BUSINESS STRATEGY
Understand the Market Landscape
Map the Competitive Landscape
Identify direct and indirect competitors, assess their positioning, and find your strategic edge. Understanding the competitive landscape helps refine your messaging, GTM approach, and areas of differentiation.
Why it's Matters
You’re not building in a vacuum and your customers already have options. Understanding how competitors position themselves helps you find your unique space, avoid copycat traps, and craft a story that resonates. It’s also crucial for anticipating objections and refining your product roadmap.
What You Need to Do
Identify the key players solving similar problems
Map how they position, price, and go to market
Spot gaps and find where you win
How to Approach It
Define your competitive set broadly:
Direct competitors - solve the same problem in a similar way
Indirect competitors - solve adjacent problems, or use different methods
Status quo - doing nothing, Excel, internal tools
Build a side-by-side comparison:
Features / Capabilities
Pricing / Business model
Target customer / ICP
Positioning language
Differentiators
Visualize your position:
Use a simple 2x2 matrix or “market map”
Plot yourself and competitors based on dimensions that matter to your ICP (e.g., ease of use vs. flexibility)
Pull out insights, not just data:
Where are you clearly differentiated?
Where are you vulnerable?
Is your story distinct or just another flavour of the same?
Deliverables
Competitor comparison table
Visual positioning map (2x2 or other formats)
Summary of your unique advantage (strengths + white space)
How to Tell if You Got It Right
Sales knows how to answer “Why you vs. them?”without guessing
Product roadmap avoids feature parity traps
Marketing tells a story only you can own
You win more deals even when price/features are similar
What to Watch Out For
Obsessing over features —missing positioning and delivery differences
Copying competitors instead of differentiating
Treating the market as static instead of tracking evolution
Ignoring the “do nothing”alternative