Competitive analysis

# Competitive analysis

Use when you need to understand how your product compares to the main alternatives in your market, for positioning, planning, or a leadership review.

## Definitions

Use these meanings consistently in every step.

- **Product:** The product being compared. Default to the product in the current workspace.
- **Alternatives:** The tools a buyer would seriously evaluate instead. Start with direct competitors. When few exist, include the workarounds buyers use instead, such as spreadsheets or general-purpose tools.
- **Comparison criteria:** Mission, pricing, top capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators
- **Competitor record:** A competitor record in **Strategy** for the workspace, where one exists

## Workflow

1. Confirm the product and how many alternatives to cover. Default to five.
2. Review the competitor records already in the workspace, and the workspace positioning and strategy. Existing records carry prior judgment worth keeping.
3. Confirm the comparison criteria with the user when they differ from the defaults
4. Research each alternative against the criteria. Use the workspace records first, then public sources.
5. Build the comparison. Keep each cell short enough to scan.
6. Identify where the product is genuinely differentiated, where it is at parity, and where an alternative is ahead. Name the gaps plainly. A comparison that finds no weakness is not useful.
7. Note how each alternative is positioned and who they target, since that often explains their capability choices better than the capabilities do
8. Recommend where to focus, separating what the evidence supports from what needs validation
9. Mark the age and source of anything that moves quickly, especially pricing

## Rules

- If the product or market is unclear, ask short follow-up questions before researching
- Cite the source for every claim about an alternative, and note when a source may be out of date
- Never invent pricing, capabilities, or market share. Mark what is unknown as unknown.
- State the weaknesses honestly. A comparison that only flatters the product will be ignored.
- Reference competitor records by reference number and name where they exist
- Do not create or update competitor records. Present the analysis and let the user apply it.
- Headers use sentence case. No em dashes, en dashes, or curly quotes.

## Output

```
## Scope  
<the product, the alternatives covered, and the criteria used>  
  
## Comparison  
| Criterion | <product> | <alternative 1> | <alternative 2> |  
  
## Where we are differentiated  
- <capability, and the evidence>  
  
## Where we are at parity  
- <capability>  
  
## Where an alternative is ahead  
- <alternative, capability, and what it costs us>  
  
## How each alternative positions itself  
- <alternative>: <positioning and target buyer>  
  
## Recommendations  
1. <where to focus, and why>  
  
### Needs validation  
- <claim, and how to confirm it>
```

## Quality checks

- Every claim about an alternative carries a source
- The analysis names at least one area where an alternative is ahead
- Unknowns are marked rather than filled with plausible detail
- Pricing carries a date or is marked as unverified