Competitors, Comparables & Corpses | Tom Walsham | ProductTank Toronto

Tom Walsham / @tomwalsham - - Sep 20th, 2016

A framework for exploring and exploiting the competitive landscape

Competitors, Comparables

& Corpses

Tom Walsham Director of Product The Working Group @tomwalsham

30 Years writing Code

15 Years working in Digital Product

10 Starts annually with TWG clients

WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO THIS GUY?

Those solving similar problems for a similar user baseCompetitors

Those using similar techniques to solve problems in different domainsComparables

Those who have failed attempting to do exactly what you’re tryingCorpses

EVERYONE ALWAYS FORGETS THE CORPSES

@tomwalsham

01Competitive Landscape

Forget about your competitors, Just focus on your customers.

“ - Jack Ma, Founder Alibaba

@tomwalsham

OBEY THE FINGER

We watch our competitors, learn from

them, see the things that they were

doing for customers and copy those

things as much as we can

“LOOK AT THAT STARE. HE WATCHES EVERYTHING

- Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon

@tomwalsham

I’LL KEEP THE SPORTING ANALOGIES TO A MINIMUM

@tomwalsham

Competition is Interdependent

OK, LAST SPORTS ANALOGY, PROMISE

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Tactics Only Make Sense in Context

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

@tomwalsham

“Steve Blank” Petal Diagram

https://steveblank.com/2013/11/08/a-new-way-to-look-at-competitors/

01Competitors

If you make anything good,

you're going to have competitors …

You can only avoid competition by

avoiding good ideas.

“

VERY ORANGE SLIDE

- Paul Graham, Y Combinator

@tomwalsham

BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO

@tomwalsham

Find Competitors

SOMEONE ACTUALLY HAS THEIR BUSINESS ON A .net DOMAIN

@tomwalsham

Tool : AlternativeTo.net

Search for alternatives, see

ratings and reviews,

targeted traffic source

OR GOOGLE DOCS, FOR THE COOL KIDS

@tomwalsham

Excel is (probably) Your Competitor

BANANA AS USER METAPHOR

@tomwalsham

Learn From Their Users

http://www.artinthepicture.com/shop/Dolk/Shrink/

ALSO USEFUL FOR TRACKING HOW AWESOME YOU ARE YOURSELF

@tomwalsham

Tool : mention.com

Track your competitors

across Social Media, Blogs,

News.

NOT A GREAT EGG POACHING TECHNIQUE

@tomwalsham

Steal Their Customers

ALSO GOOD FOR LOOKING LIKE A KNOWLEDGE NINJA IN MEETINGS

@tomwalsham

Tool : BuiltWith.com

Company Tech Stacks, Find

SaaS Customers, Track

Trends

Caveat : Don’t build someone else’s idea

COVET NOT THY NEIGHBOUR’S TERRIBLE SITCOM STARTUP IDEA

@tomwalsham

BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL VANITY METRICS

@tomwalsham

Caveat : External Data

Are Vanity Metrics

THIS IS A SCREENSHOT FROM F-16 STEALTH FIGHTER. THAT’S THE JOKE

Caveat : Don’t Attempt Stealth Mode @tomwalsham

01Comparables

NOT A GREAT CHOICE OF ILLUSTRATION

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Pattern Matching

HORSEY

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Strategy

RUMOUR : PH ARE TRYING TO CREATE AN AI PRODUCT MANAGER

@tomwalsham

Tool : ProductHunt

Major releases, Indie side

projects, Any Vertical

IT’S LIKE MINORITY REPORT FOR FINANCIAL ANALYSTS

@tomwalsham

User Experience

GOOD PMs BORROW, GREAT PMs …

@tomwalsham

A library of design patterns

for solutions to common

user needs

Tool : ui-patterns.com

UVP : WE’RE LIKE A MAGNET FOR CUSTOMERS

@tomwalsham

Market Positioning

WINNER OF “MOST BRAZEN VALUE PROP” OF 2015

@tomwalsham

Tool : keywordspy.ca

View keywords, ad copy and

ad spend for your

competitors

01Corpses

Corpses / Zombies

A BETTER VISUAL METAPHOR THAN “STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS”

@tomwalsham

THAT’S NO BLUEJAY

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Fresh Corpses

I MISS F***EDCOMPANY.com

@tomwalsham

Tool : TC Deadpool

A collection of dead

startups, reported as they

happen.

ALSO DID NOT HAVE A HEADPHONE JACK

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Timing

HOURS OF FUN LAUGHING AT OLD TWITTER LOGOS

@tomwalsham

Tool : archive.org

View snapshots of websites

over time, dating back to

pre-2000

I PICTURE A BUNCH OF OTHER CATS ALREADY IN THERE

@tomwalsham

Avoid the

Avoidable

A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF ‘SPREADSHEET AS PRODUCT’

@tomwalsham

Tool : autopsy.io

A collection of 130 (and

growing) post-mortems

from startups

See also : https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/startup-failure-post-mortem/

Autopsy.io

USE IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

@tomwalsham

Tool : Twitter

Reach out to individuals, ex-

founders, and connect in

person.

01Conclusions

IF YOU FELL ASLEEP, JUST WRITE THIS DOWN. THAT’S PRETTY MUCH IT

@tomwalsham

A Framework?

• Scavenge from them • Understand your place in history • Don’t make the same mistakes

Competitors• Find all of them • Understand your/their customers • Steal their customers

Comparables• Create Differentiated Products • Borrow their UX • Learn from their Marketing

Corpses

THE “WERE YOU LISTENING” BIT

@tomwalsham

QUESTIONS?

Thanks!

Tom Walsham / @tomwalsham - - Sep 20th, 2016