The Problem
A product manager at a growing startup tracks five competitors manually. Every quarter they spend a week visiting competitor websites, reading changelogs, scanning Twitter announcements, and updating a sprawling Google Sheet that nobody trusts because it is always outdated. When the CEO asks "do any competitors have SSO yet?" the answer involves 30 minutes of frantic googling. The team makes roadmap decisions based on stale data, and new competitors enter the market without anyone noticing until a prospect mentions them in a sales call.
The Solution
Use the web-research skill to systematically gather feature information from competitor websites, pricing pages, changelogs, and documentation. Feed the findings into the competitor-alternatives skill to structure them into a standardized feature matrix. Use the data-analysis skill to produce visual comparison charts for stakeholder presentations.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
1. Define competitors and feature categories
Tell your AI agent:
We compete in the project management space. Our top 5 competitors are listed in /research/competitors.md with their URLs. Research each competitor's current feature set across these categories: task management, time tracking, reporting, integrations, SSO/security, mobile app, and pricing tiers. Check their marketing site, docs, and changelog.
The agent uses web-research to visit each competitor's site and extract structured data.
2. Build the feature comparison matrix
Create a feature matrix comparing our product against all 5 competitors. For each feature, use: ✅ (fully supported), ⚠️ (partial/limited), ❌ (not available), and 🆕 (added in last 90 days). Include the source URL for each data point.
The competitor-alternatives skill organizes the research into:
| Feature | Us | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C |
|---------|-----|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| Kanban boards | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ |
| Gantt charts | ❌ | ✅ | 🆕 | ✅ |
| Built-in time tracking | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| SSO (SAML) | ⚠️ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom reports | ✅ | ✅ | ⚠️ | ❌ |
| Slack integration | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile app (iOS+Android) | ✅ | ✅ | iOS only | ❌ |
3. Identify gaps and opportunities
Based on the feature matrix, list features where we are behind (competitors have it, we don't), features where we lead (we have it, most competitors don't), and features recently launched by competitors (last 90 days).
Gaps (competitors have, we lack):
- Gantt charts: 3 of 5 competitors offer this, including one that just launched it
- SAML SSO: we have partial support, 3 competitors have full implementation
Our advantages:
- Built-in time tracking: only 2 of 5 competitors offer this
- Custom reports: only 1 competitor matches our depth
Recent competitor launches (last 90 days):
- Competitor B added Gantt charts (announced Dec 2024)
- Competitor A launched an AI assistant for task creation (Jan 2025)
4. Generate visual comparison charts
Create a comparison chart showing feature coverage percentage for each competitor. Also make a radar chart comparing our product vs the top 2 competitors across all categories. Export as PNG for the next product review.
The data-analysis skill produces publication-ready charts showing feature parity at a glance.
5. Set up ongoing monitoring
Create a monitoring checklist that I can re-run monthly. It should check each competitor's changelog page, blog, and pricing page for changes. Highlight anything new since the last run on Jan 15, 2025.
The agent generates a reusable prompt and comparison baseline so future runs only surface changes.
Monitoring config saved to /research/competitor-monitor.json
Next run will diff against today's baseline:
- 5 competitors tracked
- 34 features monitored
- Changelog URLs saved for weekly polling
- Alerts for: new features, pricing changes, new competitors in space
6. Generate a stakeholder-ready presentation
Create a slide deck with the feature comparison table, a radar chart of our product vs top 2 competitors, and the gap/opportunity summary. Use our brand colors and export as PDF.
The data-analysis produces a clean five-slide deck: market overview, feature matrix, radar comparison, gap analysis, and recommended roadmap priorities — ready for the next product review meeting.
Real-World Example
Suki is a product manager at a 25-person B2B startup. Before this workflow, competitive intelligence lived in a stale spreadsheet last updated two months ago. Suki asks the agent to build a feature matrix across five competitors. In 15 minutes she has a sourced comparison table, a gap analysis, and charts ready for the quarterly product review. The CEO asks about SSO — Suki has the answer instantly with source links. The team decides to prioritize Gantt charts after seeing three competitors already offer them. Monthly re-runs take five minutes and flag new competitor features within days of launch.