Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis is the work of knowing who else solves this problem, including the options that are not products at all: a spreadsheet, an intern, or doing nothing. Saying you have no competitors reads as not having looked. The concepts here cover how to map the field, what actually makes a position defensible over time, and how to talk about rivals without either dismissing them or talking yourself out of the company.
6 concepts in Competitive Analysis
- Competitive MoatA structural reason your advantage survives a well-funded competitor deciding to copy you.
- DifferentiationA specific, articulable way your product is different from the alternatives a customer would otherwise choose, distinct from a moat, which is whether that difference survives being copied.
- Category CreationDefining a new name and frame for a problem so customers evaluate you against a category you invented rather than against existing products doing something adjacent.
- Win-Loss AnalysisAsking systematically why each deal was won or lost, after it closes, from the buyer rather than from the seller's notes.
- Substitute vs. Direct CompetitorA direct competitor sells something recognisably similar; a substitute is whatever the customer does today instead, usually a spreadsheet, an intern, or nothing at all. It is almost always the harder one to beat.
- Unfair AdvantageSomething the company has that a competitor cannot get simply by deciding to want it: proprietary data, an unusual distribution channel, rare expertise, or a relationship built over years.
Other topics
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