Competitive Analysis Taxonomy

What problem does it solve?

Investment memos often feature unstructured, inconsistent competitive analysis that fails to identify critical threats like noisewashing incumbents or adjacent future competitors, leading to flawed investment decisions and missed risks.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Dual-Axis Classification Framework: Provides two orthogonal axes for categorizing competitors: stage rings (concentric circles based on a competitor's own funding stage, not the target's) and competitor types (direct, adjacent, indirect, noisewashing) to ensure consistent, structured analysis.
• Classification Discipline Rules: Includes sanity checks for competitor count per type, guidance for reclassifying noisewashing incumbents to genuine threats, and rules for highlighting high-risk ring/type combinations (e.g., early scaleup + adjacent).
• Dual-Output Requirement: Defines two mandatory artifacts: an exhaustive competitive research file with full classification reasoning and sources, and a synthesized memo section (table, diagram, or grouped list) optimized for quick partner review.
• Use Case: A venture capital analyst assessing a seed-stage AI startup can use this taxonomy to correctly filter out noisewashing incumbents, identify adjacent scaleup competitors that pose the largest future risk, and produce a clear competitive landscape diagram for the investment memo.

Quick Start

Use the competitive analysis taxonomy to classify all identified competitors for the target seed-stage SaaS startup into the correct stage ring and competitor type, then generate a concentric ring diagram of the competitive landscape for the investment memo's competitive section.