Startup Competitive Analysis

Use this skill to produce decision-oriented competitive intelligence: define the competitive set, collect evidence, synthesize match / ignore / bet decisions, and ship practical artifacts teams can use (briefs, landscapes, battlecards, win/loss).

Operating Principles (2026)

• Prefer decisions over inventories: make explicit match / ignore / bet calls with rationale and owner.
• Treat competitor claims as hypotheses: validate with buyer reality and current evidence.
• Date-stamp key claims and keep an evidence trail (link + capture month).
• Triangulate important facts across sources (at least two).
• Stay ethical: respect ToS; don’t scrape behind auth/paywalls; don’t misrepresent identity.

Intake Checklist (Ask First)

• Objective: sales enablement, positioning, strategy, fundraising, churn reduction
• Market: category, geography, segment (ICP), and time horizon (now vs 6–12 months)
• Known competitors and “do nothing” alternative (status quo / DIY / services)
• Constraints: available sources, web access, internal docs, legal/compliance requirements

Choose the Right Output

If the user asks…	Produce…	Use…
“Who are the competitors?” / “Map the landscape”	Market map + competitor set	references/market-mapping-guide.md, assets/competitive-landscape.md
“How do we differentiate?” / “What category are we in?”	Category structure + differentiation thesis	references/industry-structure-and-differentiation.md, assets/competitive-analysis-brief.md
“How should we position?”	Positioning canvas + statement + tests	references/positioning-playbook.md, assets/competitive-analysis-brief.md
“Deep dive Competitor X”	Deep dive + (optional) battlecard	references/competitor-deep-dive.md, assets/battlecard.md
“Why are we losing to X?” / “What’s driving churn?”	Win/loss + churn patterns + remediation	assets/win-loss-analysis.md

Workflow

1. Define the competitive set: direct/indirect/substitutes/status quo, segmented by ICP and job-to-be-done.
2. Collect evidence: product/docs/pricing, changelogs, job postings, reviews/VoC, partnerships, distribution signals.
3. Analyze on buyer criteria: switching costs, time-to-value, risk/procurement, integration ecosystem, ROI proof.
4. Synthesize into decisions: match/ignore/bet, wedge, proof points, landmines, and “walk-away” criteria.
5. Produce artifacts: narrative brief, landscape, battlecards, win/loss summary (use bundled templates).
6. Operationalize: set an update cadence and monitoring sources; refresh battlecards and decisions as signals change.

Evidence & Freshness Rules

• Prefer primary sources first (docs, pricing pages, release notes, filings), then triangulate.
• Use dated evidence labels like [YYYY-MM] and include the source URL.
• If web search is available, verify “current state” (pricing, positioning, major launches, funding, M&A). If not, state the limitation and proceed with provided context.

Lightweight CI Monitoring (No Tool Assumptions)

• Seed sources from data/sources.json; add category-specific sources for the market.
• Track changes to: pricing pages, docs/changelogs, security/compliance pages, partner directories, job postings, ad libraries, review sites.
• Keep a simple change log and review it on a fixed cadence (weekly/monthly/quarterly based on sales cycle).

Resources

Resource	Purpose
competitor-deep-dive.md	Full competitor analysis framework
market-mapping-guide.md	Market map creation
positioning-playbook.md	Positioning methodology
industry-structure-and-differentiation.md	Porter 5 Forces + JTBD alternatives + strategy canvas

Templates

Template	Purpose
competitive-analysis-brief.md	Decision-oriented narrative brief
competitive-landscape.md	Full competitive overview
battlecard.md	Sales enablement
win-loss-analysis.md	Deal analysis

Data

File	Purpose
sources.json	Competitive intelligence sources