PT Toronto #4: Tom Walsham (Director of Product at TWG) shares his talk “Competitors, Comparables & Corpses : A framework for exploiting the competitive landscape."

1. Tom Walsham / @tomwalsham - - Sep 20th, 2016
A framework for exploring and exploiting
the competitive landscape
Competitors,
Comparables
& Corpses

2. Tom Walsham
Director of Product
The Working Group
@tomwalsham
30 Years writing Code
15 Years working in Digital Product
10 Starts annually with TWG clients
WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO THIS GUY?

3. Those solving similar problems for a
similar user baseCompetitors
Those using similar techniques to solve
problems in different domainsComparables
Those who have failed attempting to do
exactly what you’re tryingCorpses
EVERYONE ALWAYS FORGETS THE CORPSES
@tomwalsham

4. 01
Competitive Landscape

5. Forget about your competitors,
Just focus on your customers.
“
- Jack Ma, Founder Alibaba
@tomwalsham
OBEY THE FINGER

6. We watch our competitors, learn from
them, see the things that they were
doing for customers and copy those
things as much as we can
“
LOOK AT THAT STARE. HE WATCHES EVERYTHING
- Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon
@tomwalsham

7. I’LL KEEP THE SPORTING ANALOGIES TO A MINIMUM
@tomwalsham
Competition is Interdependent

8. OK, LAST SPORTS ANALOGY, PROMISE
@tomwalsham
Tactics Only Make
Sense in Context

9. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
@tomwalsham
“Steve Blank” Petal Diagram
https://steveblank.com/2013/11/08/a-new-way-to-look-at-competitors/

10. 01
Competitors

11. If you make anything good,
you're going to have competitors …
You can only avoid competition by
avoiding good ideas.
“
VERY ORANGE SLIDE
- Paul Graham, Y Combinator
@tomwalsham

12. BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO
@tomwalsham
Find
Competitors

13. SOMEONE ACTUALLY HAS THEIR BUSINESS ON A .net DOMAIN
@tomwalsham
Tool : AlternativeTo.net
Search for alternatives, see
ratings and reviews,
targeted traffic source

14. OR GOOGLE DOCS, FOR THE COOL KIDS
@tomwalsham
Excel is (probably) Your Competitor

15. BANANA AS USER METAPHOR
@tomwalsham
Learn From Their Users
http://www.artinthepicture.com/shop/Dolk/Shrink/

16. ALSO USEFUL FOR TRACKING HOW AWESOME YOU ARE YOURSELF
@tomwalsham
Tool : mention.com
Track your competitors
across Social Media, Blogs,
News.

17. NOT A GREAT EGG POACHING TECHNIQUE
@tomwalsham
Steal Their Customers

18. ALSO GOOD FOR LOOKING LIKE A KNOWLEDGE NINJA IN MEETINGS
@tomwalsham
Tool : BuiltWith.com
Company Tech Stacks, Find
SaaS Customers, Track
Trends

19. Caveat : Don’t
build someone else’s
idea
COVET NOT THY NEIGHBOUR’S TERRIBLE SITCOM STARTUP IDEA
@tomwalsham

20. BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL VANITY METRICS
@tomwalsham
Caveat : External Data
Are Vanity Metrics

21. THIS IS A SCREENSHOT FROM F-16 STEALTH FIGHTER. THAT’S THE JOKE
Caveat : Don’t Attempt Stealth Mode
@tomwalsham

22. 01
Comparables

23. NOT A GREAT CHOICE OF ILLUSTRATION
@tomwalsham
Pattern
Matching

24. HORSEY
@tomwalsham
Strategy

25. RUMOUR : PH ARE TRYING TO CREATE AN AI PRODUCT MANAGER
@tomwalsham
Tool : ProductHunt
Major releases, Indie side
projects, Any Vertical

26. IT’S LIKE MINORITY REPORT FOR FINANCIAL ANALYSTS
@tomwalsham
User
Experience

27. GOOD PMs BORROW, GREAT PMs …
@tomwalsham
A library of design patterns
for solutions to common
user needs
Tool : ui-patterns.com

28. UVP : WE’RE LIKE A MAGNET FOR CUSTOMERS
@tomwalsham
Market
Positioning

29. WINNER OF “MOST BRAZEN VALUE PROP” OF 2015
@tomwalsham
Tool : keywordspy.ca
View keywords, ad copy and
ad spend for your
competitors

30. 01
Corpses

31. Corpses / Zombies
A BETTER VISUAL METAPHOR THAN “STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS”
@tomwalsham

32. THAT’S NO BLUEJAY
@tomwalsham
Fresh Corpses

33. I MISS F***EDCOMPANY.com
@tomwalsham
Tool : TC Deadpool
A collection of dead
startups, reported as they
happen.

34. ALSO DID NOT HAVE A HEADPHONE JACK
@tomwalsham
Timing

35. HOURS OF FUN LAUGHING AT OLD TWITTER LOGOS
@tomwalsham
Tool : archive.org
View snapshots of websites
over time, dating back to
pre-2000

36. I PICTURE A BUNCH OF OTHER CATS ALREADY IN THERE
@tomwalsham
Avoid
the
Avoidable

37. A CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF ‘SPREADSHEET AS PRODUCT’
@tomwalsham
Tool : autopsy.io
A collection of 130 (and
growing) post-mortems
from startups
See also : https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/startup-failure-post-mortem/
Autopsy.io

38. USE IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!
@tomwalsham
Tool : Twitter
Reach out to individuals, ex-
founders, and connect in
person.

39. 01
Conclusions

40. IF YOU FELL ASLEEP, JUST WRITE THIS DOWN. THAT’S PRETTY MUCH IT
@tomwalsham
A Framework?
• Scavenge from them
• Understand your place in history
• Don’t make the same mistakes
Competitors
• Find all of them
• Understand your/their customers
• Steal their customers
Comparables
• Create Differentiated Products
• Borrow their UX
• Learn from their Marketing
Corpses

41. THE “WERE YOU LISTENING” BIT
@tomwalsham
QUESTIONS?

42. Thanks!
Tom Walsham / @tomwalsham - - Sep 20th, 2016