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Scan a Market or Competitor Fast

When to use this

You've been gathering scraps about a market or a rival. A few links, some notes from a call, a screenshot of their pricing page. It's a pile, not a picture. You need a fast first read before a meeting, a board prep, or a gut check on a new bet.

Use this when you want that pile turned into a clean, structured scan you can react to. The tool does the sorting. You bring the judgment — what's reliable, and what it all means.

The prompt

You are helping an executive get a fast first read on a market or competitor. Turn the raw material below into a structured scan.

Structure it as:
1. Snapshot — three or four sentences. What is this market or company, and why does it matter to me right now?
2. What stands out — the three or four most notable points from the material I gave you.
3. Strengths and weaknesses — a short two-column read, based only on what's in the notes.
4. Open questions — what I'd need to find out before I could act on this.
5. Confidence flags — mark any claim you're unsure about, or that looks like it might be out of date.

Rules:
- Use mainly the material I provide. If you add general context from your own knowledge, label it clearly as "[general context — verify]" so I know to check it.
- Do not invent numbers, dates, market sizes, or funding figures. If a key fact is missing, say so under "Open questions" instead of guessing.
- Flag anything that may have changed since your training — pricing, headcount, leadership, funding.
- Plain, direct language. No hype.

Material:
[PASTE YOUR RAW NOTES AND LINKS — call notes, pricing, product pages, articles, your own observations. Mark anything you already know is dated.]

Before and after

Before — the pile you'd paste in:

  • Competitor: Northwind, sells scheduling software to clinics
  • Their pricing page: $49/user/month, was $39 last I checked
  • Heard on a call they just raised a Series B, maybe $30M? not sure
  • Customers love the calendar, complain support is slow
  • We're cheaper but our onboarding is clunky
  • Article said the clinic-software market is "growing fast"

After — the kind of scan it produces:

Snapshot. Northwind is a scheduling tool for clinics, positioned a tier above us on price. It matters now because they appear to have fresh funding and are pushing upmarket, into our space. The read below is based on your notes; several figures need verifying before you act.

What stands out - Priced at $49/user/month — above us, and reportedly up from $39, which may signal confidence or pressure. - A possible Series B (~$30M, unconfirmed) would give them runway to outspend us on growth. - Their calendar is a loved feature; their support is a known weak spot.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses
Strong core calendar Slow support
Apparent new funding Higher price than you

Open questions - Is the ~$30M Series B real, and when did it close? - Is $49 the live price, or a plan tier? Confirm on their site. - How big is the clinic-scheduling market, really? "Growing fast" isn't a number.

Confidence flags - Funding amount and round: unconfirmed, from a call. - Pricing: may be out of date — verify directly.

Make it yours

  • Frame it against you. Add "Compare each point to my company, whose pitch is [PASTE]."
  • Aim it at a decision. Add "I'm deciding whether to enter this market — sharpen the scan toward that call."
  • Ask for the bear case. Add "End with the strongest reason this competitor beats us."
  • Set the depth. "Keep it to half a page" for a gut check, or "go deep on their pricing" when that's the crux.
  • Hand it a transcript. Paste a raw call or interview and add "Pull the market signals out of this."

Watch out for

  • Treat every fact as unverified until you check it. The model may not have current data, and it can state stale or made-up facts with total confidence. A funding round, a price, a headcount, a market size — any of it can be wrong. Verify anything that drives a decision against the live source.
  • A scan is a starting point, not the verdict. The structure makes a messy pile readable. It does not make the underlying facts true. The strategic conclusion is yours to draw.
  • Watch for confident filler. If you gave it thin material, it may pad with plausible-sounding generalities. Push back: "Only use what I gave you." Then judge what's actually solid.