competitive-teardown

---
name: competitive-teardown
description: Use when analyzing competitors, building sales battle cards, preparing a product roadmap session, responding to a competitor's pricing change, or running a quarterly competitive review.
category: Product
version: 1.0.0
tools: []
---

# Competitive Teardown

Synthesize competitor data — pricing pages, app store reviews, job postings, SEO signals, and social media — into structured competitive intelligence: feature comparison matrices, SWOT analyses, positioning maps, UX audits, pricing breakdowns, and action plans.

## When to Use

- Before a product strategy or roadmap session
- When a competitor launches a major feature or pricing change
- For a quarterly competitive review
- Before a sales pitch that needs battle card data
- When entering a new market segment

## Teardown Workflow

1. **Define competitors** — list 2–4 competitors to analyze and confirm the primary focus.
2. **Collect data** — use web_search to gather signals from at least 3 sources per competitor (website, reviews, job postings, SEO, social). Before proceeding, confirm you have pricing data, at least 20 reviews, and job posting counts for each competitor.
3. **Score using the rubric** — apply the 12-dimension rubric below to produce a numeric scorecard for each competitor and your own product. Every dimension should have a score and at least one supporting evidence note.
4. **Generate outputs** — populate the Feature Comparison Matrix (also called the Feature Matrix), Pricing Analysis, SWOT, Positioning Map, and UX Audit.
5. **Build an action plan** — translate findings into quick wins, medium-term, and strategic action items.
6. **Package for stakeholders** — assemble the stakeholder presentation from the outputs above.

## Data Collection

**Website Analysis** — capture pricing tiers and price points, feature lists per tier, primary CTA and messaging, case studies/customer logos (signals ICP), integration logos, and trust signals (certifications, compliance badges).

**App Store Reviews** — use web_search to find the competitor's app listing and recent reviews. Categorize sentiment:
- **Praise** → what users love (defend or strengthen these)
- **Feature requests** → unmet needs (opportunity gaps)
- **Bugs** → quality signals
- **UX complaints** → friction points you can beat them on

**Job Postings** — signals of team size and tech stack:
- Engineering volume → scaling vs. consolidating
- Specific tech mentions → stack (e.g., React/Vue, Postgres/Mongo, AWS/GCP)
- Sales/CS ratio → product-led vs. sales-led motion
- Data/ML roles → upcoming AI features
- Compliance roles → regulatory expansion

**SEO Analysis** — capture top organic keywords (informational/navigational/commercial intent), domain authority/backlink signals, blog publishing cadence and topics, and which page types rank (product vs. blog vs. docs).

**Social Media Sentiment** — use web_search to find recent mentions and reviews. Look for recurring praise, complaints, and feature requests.

## Scoring Rubric (12 Dimensions, 1–5)

| # | Dimension | 1 (Weak) | 3 (Average) | 5 (Best-in-class) |
|---|-----------|----------|-------------|-------------------|
| 1 | Features | Core only, many gaps | Solid coverage | Comprehensive + unique |
| 2 | Pricing | Confusing / overpriced | Market-rate, clear | Transparent, flexible, fair |
| 3 | UX | Confusing, high friction | Functional | Delightful, minimal friction |
| 4 | Performance | Slow, unreliable | Acceptable | Fast, high uptime |
| 5 | Docs | Sparse, outdated | Decent coverage | Comprehensive, searchable |
| 6 | Support | Email only, slow | Chat + email | 24/7, great response |
| 7 | Integrations | 0–5 integrations | 6–25 | 26+ or deep ecosystem |
| 8 | Security | No mentions | SOC2 claimed | SOC2 Type II, ISO 27001 |
| 9 | Scalability | No enterprise tier | Mid-market ready | Enterprise-grade |
| 10 | Brand | Generic, unmemorable | Decent positioning | Strong, differentiated |
| 11 | Community | None | Forum / Slack | Active, vibrant community |
| 12 | Innovation | No recent releases | Quarterly | Frequent, meaningful |

Example completed row (Competitor: Acme Corp, Dimension 3 – UX):

| Dimension | Acme Corp Score | Evidence |
|-----------|----------------|---------|
| UX | 2 | App Store reviews cite "confusing navigation" (38 mentions); onboarding requires 7 steps before first value; no onboarding wizard; card required at signup. |

Apply this pattern to all 12 dimensions for each competitor.

## Output Templates

**Feature Comparison Matrix** (the Feature Matrix) — rows: core features, pricing tiers, platform capabilities (web, iOS, Android, API). Columns: your product plus up to 3 competitors. Score each cell 1–5 (5=Best-in-class, 4=Strong, 3=Average, 2=Below average, 1=Weak/Missing). Sum to a total out of 60.

**Pricing Analysis** — capture per competitor: model type (per-seat / usage-based / flat rate / freemium), entry/mid/enterprise price points, free trial length. Summarize the price leader, value leader, premium positioning, your position, and 2–3 pricing opportunities.

**SWOT Analysis** — for each competitor, 3–5 bullets per quadrant (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities for us, Threats to us), each anchored to a data signal (review quote, job posting count, pricing page, etc.).

**Positioning Map** — a 2x2 grid (e.g. Simple ↔ Complex / Low Value ↔ High Value) placing each competitor and your product, with bubble size representing market share or funding.

**UX Audit Checklist** — onboarding (time-to-first-value in minutes, steps to activation, card-required, onboarding wizard quality); key workflows (steps, friction points, comparative score); mobile (iOS/Android ratings, feature parity, top complaint and praise); navigation (global search, keyboard shortcuts, in-app help).

**Action Items**

| Horizon | Effort | Examples |
|---------|--------|---------|
| Quick wins (0–4 wks) | Low | Add review badges, publish a comparison landing page |
| Medium-term (1–3 mo) | Moderate | Launch a free tier, improve onboarding time-to-value, add a top-requested integration |
| Strategic (3–12 mo) | High | Enter a new market, build an API v2, achieve SOC2 Type II |

**Stakeholder Presentation** (7 sections):
1. Executive Summary — threat level (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/CRITICAL), top strength, top opportunity, recommended action
2. Market Position — the 2x2 positioning map
3. Feature Scorecard — the 12-dimension radar or table, total scores
4. Pricing Analysis — comparison table plus key insight
5. UX Highlights — what they do better (3 bullets) vs. where you win (3 bullets)
6. Voice of Customer — top 3 review complaints (quoted or paraphrased)
7. Action Plan — quick wins, medium-term, strategic priorities, with raw data in an appendix

## Related Skills

- **Product Strategist** — competitive insights feed OKR and strategy planning.
- **Landing Page Generator** — competitive positioning informs landing page messaging.