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As a startup advisor, I speak to dozens of startups per month. Competitive Intelligence and Analysis is one of the biggest gaps in knowledge for many entrepreneurs. They do not understand who their competitors are, how to find them, plot them, track them and understand how they differ until it is too late (and eat their lunch in front of them).

The competition did not just go away even if you think you don’t have any because you are in a new market or pushing new product/service. It should not be ignored before starting any venture or project. In fact, before I start any project I look at the competition so I can understand it, find their strategy, strengths, weakness, opportunities, and tactics (SWOT).

Rather than going on a 2000 word rant like I have in the past about how I do this and why you should too, I thought I leave it up to you by simply sharing a few books which can help you research this yourself since you have to do your own homework for your projects and ventures.

While many of the books on this topic out are amazingly out of date, there are a few books about this in the modern business world:

• Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
• Business and Competitive Analysis: Effective Application of New and Classic Methods
• Competitive Intelligence, Analysis and Strategy: Creating Organisational Agility
• Competitive Intelligence for Information Professionals

Questions?