Competitive analysis

Competitive Analysis

Analyze the competitive landscape systematically. Identify direct and indirect competitors, map their strengths and weaknesses, and produce actionable insights for product strategy.

Announce at start: "I'm using the competitive-analysis skill to analyze [market/competitor]."

Checklist

You MUST create a task for each of these items and complete them in order:

1. Define the competitive landscape — Direct, indirect, substitutes, potential entrants
2. Gather data — Product, pricing, positioning, reviews, funding, market signals
3. Build feature comparison matrix — Side-by-side capability analysis
4. Apply SWOT analysis — Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats with cited evidence
5. Apply strategic frameworks — Porter's Five Forces, Strategic Group Map, or Wardley Map as needed
6. Identify whitespace and threats — Where are we uniquely strong? Where are we vulnerable?
7. Extract insights and recommendations — What should we DO differently?
8. Save and maintain — Document findings, schedule next review

Step 1: Define the Competitive Landscape

Category	Definition	Example (if you're Notion)
Direct Competitors	Same problem, same solution, same target	Confluence, Coda, Craft
Indirect Competitors	Same problem, different solution	Google Docs + Sheets + Trello combined
Substitutes	Different approach to same need	Email + spreadsheets + shared drives
Potential Entrants	Adjacent companies that could enter	Microsoft building a Notion clone in Teams

Select 3–7 competitors for deep analysis: market leaders, fast-growing challengers, adjacent threats, and aspirational peers.

Step 2: Gather Data

Dimension	Data Sources	Look For
Product	Website, demos, trials, reviews	Key features, UX quality, differentiation
Pricing	Pricing page, mystery shopping	Price points, packaging, discount patterns
Positioning	Homepage, blog, PR, exec interviews	Target audience, key messages, brand personality
Reviews	G2, Capterra, Reddit, App Store	What users love, what frustrates them
Business Health	Crunchbase, news, hiring pace	Funding, growth trajectory, layoffs
Team & Tech	LinkedIn, job postings, engineering blogs	Talent, tech stack, open roles reveal priorities

For each competitor answer: What do they do best? What are they bad at? Who are they really for? What do their users complain about most? How do they make money? What are they investing in?

Step 3: Build Feature Comparison Matrix

Feature / Capability	Us	Competitor A	Competitor B	Competitor C
Core Capabilities
Feature 1	✅	✅	✅	❌
Feature 2	✅	✅	❌	✅
Differentiators
Our Key Feature	✅	❌	❌	❌
Deficiencies
Their Key Feature	❌	✅	✅	❌

✅ = Full support, ⚠️ = Partial, ❌ = Not supported, 🚧 = Beta/announced

Analyze the matrix for: table stakes (must-haves), differentiators (protect and invest), deficiencies (close critical gaps), whitespace (no one has — innovation opportunity).

Step 4: SWOT Analysis (with cited evidence)

Category	Focus	Key Questions
Strengths (Internal)	What we do better	What do we do best? What unique resources do we have? What do customers praise?
Weaknesses (Internal)	Where we're behind	What do competitors do better? What do customers complain about? What should we avoid?
Opportunities (External)	Trends to exploit	What market trends can we leverage? What competitor weaknesses to exploit? What adjacent markets?
Threats (External)	Risks to watch	What competitor moves could hurt us? What market/regulatory shifts? Platform risk?

Every cell must have cited evidence. Be honest about weaknesses — sugarcoating helps no one.

Step 5: Apply Strategic Frameworks

Choose one or more based on your needs:

Porter's Five Forces

Force	Assess
Threat of new entrants	Barriers: capital requirements, network effects, regulation, brand
Supplier power	Dependence on key suppliers/platforms
Buyer power	Switching costs, buyer concentration, price sensitivity
Threat of substitutes	Alternative approaches to the same need
Industry rivalry	Number of competitors, growth rate, differentiation

Strategic Group Map

Plot competitors on two market-relevant dimensions (e.g., price vs. features, breadth vs. depth, self-serve vs. high-touch) to identify clusters and whitespace.

Wardley Map

Map your value chain by evolution stage: Genesis (unique, innovate here) → Custom Built (emerging, build for advantage) → Product (common, buy don't build) → Commodity (ubiquitous, use services). Focus innovation on the left side; outsource components moving right.

Step 6: Identify Whitespace and Threats

Whitespace Opportunities: features no one has that users request, segments no one serves, use cases no one addresses well, unserved price points or geographies.

Threats to Monitor: competitors closing your differentiation gap, entering your core segments, or undercutting pricing; platform risk (Apple/Google/Microsoft building your feature); open-source alternatives; new entrants with different approaches.

Step 7: Extract Insights and Recommendations

Save to: docs/product-superpowers/competitive-analysis/YYYY-MM-DD-<market>.md

# Competitive Analysis — [Market] — [Date]

## Executive Summary (3–5 key findings)
## Competitive Landscape
## Feature Comparison Matrix
## SWOT Analysis
## Strategic Insights
  - Start doing: [actions based on competitor weakness or market opportunity]
  - Stop doing: [activities where competitors have made us irrelevant]
  - Continue doing: [what's working, protect it]
  - Watch: [trends, competitors, market shifts to monitor]
## Next Review (quarterly or triggered by market event)

Step 8: Maintenance Cadence

Trigger	Action
Quarterly	Full competitive landscape review
Competitor launches major feature	Spot analysis
Competitor raises funding / changes pricing	Assess trajectory and threat level
New competitor enters	Add to landscape, assess threat
Major win or loss to competitor	Win/loss analysis interview

Key Principles

• Evidence over intuition — Every claim about a competitor should be sourced.
• Honesty over comfort — Acknowledge where competitors are better than you.
• Action over observation — Analysis that doesn't change decisions is wasted effort.
• Customer perspective — What matters is what customers think, not what you think.
• Continuous, not periodic — Landscape shifts constantly. Monitor continuously.
• Respect competitors — Dismissing them blinds you to real threats.

Common Mistakes

• Competitor obsession (copying features instead of solving user problems)
• Confirmation bias (only seeing data that confirms you're better)
• Analysis paralysis (researching forever, never acting)
• Ignoring indirect competitors and substitutes (they hurt you differently)
• Focusing only on features (pricing, positioning, brand, distribution matter too)
• Dismissing smaller competitors (today's startup is tomorrow's threat)
• Not updating the analysis (a year-old analysis is worse than none)

Key References

• Porter's Five Forces (Michael Porter, "Competitive Strategy")
• "7 Powers" by Hamilton Helmer (foundations of business strategy)
• "Playing to Win" by A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin
• "Obviously Awesome" by April Dunford (product positioning)
• "Blue Ocean Strategy" by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
• Simon Wardley's Wardley Mapping