Product Idea: Competitive Analysis Software

Yesterday, the topic of competitive analysis came up.  I quickly Google’d the topic and realized that there was virtually nothing out there.  I am shocked that there isn’t a SaaS product that crawls the web gathering competitive analysis into one spot.  The UX would be pretty straight forward.  In fact, I quickly (15 minutes) whipped up a Balsamiq mockup of what it could be like.  Take a look see and click to get the full screen.

Notice specifically the column on the right is basically your product requirements spec.  The tool would gather information from all over the web on specific competitors.  Additionally, you could enter your own information like product videos or screenshots into the system.  I could imagine custom fields to allow for a product matrix to be built.

Something like would be a staple for almost every web-aware business.  You could charge between $100-$250 a month with no push-back at all.  I seriously think this product could be built in a relatively short time  (less than  year with a small team) and gain traction immediately.  It could be profitable very quickly.

Product Management is a tough trade to do very well.  Competitive analysis is key but often under-prioritized.  With a tool like this, a company could do a much better job of bringing new products to market.

If you do build it and make money, please drop some of those profits into the tip jar on the right.


Comments

8 responses to “Product Idea: Competitive Analysis Software”

  1. Tom Quaile Avatar
    Tom Quaile

    Glen,

    I think this is a great idea and something that I would be very interested in working with you on. If you wanted to work on the UI pieces, I could work on the backend code. We could probably have something up and running pretty quick.
    How about a Flex app running on a Java backend?

    Tom

  2. Glen Lipka Avatar
    Glen Lipka

    Sounds cool! I’ve just started working on a Flex/Air application at Adchemy. Whatever you like most. The first step is just self-provisioning. New Account, New User, Login. Accounts would need multiple users. Creditcard or paypal. Basic SaaS setup

    The image shows the basic screen layout. West is the competitor tree. East is the navigation. Center is the details, which could be tabbed. I can provide mockups for each particular source. You just need to tell me which one you want to work on first.

    In terms of ownership, let’s keep it simple. You own 100% of it. When you make tons of money, just send what you think I deserve. It would also need a name and a URL. Hmm, have to noodle on that. CompetitionEagle.com is available. keepyourenemyclose.com is available too.

  3. Tom Quaile Avatar
    Tom Quaile

    Sounds good. Actually, I have Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4.0 and I’ve been looking for an app idea so I can play with it. I know, Microsoft doesn’t seem like the best option, however they make the security stuff really easy with VS 2010. Also, I’m a C# guy now since that’s pretty much all I do these days. I like Flex, but the back-end stuff with Flex is a nightmare. Adobe really doesn’t have a good option, however you can use Java, PHP, or Ruby. But it’s not always easy to setup.

  4. Glen Lipka Avatar
    Glen Lipka

    There is a designer here who used to be in a VS/Silverlight group. She said using Expression Blend was hard at first, but extremely powerful after she got used to it. Whatever platform you want to use. The more cutting edge and fantastic the better.

  5. Tom Quaile Avatar
    Tom Quaile

    With VS 2010, Expression Blend is built in so no more external app. However, I still prefer to code by hand, old school.

  6. Tom Quaile Avatar
    Tom Quaile

    Oops, I was wrong about Expression Blend being built into VS 2010. They just have a seperate Beta download for the new version of it.

  7. you know, there’s apps like Radian6 already out there that might do what you need.

  8. Glen Lipka Avatar
    Glen Lipka

    Radian6 does I think about 2% of what I am looking for. Maybe 3%? They just are about monitoring social media. I am talking about having feature lists and screenshots and pricing and press releases and roadmaps and customer lists and referrals and scanned print ads. I am talking about complete end-to-end competitive analysis. I am talking about a single system to maintain your competitive intel from from product management to sales and marketing.

Whatya think?