Identify competitive and alternative offerings in the market, assess their strengths
and weaknesses, and develop a strategy for winning. Frame the comparison universe
correctly — customers don't just choose between named competitors; "do nothing",
spreadsheets, and in-house builds are alternatives too. Analytical rule of thumb: know
when to fight and when to run. See ../pm-copilot/references/framework.md.
The Solution Matrix
Plot your products and competitors' products on a 2×2:
- X-axis — Impact to Customer: Low → High
- Y-axis — Depth of Investment: Low → High
| Quadrant | Investment / Impact | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Utilities | Low investment / Low impact | Keep the lights on; don't over-invest. |
| No Brainer | Low investment / High impact | Do these — best return. |
| Strategic Vision | High investment / High impact | Big bets that need a business case. |
| "Why?" | High investment / Low impact | Avoid — cost without customer value. |
Use the Solution Matrix to: assess incremental technology investment vs. relative market value with development; frame how the product improves operations when interviewing the market; position against the competition; price products; position a product portfolio; and determine sales-channel strategy.
Interview the user (batch questions)
- What problem/segment are we competing in, and which personas decide?
- Who are the direct competitors — and what are the alternatives (do nothing, in-house, adjacent tools)?
- For each: strengths, weaknesses, pricing power, brand equity, and where they beat us?
- Where do our offerings and theirs sit on customer impact vs. depth of investment?
Artifact templates
Competitive Landscape analysis
# Competitive Landscape — <market / segment>
**Company:** <company> · **Feature / Product:** <feature / product name>
**Author:** <author> · **Date created:** <date> · **Version:** 1.0
**The comparison universe:** <named competitors + alternatives incl. "do nothing">
| Competitor / Alternative | Strengths | Weaknesses | Our winning strategy (fight or run) |
| :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- |
| <competitor> | <strengths> | <weaknesses> | <how we win, or why we avoid> |
## Where we win
<the problems and segments where our distinctive competencies beat every alternative>
## Where we should not fight
<segments/problems where a competitor has pricing power or brand equity — run>
## Evidence
<win/loss counts, analyst reports, pricing data; flag assumptions>
Solution Matrix
# Solution Matrix — <portfolio / market>
Axes: X = Impact to Customer (Low→High), Y = Depth of Investment (Low→High).
| | Low Impact | High Impact |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| **High Investment** | "Why?" — <items> | Strategic Vision — <items> |
| **Low Investment** | Utilities — <items> | No Brainer — <items> |
**Our products:** <plotted>
**Competitors' products:** <plotted>
**Read-out:** <where to invest, where to hold, where competitors are exposed>
Deliver the artifact
Follow ../pm-copilot/references/artifact-output.md: ask Markdown or .docx, write
the .md, convert to .docx on request via your environment's native document-creation capability. Then
offer the next stage: sharpen pm-positioning against these competitors, or set
investment direction in pm-product-strategy.