| name | competitor-research |
| description | Run deep research on a single competitor. Produces a dossier with executive summary, position + messaging, status-quo alternatives, key differentiators, pricing position, where-they-win / where-they-lose, threat assessment, and what to watch. Writes to marketing/competitors/MMYY-{competitor-slug}.md. Triggers - "competitor research", "competitive analysis", "research competitor X", "battlecard prep", "analyze [competitor name]" |
competitor-research — Stage 1 research skill
The first skill in the article's Example 1 chain. Reads a competitor URL + name, produces a structured dossier, writes the file to marketing/competitors/MMYY-{slug}.md. Run once per competitor (3-5 competitors is typical for the first cycle). After all per-competitor files exist, run /competitor-aggregate to synthesize the canonical threat matrix.
When to use
- Day 1 of the article's Example 1 ("foundational workflow"): you have a list of 3-5 competitors and need structured intel on each
- Before refreshing
/positioning — positioning must read from current competitor intel
- Before writing battlecards or comparison pages
- Quarterly refresh of any specific competitor that's made a major move (funding, launch, executive change)
When NOT to use
- Aggregating across multiple competitors (use
/competitor-aggregate after this skill produces per-competitor files)
- Building battlecards (use
/sales-enablement — different shape, sales-team-facing)
- ICP research (use
/icp-research)
- General company background unrelated to competition (use
/company-context)
How it works
- Inputs: competitor name + competitor URL (required). Optional: industry context, key differentiator hypothesis you want to test.
- Reads (optional Exa MCP for fresh web data): competitor homepage, pricing page, about page, recent blog posts, recent LinkedIn activity.
- Produces a 12-section dossier (matching the PulseAnalytics example at
marketing/competitors/0526-competitor-a.md):
- Executive summary (3-4 sentences)
- Anchor + category
- Position + messaging
- Status-quo alternatives they position against
- Key differentiators (claimed)
- Pricing position
- Where they win
- Where they lose (your wedge)
- Threat assessment (PRIMARY / DIRECT / STEALTH / LOW / DEFUNCT)
- Win-loss patterns (from your deal history if available)
- What to watch
- Refresh cadence + owner
- Every claim tagged with confidence per
.claude/rules/ontology.md: [VERIFIED: source, url, date], [INFERRED: from X + Y], [ESTIMATED: reasoning], [UNAVAILABLE].
- Writes the file to
marketing/competitors/MMYY-{competitor-slug}.md. MMYY is current month+year (e.g., 0526 for May 2026).
Invoke
/competitor-research Bizible — https://bizible.com
Or open-ended:
/competitor-research analyze our top competitor — Bizible — and write the dossier
Example output (against the PulseAnalytics example seed)
See marketing/competitors/0526-competitor-a.md for a fully-populated example of what this skill produces. Notice:
- Anchor + threat level surfaced in the executive summary
- Claims tagged with confidence levels
[UNAVAILABLE] notation where real data isn't accessible to the skill (e.g., your private win-loss data)- Refresh cadence + owner at bottom
Dependencies
- Reads from:
marketing/positioning/positioning.md (optional — gives the skill context on what differentiation matters); marketing/icp/ICP.md (optional — informs "where they win vs. lose" framing).
- Reads via Exa MCP (optional): competitor's website, recent news, public reviews on G2/Reddit/Trustpilot.
- Writes to:
marketing/competitors/MMYY-{slug}.md
Customization
Change the dimension count or section structure by editing this SKILL.md body. The 12-section default tracks the Genesys ontology (.claude/rules/ontology.md § competitor-intel). Add a custom dimension (e.g., "Open-source posture" if you're in a category where that matters) by appending a new section after section 8.
Where this fits in the Example 1 chain
Day 1-3: /competitor-research × N (this skill) → per-competitor files in marketing/competitors/
Day 4: /competitor-aggregate → synthesizes per-competitor files into the canonical threat matrix
Day 5: /icp-research → reads competitor outputs to inform ICP
After all 3 competitor files exist, run /competitor-aggregate to lock the canonical version.
Refresh cadence
Per competitor: quarterly minimum. Trigger sooner on funding, launch, or repositioning. Use the --refresh flag (when you implement it) to update an existing dossier rather than create a new file.
