# Competitive Analysis

> When to activate: competitive analysis, SWOT, Porter's 5 Forces, competitor research, market positioning, win/loss analysis, feature matrix, competitive landscape

- Skill: `mattakushi432/competitive-analysis` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add mattakushi432/competitive-analysis`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/mattakushi432/competitive-analysis/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: Mattakushi432 (https://skillmd.com/u/mattakushi432)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/mattakushi432/competitive-analysis

---


# Competitive Analysis Patterns

## Competitive Landscape Mapping

### Competitor Tiers
| Tier | Definition | How Many to Track |
|------|------------|-------------------|
| **Direct** | Same product, same customer | Top 5 deeply |
| **Indirect** | Different product, same job-to-be-done | 10-15 broadly |
| **Substitutes** | Completely different approach, same outcome | 5-10 peripherally |
| **Potential** | Not competitors today but could be | Watch list |

### Competitor Profile Template
```
Company: _______________
Founded: ___  HQ: ___  Employees: ___  Funding: ___

Product:
- Core value proposition:
- Primary use case:
- Target segment:
- Pricing model:
- Price points:

Strengths (from customer reviews, press):
1.
2.
3.

Weaknesses (from reviews, support forums):
1.
2.
3.

Recent moves (last 90 days):
- Product launches:
- Pricing changes:
- Partnership announcements:
- Hiring signals:
```

## SWOT Analysis

### SWOT Framework
| | Helpful | Harmful |
|--|---------|---------|
| **Internal** | Strengths | Weaknesses |
| **External** | Opportunities | Threats |

### Filling SWOT Rigorously

**Strengths** (internal, positive):
- Proprietary technology or IP
- Brand recognition and trust
- Customer relationships and NPS
- Unit economics and margins
- Team expertise

**Weaknesses** (internal, negative):
- Gaps in product functionality
- Technical debt
- Slow release velocity
- High churn rate
- Customer support quality

**Opportunities** (external, positive):
- Market segments underserved
- Regulatory tailwinds
- Technology shifts you can exploit
- Competitor weaknesses to capture
- Adjacent market expansion

**Threats** (external, negative):
- Competitor funding/investment
- Platform risk (API changes)
- Regulatory headwinds
- Price compression
- New entrant from adjacent market

### SWOT-to-Strategy Matrix (TOWS)
| | Strengths (S) | Weaknesses (W) |
|--|---------------|----------------|
| **Opportunities (O)** | SO: Use strengths to capture opportunities | WO: Fix weaknesses using opportunities |
| **Threats (T)** | ST: Use strengths to minimize threats | WT: Defensive strategies |

## Porter's Five Forces

| Force | Key Questions | Low/High Impact |
|-------|--------------|-----------------|
| **Competitive rivalry** | # competitors, growth rate, differentiation | Low: few players, fast growth |
| **Threat of new entrants** | Capital needed, switching costs, regulation | Low: high barriers |
| **Threat of substitutes** | Alternative ways to solve job | Low: no alternatives |
| **Supplier power** | # suppliers, switching cost, uniqueness | Low: many suppliers |
| **Buyer power** | # buyers, switching cost, price sensitivity | Low: fragmented buyers |

## Feature Matrix

### Building a Feature Matrix
```
Feature          | Your Co | Comp A | Comp B | Comp C |
-----------------|---------|--------|--------|--------|
Core feature 1   |  ✅     |  ✅    |  ✅    |  ❌    |
Core feature 2   |  ✅     |  ✅    |  ❌    |  ✅    |
Differentiator 1 |  ✅     |  ❌    |  ❌    |  ❌    |
Differentiator 2 |  ⚠️     |  ✅    |  ✅    |  ✅    |
Enterprise SSO   |  ✅     |  ✅    |  ❌    |  ✅    |
API access       |  ✅     |  ❌    |  ✅    |  ❌    |
Mobile app       |  ❌     |  ✅    |  ✅    |  ❌    |
Pricing from     | $49/mo  | $79/mo | $29/mo | $99/mo |

Legend: ✅ Full  ⚠️ Partial  ❌ Missing
```

### Positioning Map
Plot competitors on 2x2 axes that matter to buyers:

```
           HIGH EASE OF USE
                |
   Comp B       |     YOUR CO
                |
LOW PRICE ------+------ HIGH PRICE
                |
   Comp D       |     Comp A
                |
           LOW EASE OF USE
```

Common axis pairs:
- Price vs. Features
- Enterprise vs. SMB focus
- Breadth vs. Depth
- Self-serve vs. High-touch

## Win/Loss Analysis

### Win/Loss Interview Guide
```
Questions for Won Deals:
1. What made you choose us over [competitors]?
2. What almost made you go with a competitor instead?
3. What would have made the decision easier?
4. What's the #1 thing that made us stand out?

Questions for Lost Deals:
1. Who did you go with and why?
2. What did they offer that we didn't?
3. What would we have needed to do to win?
4. Was price the deciding factor? If not, what was?
5. Are you open to revisiting in 12 months?
```

### Win/Loss Dashboard Metrics
| Metric | Formula |
|--------|---------|
| Win rate vs. each competitor | Wins / (Wins + Losses) per competitor |
| Displacement rate | Deals won from competitor / total wins |
| Loss reason breakdown | % by category (price, features, timing, etc.) |
| Average deal size by outcome | ACV of won vs. lost deals |

## Monitoring Competitors

### Monitoring Checklist (Weekly)
- [ ] Google Alerts for competitor names + "product launch", "funding"
- [ ] Check competitor job postings (signals of investment areas)
- [ ] Review G2, Capterra, Trustpilot new reviews
- [ ] Monitor competitor social (LinkedIn, Twitter/X)
- [ ] Check Product Hunt for new launches
- [ ] Review changelog / release notes

### Intelligence Sources
| Source | What to find |
|--------|--------------|
| LinkedIn Jobs | Investment areas, team growth, new hires |
| Crunchbase | Funding rounds, investor list |
| G2/Capterra | Real customer pain points and praise |
| SEC filings | Public company revenue, growth, risks |
| Patent filings | R&D direction, future product hints |
| GitHub repos | Engineering team size, tech stack |
| Wayback Machine | Historical messaging and pricing |

## Battle Cards

### Battle Card Template
```
Competitor: [Name]
Last Updated: [Date]

HEADLINE:
"[Your product] vs [Competitor]: [1-line differentiation]"

THEIR STRENGTHS (Acknowledge):
• [Real strength 1]
• [Real strength 2]

OUR ADVANTAGES:
• [Advantage 1] — proof: [customer quote or data]
• [Advantage 2] — proof: [benchmark or case study]

HANDLING THEIR COMMON CLAIMS:
When they say "We're cheaper":
→ "Our ROI studies show customers save 3x the price difference in..."

When they say "We have more integrations":
→ "We have the 10 integrations that 95% of customers use, including..."

QUALIFYING QUESTIONS TO ASK:
1. "How important is [your differentiator] to you?"
2. "What happened last time you had [competitor's weakness]?"

PROOF POINTS:
• [Case study] — [customer name] switched from [competitor] and achieved [result]
• [Analyst citation]
```