‘We really don’t have any competition.
It’s a really innovative product!’
(A young startup founder, who approached me for mentorship, recently!)
In his words, I heard the echo of my younger self, when I was convinced that every thought I had was novel and differentiated! When I was convinced that my insights were so wondrous that really, no one could have had them before.
While I wasn’t young in years, I was young in startup experience, which honestly is a world unto itself.
And much to my dismay (and wonderment), as I grew and progressed in my thinking, I realised how vast the startup ecosystem really is…and how big the business world really is.
Learn caution from the scars of others
No matter what idea you’ve had…someone has probably had it before!
In fact, many someones have probably had the idea before…all with unique and novel slants on it. And far from seeing the presence of other startups or players as an obstacle, it’s critical to treat them as heaven-sent chances to learn because…competitors are opportunities!
Their startup journeys are a campaign map…
That you can analyse & learn from,
Whose mistakes you can avoid,
Whose successes and wins you can emulate,
And whose learnings you can acquire without the accompanying pain!
They are – essentially – living blueprints for your MVP (minimum viable product).
So, given below is a quick recap on how to do your competitor research in a way that will give you meaningful results and learnings, that you can add back to your product or business instantly.
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Step 1 – Define your problem
Remember, customers seek answers to problems, not products.
And they will try multiple solutions or answers – some that have been referred to them by friends & family (or social media influencers), some that they have discovered through ads and editorials or some that they knew about before but did not have a chance to use – before they settle on the one product or service that best solves their problem for them.
So don’t be under the assumption that only a direct competitor is relevant. Because any product or service that addresses your problem – that customers use currently to solve that problem – is your competition.
For instance, Whatsapp is a huge competitor for MS Teams and Slack, even though it’s not a workplace-chat solution.
And personally speaking, it’s a bloody hard one to displace, because it’s use-case is so high-frequency that users log onto it multiple times a day anyway, and because of that one factor, it trumps almost any other communication product.
Step 2 – List your competitors and research them
I typically use an excel sheet for this.
Nothing beats excel, really!
And here’s all the information I typically track but your list could be different.
Anyway, I would suggest putting all the competitor names in rows and in the columns, you could consider adding the following sections & sub-headers, so that you get an easily comparable grid, that you can sort and filter as required.
Section 1: Company Details
- Company Name
- Brand Name (yes, they are different from company names)
- Founded in (month & year)
- Founded by (founder names, quick bios, linkedin profiles)
- Funding to date (ideally list of rounds with key investors – thank me for this later)
Section 2: Product Details
- Value proposition (what problem they claim to solve)
- Tagline (reflects marketing positioning)
- Product offering (keep this short and succint)
- How it works (key steps only)
- Differentiators (those stated by them & those that you surmise – remember to demarcate these)
- Product Assets (iOS App/Android App/Website/iPAd app)
- App Store Ratings (iOS/Android)
- Downloads
- Pricing (one-time/monthly/annual/lifetime/others)
- Number of free users
- Number of paid customers
Section 3: Business Details
- Business Model (B2C/B2B2C/others)
- Key Customers (If B2B2C)
- Key Partnerships
- Brand Ambassadors (if any)
- Revenue (last financial year & in total)
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Step 3 – Include a Learnings column
As you read and make these competitor notes, trends and patterns will jump out at you so be sure to note them down (ideally with a date on each so you can keep going back and adding more information as you discover it)
- You will understand which product use cases are easily solvable and frequent versus which use cases are difficult to crack from a product/tech/service perspective which will help you arrange your product roadmap
- You will understand what features are hygiene and which can be differentiators and so what you should prioritise
- You will get a sense of the key business models that work and how these companies have positioned themselves to potential customers.
- You will understand what pricing models are currently prevalent in the market and how you could possibly position your product / service vis-a-vis competition for a competitive advantage. You will also get a sense of what ticket sizes are typically acceptable to customers in the market currently and the range that exists.
- You will understand the marketing / branding position that these companies have taken in the market and what gaps could exist that you could possibly take advantage of.
I have listed a few of the obvious takeaways, but these are just some of the many many things you will understand, if and when you do your competitor research in a deliberate and planned manner.
And if you don’t, then some unlucky investor will be at the receiving end, as you naively postulate…
‘We really don’t have any competition. It’s a really innovative product!’
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