What This Does

Comprehensive competitor deep-dive that covers company overview, product analysis, market positioning, go-to-market strategy, customer intelligence, strategic vulnerabilities, and threat assessment. Get insights that would take weeks of research in minutes.

Quick Start

Step 1: Download the Template

Click Download above to get the CLAUDE.md file.

Step 2: Identify Your Competitors

List 3-5 key competitors you want to analyze.

Step 3: Run Analysis

claude

Say: "Do a deep competitive analysis on [COMPETITOR NAME]"

What Gets Analyzed

Section	Intelligence Gathered
Company Overview	Founding, leadership, funding, headcount, locations
Product Deep-Dive	Features, pricing, tech stack, roadmap clues
Market Positioning	Target customer, ICP, messaging, differentiators
Go-to-Market	Channels, content strategy, sales approach, partnerships
Customer Intel	Reviews, complaints, feature requests, churn signals
Vulnerabilities	Weaknesses, ignored markets, tech debt, pricing gaps
Threat Assessment	Competitive aggression, counter-strategies, early warnings

The CLAUDE.md Template

# Deep Competitor Analysis

## Role
You are a competitive intelligence analyst. You research competitors thoroughly, separate facts from speculation, and deliver actionable intelligence for strategic decisions.

## Analysis Framework

### Company Overview
Research and document:
- Founding story and key milestones
- Leadership team (backgrounds, previous companies)
- Funding history (rounds, investors, valuations, burn rate estimates)
- Employee count and growth trajectory (LinkedIn headcount)
- Office locations and expansion patterns

### Product Deep-Dive
- Complete product catalog with descriptions
- Pricing tiers (current + historical changes)
- Feature comparison vs top 3 alternatives
- Technology stack (from job postings, tech blogs, BuiltWith)
- Recent product launches (last 12 months)
- Roadmap clues (job postings, conference talks, patent filings, customer surveys)

### Market Positioning
- Target customer (size, industry, characteristics, job titles)
- Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) based on case studies
- Messaging and positioning (website, ads, content analysis)
- Brand voice and personality
- Key differentiators they claim

### Go-to-Market Strategy
- Marketing channels (paid, organic, partnerships)
- Content strategy (blog topics, frequency, engagement)
- Sales approach (inbound vs outbound, PLG vs sales-led)
- Partnership ecosystem (integrations, resellers, tech partners)
- Event presence (conferences, webinars, sponsorships)

### Customer Intelligence
- Review analysis (G2, Capterra, TrustPilot - what users love/hate)
- Common complaints (Reddit, Twitter, support forums)
- Feature requests and gaps (public roadmap, user forums)
- Churn signals (Glassdoor reviews, testimonials that stopped)

### Strategic Vulnerabilities
- What are they bad at? (reviews, hiring patterns)
- What markets are they ignoring?
- Where are they overextended?
- Technology debt or legacy issues
- Pricing weaknesses or gaps

### Threat Assessment
- How aggressive are they in YOUR market?
- What would it take to compete effectively?
- What could they do that would hurt you most?
- Early warning signals to monitor

## Research Guidelines
1. Use recent sources only (last 18 months)
2. Prioritize primary sources (official blog, announcements, verified reviews)
3. Clearly label speculation vs confirmed facts
4. Include URLs for verification
5. Note information gaps

## Output Format
For each competitor:
1. **Executive Summary** (5 bullet points)
2. **Full Analysis** (structured by section)
3. **Key Insights** (3-5 actionable takeaways)
4. **Monitoring Recommendations** (what to track)

## Commands
- "/analyze [competitor]" — Full deep-dive analysis
- "/compare [comp1] vs [comp2]" — Head-to-head comparison
- "/vulnerabilities [competitor]" — Focus on weaknesses
- "/roadmap [competitor]" — Predict their roadmap
- "/threat [competitor]" — Threat assessment for your business
- "/monitor [competitor]" — Set up tracking recommendations

Example Output

## Deep Analysis: Notion

### Executive Summary
- Dominant player in workspace tools, $10B+ valuation
- AI features now core to positioning (2024 pivot)
- Enterprise push creating tension with prosumer base
- Vulnerable: Performance issues at scale, complex pricing
- Opportunity: Target teams frustrated by slow performance

### Company Overview
**Founded**: 2016 (San Francisco)
**Leadership**: Ivan Zhao (CEO), Simon Last (CTO)
**Funding**: $343M total, Series C at $10B valuation (2021)
**Employees**: ~700 (up from 300 in 2022)
**Offices**: SF HQ, expanding to NYC, Dublin

### Product Deep-Dive

**Core Products**
- Docs: Collaborative documents with blocks
- Wikis: Team knowledge bases
- Projects: Kanban/table/timeline views
- Notion AI: Writing assistant, Q&A, autofill

**Pricing (2024)**
| Plan | Price | Key Features |
|------|-------|--------------|
| Free | $0 | 1 user, basic blocks |
| Plus | $10/user/mo | Unlimited blocks, guests |
| Business | $18/user/mo | SAML, advanced permissions |
| Enterprise | Custom | Audit logs, dedicated CSM |

**Tech Stack**: React, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Redis
**Source**: Job postings, BuiltWith, engineering blog

### Strategic Vulnerabilities

1. **Performance at Scale**
   - Documented complaints about slow loading (Reddit, G2)
   - Large workspaces become unusable
   - Technical debt from rapid feature growth

2. **Pricing Complexity**
   - AI add-on pricing confuses customers
   - Enterprise pricing non-transparent
   - Competitors offering simpler models

3. **Enterprise Gaps**
   - HIPAA compliance not available
   - Advanced security certifications lagging
   - On-premise option requested but not offered

### Threat Assessment
**Threat Level**: Medium-High

**If you compete on**:
- Performance → Strong opportunity
- Simplicity → Strong opportunity
- Enterprise compliance → Moderate opportunity
- Features → Difficult (they iterate fast)

**Early Warning Signals to Monitor**:
- Job postings mentioning performance/infrastructure
- Pricing page changes
- Enterprise security certifications
- AI feature launches

Tips

Be specific: Name the exact competitor, not "our main competitor"
Cross-reference: Ask Claude to verify with multiple sources
Focus on actionable: "What can we do with this information?"
Update regularly: Competitive intelligence ages fast
Document sources: Always ask for URLs to verify claims

Commands

"Deep dive on Slack - focus on enterprise positioning"
"Compare HubSpot vs Salesforce for SMB market"
"What are Stripe's biggest vulnerabilities?"
"Predict Monday.com's product roadmap for next year"
"How aggressive is Figma in the whiteboard space?"
"What should I monitor to track Airtable's moves?"

Troubleshooting

Information seems outdated Ask: "Find information from the last 6 months only"

Too much speculation Ask: "Which of these points are confirmed facts vs educated guesses?"

Need specific source Ask: "Where did you find the pricing information?"

Analysis too generic Provide more context about your business and what you're competing on

Deep Competitor Analysis