Competitive Brief

What This Skill Does

This skill creates a competitive analysis brief for specified competitors or feature areas. It helps product, sales, and marketing teams understand the competitive landscape. It gathers information from web searches, knowledge bases, and chat channels.

When to Use

• Analyze a competitor's product.
• Compare features across competitors.
• Assess pricing and packaging strategies.
• Inform product strategy decisions.
• Create sales enablement materials.

Key Features

• Scopes the analysis based on user input.
• Conducts research via web search.
• Leverages connected knowledge bases.
• Searches for competitive mentions in chat.
• Generates a competitor overview.

If you see unfamiliar placeholders or need to check which tools are connected, see CONNECTORS.md.

Create a competitive analysis brief for one or more competitors or a feature area.

Usage

/competitive-brief $ARGUMENTS

Workflow

1. Scope the Analysis

Ask the user: Competitor(s): Which specific competitor(s) to analyze? Or a feature area to compare across competitors? Focus: Full product comparison, specific feature area, pricing/packaging, go-to-market, or positioning? Context: What decision will this inform? (product strategy, sales enablement, investor/board materials, feature prioritization)

2. Research

Via web search: Product pages and feature lists Pricing pages and packaging Recent product launches, blog posts, and changelogs Press coverage and analyst reports Customer reviews and ratings (G2, Capterra, Trust Radius) Job postings (signal of strategic direction) Social media and community discussions

If ~~knowledge base is connected: Search for existing competitive analysis documents Find win/loss reports or sales battle cards Pull prior competitive research

If ~~chat is connected: Search for competitive mentions in sales or product channels Find recent deal feedback involving competitors

3. Generate the Brief

Competitor Overview

For each competitor: Company summary: founding, size, funding/revenue if public, target market Product positioning: how they describe themselves, who they target Recent momentum: launches, funding, partnerships, customer wins

Feature Comparison

Compare capabilities across key areas relevant to the analysis. See Feature Comparison Matrices below for rating scales and matrix templates.

Positioning Analysis

Analyze how each competitor positions themselves — target customer, category claim, key differentiator, and value proposition. See Positioning Analysis Frameworks below for the positioning statement template and message architecture levels.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: Where they genuinely excel. What customers praise. Weaknesses: Where they fall short. What customers complain about. Be honest and evidence-based — do not dismiss competitors or inflate their weaknesses.

Opportunities

Based on the analysis: Where are there gaps in competitor offerings we could exploit? What are customers asking for that no one provides well? Where are competitors making bets we disagree with? What market shifts could advantage our approach?

Threats

Where are competitors investing heavily? What competitive moves could disrupt our position? Where are we most vulnerable? What would a "nightmare scenario" competitive move look like?

Strategic Implications

Tie the analysis back to product strategy: What should we build, accelerate, or deprioritize based on this analysis? Where should we differentiate vs. achieve parity? How should we adjust positioning or messaging? What should we monitor going forward?

4. Follow Up

After generating the brief: Ask if the user wants to dive deeper on any section Offer to create a one-page summary for executives Offer to create sales battle cards for competitive deals Offer to draft a "how to win against [competitor]" guide Offer to set up a monitoring plan for competitive moves

Competitive Landscape Mapping

Identifying the Competitive Set

Define competitors at multiple levels:

Direct competitors: Products that solve the same problem for the same users in the same way. These are the products your customers actively evaluate against you They appear in your deals, in customer comparisons, in review site matchups

Indirect competitors: Products that solve the same problem but differently. Different approach to the same user need (e.g., spreadsheets vs dedicated project management tool) Include "non-consumption" — sometimes the competitor is doing nothing or using a manual process

Adjacent competitors: Products that do not compete today but could. Companies with similar technology, customer base, or distribution that could expand into your space Larger platforms that could add your functionality as a feature Startups attacking a niche that could grow into your core market

Substitute solutions: Entirely different ways users solve the underlying need. Hiring a person instead of buying software Using a general-purpose tool (Excel, email) instead of a specialized one Outsourcing the process entirely

Landscape Map

Position competitors on meaningful dimensions:

Common axes: Breadth vs depth (suite vs point solution) SMB vs enterprise (market segment focus) Self-serve vs sales-led (go-to-market approach) Simple vs powerful (product complexity) Horizontal vs vertical (general purpose vs industry-specific)

Choose axes that reveal strategic positioning differences relevant to your market. The right axes make competitive dynamics visible.

Monitoring the Landscape

Track competitive movements over time: Product launches and feature releases (changelogs, blog posts, press releases) Pricing and packaging changes Funding rounds and acquisitions Key hires and job postings (signal strategic direction) Customer wins and losses (especially your wins/losses) Analyst and review coverage Partnership announcements

Feature Comparison Matrices

Building a Feature Comparison

Define capability areas: Group features into functional categories that matter to buyers (not your internal architecture). Use the categories buyers use when evaluating. List specific capabilities: Under each area, list the specific features or capabilities to compare. Rate each competitor: Use a consistent rating scale.

Rating Scale Options

Simple (recommended for most cases): Strong: Market-leading capability. Deep functionality, well-executed. Adequate: Functional capability. Gets the job done but not differentiated. Weak: Exists but limited. Significant gaps or poor execution. Absent: Does not have this capability.

Detailed (for deep-dive comparisons): 5: Best-in-class. Defines the standard others aspire to. 4: Strong. Fully-featured and well-executed. 3: Adequate. Meets basic needs without differentiation. 2: Limited. Exists but with significant gaps. 1: Minimal. Barely functional or in early beta. 0: Absent. Not available.

Comparison Matrix Template

Tips for Feature Comparison

Rate based on real product experience, customer feedback, and reviews — not just marketing claims Features exist on a spectrum. "Has feature X" is less useful than "How well does it do X?" Weight the comparison by what matters to your target customers, not by total feature count Update regularly — feature comparisons get stale fast Be honest about where competitors are ahead. A comparison that always shows you winning is not credible