Here’s your chance to show why your company will win amidst a sea of competitors. This slide is as much about demonstrating your understanding of your customer as it is about listing your competition.
Remember: Competition can be a good thing! Having multiple companies competing in a space shows that vertical is poised for growth. Competition can be a strong signal of product market fit.
NEVER say that you don’t have competition. Even if there are no other players in the space (unlikely), your competition is the status-quo and overcoming consumer behavior.
By way of an example, I started my career in a biotech startup. We developed a novel drug that could do something that no other drug on the market could do. But, this doesn’t mean we didn’t face competition: Our main competition was how doctors had been handling the problem for decades before our drug. Even if drugs are approved, you still need to overcome the hurdle of getting hospitals to adopt your drug.
In the above example, our competition was the status-quo. Think critically about how your target customers are currently dealing with the problem. Your “competition” may not be as simple as other companies trying to do what you do.
The Competitive Landscape slides above are the two most popular visual representations of your competition. Pick your favorite, or build your own!
First, you must select the criteria you will use to compare and contrast your company from your competitors. These criteria should be the features and solutions that your customers care most about. Take Dropbox for instance, their comparison criteria were: