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SOP 38 of 100 · Solution Validation
Competitor Solution Analysis SOP
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Time
- 1-2 weeks
- Cost
- $0-300
- Best for
- Founders entering a market where customers already use something, even a spreadsheet
- Tools
- G2, Capterra, App Store and Google Play reviews, Reddit, Similarweb, Wayback Machine, Airtable
- Measure
- Job step coverage, Complaint share in reviews, Switching triggers found, Gap confirmation by customers
A competitor solution analysis SOP shows you exactly where today's products fail the customer, so your solution fills a real gap instead of copying what already works. It takes one to two weeks. You use each alternative yourself, from sign-up to finished job, score how well it handles every step, and read what paying users complain about. The goal is a single, provable gap: a step in the customer's job that every current option handles badly and that customers care about.
What is competitor solution analysis and when should you use it?
Competitor solution analysis compares how existing solutions get the customer's job done, step by step. It uses the job map from Lance Bettencourt and Anthony Ulwick, published in Harvard Business Review, which splits any job into eight steps: define, locate, prepare, confirm, execute, monitor, modify and conclude. You score every competitor on each step and look for the step where all of them are weak.
Use this SOP:
- After you confirm the problem and before you design your solution.
- When customers say "I use X, but..." and you need to know what follows the "but".
- When an investor asks why customers would switch. A scored gap with review evidence answers that.
- When you are tempted to build "X, but better". This SOP tells you which part of X is worth beating.
Keep the scope tight. Finding who the competitors are belongs to the competitor identification SOP. A full feature grid belongs to feature comparison, and screen-by-screen design critique belongs to competitor user experience analysis. This SOP answers one question: where in the job do all current solutions fail?
What do you need before you start?
- A confirmed problem and customer profile, ideally with interview notes.
- A list of alternatives from the competitor identification SOP or from asking customers what they use today.
- Free trials or demo accounts for each product, and $0 to $300 for paid tiers you must try.
- An Airtable base or spreadsheet with one tab for scoring and one for reviews.
- Five to seven customers you can call at the end to confirm the gap.
How do you run it, step by step?
1. Write the customer's job and its steps
Describe the job in one line: "Invoice a client for a translation project." Then fill in the eight job map steps in your customer's terms. Skip steps that don't apply. The job map stays the same for every competitor, which makes the scores comparable.
2. Pick three to five alternatives
Include two direct competitors, one indirect option (a general tool people bend to the job) and the DIY workaround, such as a spreadsheet and email. Customers compare you with all of them, and the spreadsheet is the hardest one to beat because it is free and familiar.
3. Complete the job in each one yourself
Sign up and do the whole job with realistic data. Time each step, take screenshots and note every moment you get stuck. Using the product beats reading its website, because marketing pages never show the awkward parts.
4. Score every step
Score each alternative per job step: 2 handles it well, 1 handles it with effort, 0 doesn't handle it. Add a comment for every 0 and 1. Put the scores in a grid with job steps as rows and alternatives as columns.
5. Mine 50 reviews per product
Pull reviews from G2, Capterra, the app stores and Reddit threads. Read the 2 and 3 star reviews first: these come from people who stayed and still complain, which tells you what almost works. Tag each complaint with a job step.
6. Collect switching triggers
Search reviews and forums for "switched from", "moved to" and "cancelled because". These phrases show what finally pushed people to change. A switching trigger is a gap that already cost a competitor a customer.
7. Write the gap statement and test it with customers
Write one sentence: "When [customer] tries to [job step], every current option [fails how], so they [workaround]." Read it to five to seven customers and ask if it is true for them and what it costs them. Their reaction is the final test.
Template you can copy
JOB MAP SCORING GRID (2 = handles well, 1 = with effort, 0 = not at all)
Job: [one line]
Job step | Competitor A | Competitor B | Indirect option | DIY workaround
Define | | | |
Locate | | | |
Prepare | | | |
Confirm | | | |
Execute | | | |
Monitor | | | |
Modify | | | |
Conclude | | | |
Weakest step overall: ______
REVIEW LOG
Product | Source | Stars | Date | Job step | Complaint (exact words) | Switching trigger Y/N
GAP STATEMENT
When [customer] tries to [job step], every current option [fails how],
so they [workaround], which costs them [time / money / risk].
Confirmed by: __ of __ customers
Worked example: invoicing for freelance translators
This example is illustrative. A founder wants to build invoicing software for freelance translators. She compares two generic invoicing tools, a translation agency portal and the common workaround: a spreadsheet plus a word processor template.
| Job step | Generic tool 1 | Generic tool 2 | Agency portal | Spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare (calculate the fee) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Execute (create invoice) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Monitor (track payment) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Modify (credit notes) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
The prepare step was weak everywhere. Translators price per word, with discounts for repeated segments that their translation software reports, and none of the tools read those reports. Of 200 reviews she tagged, 37 (18.5%) complained about per-word pricing or manual calculation. Six of seven translators confirmed the gap statement, and four described spending an evening a month on it. She designed her solution around the fee calculation and kept the rest of the invoicing plain.
What should you measure, and when do you stop?
| Metric | Pass signal | Warning signal |
|---|---|---|
| Job step coverage | One step scores 0 or 1 for every alternative | Every step has at least one product scoring 2 |
| Complaint share in reviews | 15%+ of tagged complaints hit the same step | Complaints spread thinly across all steps |
| Switching triggers found | 3+ reviews name the same reason for leaving | No switching stories at all |
| Gap confirmation by customers | 5+ of 7 customers confirm and name a cost | Customers shrug: "it's fine" |
Stop when the gap is confirmed by customers, or after two weeks. If no step is weak everywhere, the market is served well enough on function, and you need a different edge, such as price, a niche or service. In that case, look at competitive positioning analysis before going further.
Which mistakes should you avoid?
- Analysing from websites only. Marketing pages show strengths. Use the product to find the weaknesses.
- Ignoring the spreadsheet. For many early markets, the DIY workaround is the real competitor.
- Reading only 1 star reviews. Angry reviewers left. Mixed reviewers stayed, and their complaints show what customers tolerate and what they'd pay to fix.
- Listing every gap. Ten small gaps make a confusing product. Pick the one customers confirm.
- Confusing a gap with a market. A gap nobody pays to fill is a curiosity. The customer check settles it.
How can AI speed this up?
AI assistants can tag hundreds of reviews by job step and complaint in minutes once you paste them in with your job map. Ask for exact quotes with every tag so you can check them. AI can also summarize forum threads about switching. The human check: you use each product yourself, because AI can't feel the moment a workflow becomes annoying, and you read a sample of the tagged reviews to catch mislabels.
When the gap is clear, the free SWOT analysis generator helps you place it in a wider view of strengths and threats. The Fe/male Switch startup game lets first-time founders practise this kind of analysis as part of building a startup.
Where does this SOP fit in your validation plan?
Competitor solution analysis sits in Solution Validation, between confirming the problem and designing your answer.
- Before: list who solves the problem today with competitor identification and check how customers cope with existing solutions analysis.
- Alongside: if you need detail on screens and flows, run competitor user experience analysis.
- After: place your solution against rivals with competitive positioning analysis and a competitive SWOT analysis.
Browse every Solution Validation SOP.
FAQ
How many competitors should I analyse?
Three to five, including at least one indirect option and the DIY workaround. More than five turns into a research project and slows the decision.
Where can I find honest competitor reviews?
G2 and Capterra for business software, the App Store and Google Play for apps, Trustpilot for consumer services, and Reddit threads for unfiltered opinions. Read the 2 and 3 star reviews first.
What if there are no competitors?
There are always alternatives, even if it is a spreadsheet, an assistant or doing nothing. Analyse those. If customers truly do nothing, check whether the problem hurts enough to pay for.
How is this different from a feature comparison?
A feature comparison lists what each product has. Competitor solution analysis scores how well each one gets the customer's job done, step by step, and confirms the weakest step with customers.