competitive-landscape

Start by identifying direct, indirect, and future competitors, then profile the top three to five with their product, pricing, go-to-market, strengths, and weaknesses. Apply Porter's Five Forces to assess industry attractiveness and build a positioning map to show your differentiation.

Porter's Five Forces is a framework for assessing industry attractiveness by scoring threat of new entrants, supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Each force is rated on intensity and impact, then summarized in a scorecard.

Choose the two dimensions most important to customers, such as price versus features or simplicity versus complexity, then plot all competitors on the grid. Gaps in the map reveal white space, which you should validate against real customer needs before targeting.

Sustainable advantages include network effects, switching costs, economies of scale, brand, proprietary technology, and regulatory barriers. Test yours by asking whether competitors could copy it within two years and whether it genuinely matters to customers.

Track product release notes and news weekly, review win/loss analysis and positioning maps monthly, run deep competitive reviews quarterly, and reassess overall strategy annually. Focus on product changes, funding, key hires, and customer wins or losses.