Workflows
Competitive intelligence for startups: the minimum useful system
A startup does not need an intelligence department. It needs a small evidence loop connected to product, positioning and live deals.
Pick three questions
Good startup questions are concrete: Who is moving into our customer segment? Which claim is becoming table stakes? What packaging appears in deals? What new workflow could make our wedge less relevant?
Assign each question an owner. If nobody can act on the answer, it should not drive daily collection.
Use a deliberately small watchlist
Include direct deal competitors, one or two adjacent alternatives and one or two emerging approaches. Larger lists create more review work precisely when the team has the least spare time.
Add a company only when you can explain the decision it might change.
Combine automation with founder judgment
Automate collection, deduplication and evidence retention. Keep human judgment at the point where observations become a market conclusion. The founder or functional owner should be able to reject the interpretation without losing the source record.
Review one page, not another dashboard
A weekly brief can contain the move, evidence, implication, confidence and owner. Urgent changes can interrupt the cadence, but most activity should wait. At the monthly review, remove sources and companies that produced no useful decisions.
Working checklist
Use this in the next review.
- Choose three recurring intelligence questions.
- Monitor five to eight strategically distinct companies.
- Prioritize pricing, positioning, launches and key people.
- Keep sources attached to every conclusion.
- Review one short brief each week.
- Expand only when existing coverage changes decisions.