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Understand your customers

How do I research my competitors properly?

Go beyond their homepage: sign up, read their reviews, their churned-customer complaints, their job posts, and their pricing page. The gold is in what their customers wish were different, that's your wedge. Study them to find the gap, not to copy their roadmap.

Go deeper

2 resources, 1 link-checked.

🛠️ Tool
✓ Link checked Freemium Beginner

The fastest way to mine real customer complaints and comparisons about your competitors, the negative reviews are a free roadmap to your differentiation. A staple competitive-research tool.

G2, software reviews and competitive comparison

From G2 by G2 ongoing

  • Read competitor reviews (especially critical ones) to find unmet needs
  • Compare feature grids and pricing across alternatives quickly
  • Spot which segments love or hate a competitor
  • Use recurring complaints as your wedge into the market
Open g2.com →
📖 Book
Paid Intermediate

The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns competitive research into a market advantage.

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

From aprildunford.com by April Dunford ~200 pages

  • Your real competition is often the status quo, not another product
  • Start positioning from the competitive alternatives your buyers consider
  • Differentiated value comes from your unique capabilities vs those alternatives
  • Choose the market frame that makes your strengths obvious
Open aprildunford.com →

Terms in this answer

Wedge

People also ask

What if my customers say they have no competitors, is that good or bad? 2 → What tools should I use to track competitors and market landscape? 2 → How do I position against a bigger, better-funded competitor? 2 → How do I size the market and figure out if it's big enough? 2 → How do I understand the competitive landscape for an Indian market specifically? 2 → How do I do competitive research when my competitors are private and share almost no public numbers? 3 →

Also in How Founders Use AI

How founders actually use AI for this, over in Market Research.

How do founders validate a startup idea with AI in a weekend? 20 → How do I use AI to map competitors, pricing, and positioning? 22 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Who you sell to, and why they care, our GTM track.

What is an ICP and how is it different from a persona? People use both words for the same thing. 4 → What is positioning in plain English, and why does everyone insist we have got it wrong? 3 →
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