Competitor Monitoring

Setup

On first use, read setup.md for integration guidelines.

When to Use

User needs competitive intelligence. Agent tracks competitors, monitors changes, analyzes positioning, and maintains strategic dossiers with pricing, features, and market moves.

Architecture

Memory lives in ~/competitor-monitoring/. See memory-template.md for structure.

~/competitor-monitoring/
├── memory.md           # Status + preferences + active competitors
├── competitors/        # Individual dossiers
│   ├── {company}.md    # Per-competitor intelligence
│   └── ...
├── alerts/             # Triggered alerts
│   └── YYYY-MM-DD.md   # Daily alert log
└── analysis/           # Strategic analyses
    └── {topic}.md      # Comparison reports

Quick Reference

Core Rules

1. Check Dossiers Before Acting

Before any competitor question, load the relevant competitors/{company}.md file. Build on existing intelligence, don't start fresh each time.

2. Track These Signals

3. Alert Priorities

• Critical: Pricing undercut, feature that blocks your advantage
• High: Major feature launch, positioning change
• Medium: Blog posts, minor updates, team changes
• Low: Social activity, routine content

4. Maintain Signal-to-Noise

Don't report everything. Only surface changes that require action or awareness. If nothing actionable happened, say so.

5. Compare Objectively

When analyzing competitors, be honest about their strengths. Acknowledge where they're ahead. False confidence leads to bad strategy.

Framework:

For each competitor, answer honestly:
- Where are they better than us?
- What do their customers love that ours don't have?
- If I were a customer, why would I choose them?

6. Update Dossiers Proactively

After any research or mention of a competitor, update their dossier. Don't wait for explicit instructions.

7. Connect to Strategy

Every observation should connect to "so what?" What does this mean for user's positioning, roadmap, or priorities?

Template:

OBSERVATION: Competitor X launched feature Y
SO WHAT: This means...
→ For our roadmap: [accelerate/deprioritize/ignore]
→ For positioning: [adjust messaging/double down/no change]
→ For sales: [new objection/new advantage/neutral]

Monitoring Patterns

Regular Check-ins

Weekly: Scan pricing pages, homepages, changelogs
Monthly: Deep dive on positioning, feature comparison
Quarterly: Full competitive landscape review

Trigger-Based

• User mentions competitor → refresh dossier
• Industry news → check all relevant competitors
• User launches feature → compare to competitor alternatives

Competitor Dossier Structure

Each competitors/{company}.md contains:

• Company overview (what they do, target market)
• Pricing (current, historical changes)
• Features (core, recent additions)
• Positioning (messaging, differentiation)
• Strengths (honest assessment)
• Weaknesses (opportunities to exploit)
• Recent moves (last 90 days)
• Watch list (what to monitor)

Analysis Types

Head-to-Head

Compare user vs one competitor. Feature matrix, pricing, positioning.

User vs Acme Corp:
- Pricing: We're 40% cheaper for same features
- Features: They have X, we have Y (differentiated)
- Positioning: They target enterprise, we target SMB
→ Our wedge: Simpler and cheaper for smaller teams

Landscape

Map all competitors by segment. Who's premium, who's cheap, who's niche.

Market Map (example):
├── Premium ($500+/mo): BigCorp, EnterpriseCo
├── Mid-market ($100-500): CompetitorA, CompetitorB
├── SMB ($20-100): Us, StartupX
└── Free/Freemium: OpenSourceY
→ Gap: No one owns "professional but affordable"

Trend

How is the competitive space evolving? What's the direction?

• Watch for: New entrants, funding rounds, pivots, acquisitions
• Pattern recognition: Are competitors moving upmarket? Going vertical?

Gap

Where are opportunities nobody's addressing?

• Underserved segments
• Features everyone complains about but nobody fixes
• Adjacent markets competitors ignore

Common Traps

• Vanity metrics obsession → Tracking social followers instead of pricing/features. Social numbers don't predict competitive moves.
• Confirmation bias → Ignoring competitor strengths because you don't want to see them. Honest assessment beats false confidence.
• Information overload → Reporting every blog post and tweet. Filter for actionable signals, not noise.
• Stale dossiers → Intelligence from 6 months ago is worse than no intelligence. Update after every mention.
• Missing indirect competitors → Watching direct rivals but ignoring substitutes. Spreadsheets compete with project management tools.
• Reactive only → Only checking competitors when something breaks. Proactive monitoring catches threats early.
• Single source → Only watching their website. Combine: pricing page, changelog, blog, jobs, social, reviews.

Security & Privacy

Data that stays local:

• All competitor dossiers stored in ~/competitor-monitoring/
• Analysis reports and alert history
• User preferences and monitoring settings

What happens on first use:

• Creates folder ~/competitor-monitoring/ with your data
• Asks how you want monitoring to work (proactive vs on-demand)

This skill does NOT:

• Access competitor internal systems
• Scrape data in violation of ToS
• Store credentials or sensitive tokens
• Send your data externally

Related Skills

Install with clawhub install <slug> if user confirms:

• market-research — broader market analysis
• business — strategic frameworks
• analytics — data analysis patterns

Feedback

• If useful: clawhub star competitor-monitoring
• Stay updated: clawhub sync