Study competitors like you're planning to beat them.
When to Use
- User names a specific competitor
- "Who else is doing this?"
- Before building, to find gaps
- Preparing for investor "competition slide"
See
example-analysis.mdfor a filled-in competitor teardown showing the format and depth expected.
Single Competitor Teardown
Product
- What do they actually do? (use the product, not just the landing page)
- Key features
- What's good about it
- What sucks (check 1-star reviews on App Store, G2, Reddit)
- Pricing tiers
Business
- Funding (Crunchbase, PitchBook)
- Revenue if known (press, SimilarWeb traffic guesses)
- Team size (LinkedIn)
- Founded when
- Growth signals (hiring? launching new features? going quiet?)
Users
- Who uses it? (check case studies, reviews, social mentions)
- How do they get users? (SEO, ads, viral, sales team)
- Community size (Discord, Reddit, Twitter followers)
- NPS or satisfaction signals
Weaknesses
- Negative reviews (patterns, not one-offs)
- Missing features users ask for
- Pricing complaints
- Technical limitations
- Support complaints
Multi-Competitor Comparison
Create a table:
| Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C | Us (planned) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-liner | ||||
| Target user | ||||
| Key feature | ||||
| Pricing | ||||
| Funding | ||||
| Weakness | ||||
| Our advantage |
Find the Gap
After analysis, answer:
- Where are ALL competitors weak?
- What do users want that nobody does well?
- Is there an underserved segment?
- What positioning would make us different?
Rules
- Use the product. Don't just read the landing page.
- Check reviews on multiple platforms
- Look for patterns in complaints, not single reviews
- Be fair. Give credit where it's due.
- If a competitor is way ahead, say so. Don't hide it.
Gotchas
- Don't just read the landing page. Sign up for free trials. Watch demo videos. Read user forums. The landing page is marketing, not the product.
- One-star reviews are gold, but look for patterns. A single angry review means nothing. Ten people saying the same thing is a signal.
- Funding ≠ success. A competitor with $50M raised and no revenue is weaker than one with $2M raised and growing 20% monthly.
- Don't confuse features with moat. A feature can be copied in a sprint. Distribution, data, and network effects can't.
- Check if they're growing or coasting. Recent job postings, new features, blog activity — these signal momentum. Silence signals trouble.
Output
Save to the project's 02-research/ folder.
Use the template from templates/competitor-analysis.md if it fits.