a battlecard, a market map, or prepping a strategy session.

Inputs needed

• Required: the competitor's primary URL (homepage). If the user names a company without a URL, find the official site first and confirm it.
• Helpful: the user's own product/positioning (to make the comparison relevant), the market/niche, and any specific question ("focus on pricing").
• If you only have a brand name and can't confirm the official domain, ask.

Method

Work through the teardown framework — the nine lenses below. For each, capture what's observable and flag what you're inferring.

1. Snapshot — company, category, one-line "what they do", apparent stage/size (team page, funding mentions, customer logos).
2. Positioning — the promise in the hero section, the category they claim, who they say it's for, and the primary differentiator they lean on.
3. Target audience / ICP — who the copy speaks to; segments and roles named.
4. Offer & value ladder — products/plans, lead magnets, free tier/trial, core offer, upsells. Map the ladder from free → flagship.
5. Pricing signals — published prices, packaging, billing terms, anchoring, discounts. If pricing is hidden, note that and what it implies.
6. Funnel & conversion path — the steps from landing to purchase; primary CTA, friction, lead capture, demo/checkout flow.
7. Acquisition channels — evidence of SEO (blog depth, topics), paid ads (landing-page patterns, UTM hints), social, partnerships, affiliates.
8. Social proof & trust — testimonials, case studies, logos, reviews, guarantees, named results.
9. Strengths & vulnerabilities — synthesize: what they do well, where the gaps are, and where a challenger could attack.

Visit the most informative pages (home, product, pricing, about, a few blog posts). Don't speculate beyond what the site supports.

Output format

# Competitor Teardown — <Company>

## TL;DR
- 3–5 sharp takeaways (positioning, who they target, how they monetize, biggest weakness)

## 1. Snapshot
| Field | Finding |
|-------|---------|
| Category | |
| What they do | |
| Apparent stage/size | |

## 2. Positioning
- Hero promise:
- Category claimed:
- Primary differentiator:

## 3. Target audience / ICP
## 4. Offer & value ladder
## 5. Pricing signals
## 6. Funnel & conversion path
## 7. Acquisition channels
## 8. Social proof & trust

## 9. Strengths & vulnerabilities
| Strengths | Vulnerabilities (where to attack) |
|-----------|-----------------------------------|

## Strategic read
2–3 sentences: their apparent strategy and the single best opening against them.

Quality bar

• Mark every claim as observed (on the site) or inferred (your read).
• No invented metrics, funding, or headcount. "Not disclosed" is a valid answer.
• The "vulnerabilities" must be specific and actionable, not "could improve UX".
• Analyze the company, not its employees as individuals.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Summarizing the homepage instead of reconstructing the strategy.
• Treating marketing copy as fact (a claimed differentiator ≠ a real one).
• Ending with a list of features instead of a strategic read.