Agent skill

competitor-teardown

Structured competitive analysis with feature matrices, SWOT, positioning maps, and UX review. Covers research frameworks, pricing comparison, review mining, and visual deliverables. Use for: market research, competitive intelligence, investor decks, product strategy, sales enablement. Triggers: competitor analysis, competitive analysis, competitor teardown, market research, competitive intelligence, swot analysis, competitor comparison, market landscape, competitor review, competitive landscape, feature comparison, market positioning

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Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/inference-sh/skills/tree/main/guides/product/competitor-teardown

SKILL.md

Competitor Teardown

Structured competitive analysis with research and screenshots via inference.sh CLI.

Quick Start

Requires inference.sh CLI (infsh). Install instructions

bash
infsh login

# Research competitor landscape
infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "top project management tools comparison 2024 market share"
}'

# Screenshot competitor's website
infsh app run infsh/agent-browser --input '{
  "url": "https://competitor.com",
  "action": "screenshot"
}'

Teardown Framework

The 7-Layer Analysis

Layer What to Analyze Data Source
1. Product Features, UX, quality Screenshots, free trial
2. Pricing Plans, pricing model, hidden costs Pricing page, sales call
3. Positioning Messaging, tagline, ICP Website, ads
4. Traction Users, revenue, growth Web search, press, funding
5. Reviews Strengths, weaknesses from users G2, Capterra, App Store
6. Content Blog, social, SEO strategy Website, social profiles
7. Team Size, key hires, background LinkedIn, About page

Research Commands

Company Overview

bash
# General intelligence
infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX company overview funding team size 2024"
}'

# Funding and financials
infsh app run exa/search --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX funding round series valuation investors"
}'

# Recent news
infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX latest news announcements 2024"
}'

Product Analysis

bash
# Feature comparison
infsh app run exa/search --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX vs alternatives feature comparison review"
}'

# Pricing details
infsh app run tavily/extract --input '{
  "urls": ["https://competitor.com/pricing"]
}'

# User reviews
infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX reviews G2 Capterra pros cons 2024"
}'

UX Screenshots

bash
# Homepage
infsh app run infsh/agent-browser --input '{
  "url": "https://competitor.com",
  "action": "screenshot"
}'

# Pricing page
infsh app run infsh/agent-browser --input '{
  "url": "https://competitor.com/pricing",
  "action": "screenshot"
}'

# Signup flow
infsh app run infsh/agent-browser --input '{
  "url": "https://competitor.com/signup",
  "action": "screenshot"
}'

Feature Matrix

Structure

markdown
| Feature | Your Product | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---------|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| Real-time collaboration | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
| API access | ✅ | Paid only | ✅ | ❌ |
| SSO/SAML | ✅ | Enterprise | ✅ | Enterprise |
| Custom reports | ✅ | Limited | ✅ | ❌ |
| Mobile app | ✅ | iOS only | ✅ | ✅ |
| Free tier | ✅ (unlimited) | ✅ (3 users) | ❌ | ✅ (1 project) |
| Integrations | 50+ | 100+ | 30+ | 20+ |

Rules

  • ✅ = Full support
  • ⚠️ or "Partial" = Limited or conditional
  • ❌ = Not available
  • Note conditions: "Paid only", "Enterprise tier", "Beta"
  • Lead with features where YOU win
  • Be honest about competitor strengths — credibility matters

Pricing Comparison

Structure

markdown
| | Your Product | Competitor A | Competitor B |
|---------|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| **Free tier** | Yes, 5 users | Yes, 3 users | No |
| **Starter** | $10/user/mo | $15/user/mo | $12/user/mo |
| **Pro** | $25/user/mo | $30/user/mo | $29/user/mo |
| **Enterprise** | Custom | Custom | $50/user/mo |
| **Billing** | Monthly/Annual | Annual only | Monthly/Annual |
| **Annual discount** | 20% | 15% | 25% |
| **Min seats** | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| **Hidden costs** | None | Setup fee $500 | API calls metered |

What to Look For

  • Minimum seat requirements
  • Annual-only billing (reduces flexibility)
  • Feature gating between tiers
  • Overage charges
  • Setup/onboarding fees
  • Contract lock-in periods

SWOT Analysis

Create a SWOT for each competitor:

markdown
### Competitor A — SWOT

| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|-----------|------------|
| • Strong brand recognition | • Slow feature development |
| • Large integration ecosystem | • Complex onboarding (30+ min) |
| • Enterprise sales team | • No free tier |

| Opportunities | Threats |
|--------------|---------|
| • AI features not yet shipped | • New AI-native competitors |
| • Expanding into mid-market | • Customer complaints about pricing |
| • International markets untapped | • Key engineer departures (LinkedIn) |

Positioning Map

A 2x2 matrix showing where competitors sit on two meaningful dimensions.

Choose Meaningful Axes

Good Axes Bad Axes
Simple ↔ Complex Good ↔ Bad
SMB ↔ Enterprise Cheap ↔ Expensive (too obvious)
Self-serve ↔ Sales-led Old ↔ New
Specialized ↔ General Small ↔ Large
Opinionated ↔ Flexible —

Template

                    Enterprise
                        │
           Competitor C │  Competitor A
                ●       │       ●
                        │
  Simple ──────────────────────────── Complex
                        │
            You ●       │  Competitor B
                        │       ●
                        │
                      SMB

Generating the Visual

bash
# Create positioning map with Python
infsh app run infsh/python-executor --input '{
  "code": "import matplotlib.pyplot as plt\nimport matplotlib\nmatplotlib.use(\"Agg\")\n\nfig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 10))\n\n# Competitors\ncompetitors = {\n    \"You\": (-0.3, -0.3),\n    \"Competitor A\": (0.5, 0.6),\n    \"Competitor B\": (0.6, -0.4),\n    \"Competitor C\": (-0.4, 0.5)\n}\n\nfor name, (x, y) in competitors.items():\n    color = \"#22c55e\" if name == \"You\" else \"#6366f1\"\n    size = 200 if name == \"You\" else 150\n    ax.scatter(x, y, s=size, c=color, zorder=5)\n    ax.annotate(name, (x, y), textcoords=\"offset points\", xytext=(10, 10), fontsize=12, fontweight=\"bold\")\n\nax.axhline(y=0, color=\"grey\", linewidth=0.5)\nax.axvline(x=0, color=\"grey\", linewidth=0.5)\nax.set_xlim(-1, 1)\nax.set_ylim(-1, 1)\nax.set_xlabel(\"Simple ← → Complex\", fontsize=14)\nax.set_ylabel(\"SMB ← → Enterprise\", fontsize=14)\nax.set_title(\"Competitive Positioning Map\", fontsize=16, fontweight=\"bold\")\nax.grid(True, alpha=0.3)\nplt.tight_layout()\nplt.savefig(\"positioning-map.png\", dpi=150)\nprint(\"Saved\")"
}'

Review Mining

Where to Find Reviews

Platform Best For URL Pattern
G2 B2B SaaS g2.com/products/[product]/reviews
Capterra Business software capterra.com/software/[id]/reviews
App Store iOS apps apps.apple.com
Google Play Android apps play.google.com
Product Hunt Launches producthunt.com/posts/[product]
Reddit Honest opinions reddit.com/r/[relevant-sub]

What to Extract

Category Look For
Most praised What features do happy users mention most?
Most complained What do unhappy users say? (= your opportunity)
Switching reasons Why do users leave? What triggers switching?
Feature requests What's missing that users want?
Comparison mentions When users compare, what do they say?
bash
# Mine G2 reviews
infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "CompetitorX G2 reviews complaints issues 2024"
}'

# Reddit sentiment
infsh app run exa/search --input '{
  "query": "reddit CompetitorX alternative frustration switching"
}'

Deliverable Formats

Executive Summary (1 page)

markdown
## Competitive Landscape Summary

**Market:** [Category] — $[X]B market growing [Y]% annually

**Key competitors:** A (leader), B (challenger), C (niche)

**Our positioning:** [Where you sit and why it matters]

**Key insight:** [One sentence about the biggest opportunity]

| Metric | You | A | B | C |
|--------|-----|---|---|---|
| Users | X | Y | Z | W |
| Pricing (starter) | $X | $Y | $Z | $W |
| Rating (G2) | X.X | Y.Y | Z.Z | W.W |

Detailed Report (per competitor)

  1. Company overview (size, funding, team)
  2. Product analysis (features, UX screenshots)
  3. Pricing breakdown
  4. SWOT analysis
  5. Review analysis (top praised, top complained)
  6. Positioning vs. you
  7. Opportunity summary

Comparison Grid Visual

bash
# Stitch competitor screenshots into comparison
infsh app run infsh/stitch-images --input '{
  "images": ["your-homepage.png", "competitorA-homepage.png", "competitorB-homepage.png"],
  "direction": "horizontal"
}'

Common Mistakes

Mistake Problem Fix
Only looking at features Misses positioning, pricing, traction Use the 7-layer framework
Biased analysis Loses credibility Be honest about competitor strengths
Outdated data Wrong conclusions Date all research, refresh quarterly
Too many competitors Analysis paralysis Focus on top 3-5 direct competitors
No "so what" Data without insight End each section with implications for you
Feature-only comparison Doesn't show positioning Include pricing, reviews, positioning map

Related Skills

bash
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@web-search
npx skills add inference-sh/skills@prompt-engineering

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