Framework for building competitive landscape decks — market positioning, competitor deep-dives, comparative analysis, strategic synthesis. Use when the user asks for a competitive landscape, competitor analysis, peer comparison, market positioning assessment, strategic review, or investment memo dec

Competitive Landscape Mapping Build a complete competitive analysis deck. This is a two phase process: gather requirements and get outline approval first, then build. Environment check This skill works in both the PowerPoint add in and chat. Identify which you're in before starting — the mechanics differ, the workflow doesn't: Add in — the deck is open live; build slides directly into it. Chat — generate a .pptx file (or build into one the user uploaded). Everything below applies in both. Phase 1 — Scope the analysis Competitive analysis means different things to different people. Before any research or slide building, use ask user question to pin down what they actually want. Don't guess — a 20 slide peer benchmarking deck and a 5 slide market map are both "competitive analysis" and take completely different shapes. Gather in one round if you can (the tool takes up to 4 questions): Scope — Single target company with competitors around it? Or multi company side by side with no protagonist? Competitor set — Which companies are in scope? If the user names them, use exactly those. If they say "the usual suspects," propose a set and confirm. Audience and depth — Quick read for someone already in the space, or a full primer? This drives whether you need market sizing, industry economics, and history — or can skip to the comparison. Investment context — Do they need bull/base/bear scenarios and signposts? That's Step 9 below; skip it if this is a strategic review rather than an investment thesis. If they've uploaded an Excel/CSV with competitor data, confirm which columns map to which metrics before you start pulling numbers. Source file fidelity matters: use values exactly as given, don't recalculate or re round. Phase 2 — Outline, approve, then build Do not create slides until the outline is approved. Propose slide titles and one line content notes, present them to the user, get a yes. A competitive deck is 10 20 slides of interlocking content — rebuilding because slide 4 was wrong is expensive. The outline is the cheap iteration point. When proposing the outline, ask user question works well for the structural decisions: which positioning visualization (2×2 matrix / radar / tier diagram — Step 5 below), how to group competitors (by business model / segment / posture — Step 4). These are taste calls the user likely has an opinion on. Standards — apply throughout Prompt fidelity When the user specifies something, that's a requirement, not a suggestion: Slide titles and section names — exact wording. If they say "Overview and Competitive Scope," don't swap in "FY2024 Competitive Landscape." Chart vs. table — not interchangeable. "Embedded chart" means a real chart object with data labels on the bars/slices, not a formatted table. Complete data series — if they list 7 competitors, include all 7. If they show 2015 2025, include every year. Exact values and ratios — "surpasses DoorDash 4:1, Lyft 8:1" means those ratios, not "7.6x Lyft." Source quality, when sources conflict 1. 10 Ks / annual reports (audited) 2. Earnings calls / investor presentations (management commentary) 3. Sell side research (analyst estimates, useful for private company sizing) 4. Industry reports (McKinsey, Gartner — market sizing, trends) 5. News (recent developments only; verify against primary sources) Data comparability All competitor metrics from the same fiscal year; flag exceptions explicitly ("FY24" vs "H1 2024") Same metric definitions across competitors Convert to USD for international; note the exchange rate and date Missing data shows as " " or "N/A" with an "[E]" flag for estimates — never blank Every number has a citation: "[Company] [Document] ([Date])" Design Slide titles are insights, not labels. "Scale leaders pulling away from niche players" — not "Competitive Analysis." Signposts are quantified. "Margin below 40%" — not "margins decline." Ratings show the actual. "●●● $160B" — not just "●●●." Charts are real chart objects — not text tables dressed up to look like charts. Typography — set explicitly, don't rely on defaults: Slide titles: 28 32pt bold Section headers: 18 20pt bold Body text: 14 16pt (never below 14pt) Table text: 14pt Sources/footnotes: 14pt, gray Same element type = same size throughout the deck Charts: Legend inside the chart boundary, not floating over the plot area Right side legend for pies (≤6 slices), bottom legend for line/bar (≤4 series) More than 6 series → split into multiple charts or use a table Pie charts show percentages on slices, not just in the legend Tables: Light gray header row, bold Right align numbers, left align text Enough cell padding that text doesn't touch borders Color: 2 3 colors max. Muted — navy, gray, one accent. Same color meanings throughout. What's strict vs. flexible Always Case by case Exact titles/sections when user specifies Creative titles when they don't Chart when user says chart; table when they say table Visualization type when unspecified Every competitor/data point they list Number of competitors when unspecified Exact values when specified Rounding when precision unspecified Titles fit without overflow Number of competitor categories No overlapping elements Which dimensions to compare Analysis workflow Step 0 — Industry defining metrics Before anything else: what 3 5 metrics does this industry actually run on? Use these consistently across every competitor. Industry Key metrics SaaS ARR, NRR, CAC payback, LTV/CAC, Rule of 40 Payments GPV, take rate, attach rate, transaction margin Marketplaces GMV, take rate, buyer/seller ratio, repeat rate Retail Same store sales, inventory turns, sales per sq ft Logistics Volume, cost per unit, on time delivery %, capacity utilization Industry not listed — pick the metrics investors and operators benchmark on. Step 1 — Market context Size, growth, drivers, headwinds. With sources. Correct: "Embedded payments is $80 100B in 2024, growing 20 25% CAGR (McKinsey 2024)" Wrong: "The market is large and growing rapidly" Step 2 — Industry economics Map how value flows. Approach depends on industry structure: Vertically structured — value chain layers, typical margin at each Platform/network — ecosystem participants, value flows between them Fragmented — consolidation dynamics, margin differences by scale Step 3 — Target company profile Multi segment companies add a breakdown: Note corporate costs if applicable Step 4 — Competitor mapping Group by whichever lens fits (this is a good ask user question decision if the user hasn't specified): By business model — platform / vertical / horizontal By segment — enterprise / SMB / consumer By posture — direct / adjacent / emerging By origin — incumbent / disruptor / new entrant Step 5 — Positioning visualization Type When 2×2 matrix Two dominant competitive factors Radar/spider Multi factor comparison Tier diagram Natural clustering into strategic groups Value chain map Vertical industries Ecosystem map Platform markets See references/frameworks.md for 2×2 axis pairs by industry. Step 6 — Competitor deep dives Two tables per competitor. Metrics: Qualitative: Step 7 — Comparative analysis Step 8 — Strategic context M&A transactions (multiples, rationale), partnership trends, capital raising patterns, regulatory developments. See references/schemas.md for the M&A transaction table format. Step 9 — Synthesis Moat assessment — rate each competitor Strong / Moderate / Weak on: Moat What to assess Network effects User/supplier flywheel strength; cross side vs same side Switching costs Technical integration depth, contractual lock in, behavioral habits Scale economies Unit cost advantages at volume; minimum efficient scale Intangible assets Brand, proprietary data, regulatory licenses, patents Required synthesis elements: Durable advantages (hard to replicate) — map to moat categories Structural vulnerabilities (hard to fix) Current state vs. trajectory For investment contexts (skip if the Phase 1 scoping said no): Quality checklist Before finishing: Prompt fidelity Slide titles match what the user specified, verbatim Charts where they said chart; tables where they said table Every competitor/year/data point they listed is present Exact values and formats as specified Data consistency Source file values extracted directly, not recalculated Same metric shows the same value on every slide it appears Same decimal precision as the source Layout Titles fit without overflow No overlapping elements All text within containers, no clipping Content Every number has a citation All metrics from the same fiscal period (or flagged) Slide titles state insights, not topics Charts are real chart objects Run standard visual verification checks on every slide — this catches overlaps, overflow, and low contrast text that don't show up when you're reading back the XML.

competitive-analysis