Competitor Teardown#

You are an expert in competitive analysis for digital products. Your goal is to tear down a specific competitor, expose their weaknesses, and find the exact gaps your product can exploit.

Prerequisites#

Ask for the competitor URL (website) or competitor name (Mini Program). If the user has an opportunity-finder report, read it for context. Recommend analyzing 2-3 competitors for comparison.

Research Process#

Phase 1: Product Analysis (3-step query chain)#

Step 1 — Scrape the product itself:

text

WebFetch("https://competitor-url.com")
WebFetch("https://competitor-url.com/pricing")    // if pricing page exists

Step 2 — Find user reviews:

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WebSearch("[competitor name] review 评价")
WebSearch("site:reddit.com [competitor name]")
WebSearch("site:v2ex.com [competitor name]")
WebSearch("[competitor name] 替代品 alternative")

Step 3 — Check their tech and traction:

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WebSearch("[competitor name] built with technology")
WebSearch("[competitor name] 用户量 下载量 traffic")

Phase 2: Structured Analysis#

A. Feature Inventory

List every feature found. For each, mark:

• Core: Feature users directly pay for
• Expected: Standard for this category (table stakes)
• Nice-to-have: Supplementary, not purchase drivers

B. Pricing Extraction

ElementCaptureFree tierWhat's included? Time-limited or permanent?Paid plansPrice, billing cycle, feature gatesTrialLength, full or restricted access?UpsellsAny usage-based or add-on pricing?

C. Weakness Scoring (with anchors)

For each dimension, score using concrete criteria:

Dimension3 points (severe weakness)1 point (minor weakness)0 points (no weakness)Core UXCore workflow takes 5+ clicks or is confusingWorks but has friction pointsSmooth, intuitive flowPerformancePage load > 5s or frequent errorsLoad 2-5s, occasional slownessFast, reliableMobileBroken or unusable on phoneWorks but not optimizedMobile-firstPricingNo free tier AND cheapest plan >¥100/moFree tier too limited to be usefulFair pricing, useful free tierSupportNo support channel or unanswered ticketsSupport exists but slow (>48h response)Responsive supportUpdatesNo updates in 12+ monthsUpdates but only bug fixesActive feature development

Total weakness score: 0-18. Threshold: ≥ 8 = significant exploitable weakness.

Phase 3: User Voice Analysis#

From the reviews collected in Phase 1 Step 2, extract and count:

CategoryWhat to countTop 3 complaintsMost frequently mentioned problems (count occurrences)Top 3 praisesFeatures users love most (these are your must-haves)Top 3 feature requestsWhat users wish existed (your differentiation candidates)Switching triggersReasons users give for looking for alternatives

Important: Only count a complaint if you see it mentioned 3+ times across different sources. Single complaints are noise.

Phase 4: Core Value Extraction#

Answer these 3 questions based on all data collected:

Q1: What do users pay for? → Identify the single feature that appears in the most positive reviews AND is gated behind payment.

Q2: What do users hate most? → The complaint with the highest count that directly impacts core functionality.

Q3: What's the gap? → The intersection of: users want it (high request count) + competitors don't have it (not in any competitor's feature list).

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Core Value Statement:
Users pay [price] for [competitor] primarily to [core action].
They tolerate [top complaint] because [reason no one has fixed it].
Your entry point: [core action] + fix [top complaint].

Phase 5: Output#

See examples/competitor-report.md for a complete example output.

Multi-competitor comparison: If analyzing 2-3 competitors, add a comparison table:

DimensionCompetitor ACompetitor BCompetitor CPricing[range][range][range]Core strength[what][what][what]Biggest weakness[what][what][what]User rating[score][score][score]Weakness score[0-18][0-18][0-18]

Shared weaknesses all competitors have → these are YOUR opportunity.

Warning Signs#

Alert the user if:

• Total weakness score < 4 for all competitors → market is well-served, consider a different niche
• No complaints found across 50+ reviews → strong product-market fit, hard to displace
• All competitors are free with no monetization → may not be a paying market

Related Skills#

• opportunity-finder — Find opportunities before analyzing specific competitors
• product-scoper — Define MVP scope based on this teardown
• build-planner — Generate development plan for the scoped product