{
 "id": "15.4",
 "title": "Competitive intelligence",
 "department": "Product marketing",
 "department_slug": "product-marketing",
 "direction": null,
 "branded": false,
 "status": "draft",
 "owner": "Param",
 "last_verified": "Mon Oct 26",
 "holds": "Agencies, tools, freelancers and AI tools on the same rows, plus a battlecard for each",
 "urls": {
  "html": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/product-marketing/competitive-intelligence",
  "markdown": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/product-marketing/competitive-intelligence.md",
  "json": "https://handbook.joinsquareup.com/product-marketing/competitive-intelligence.json"
 },
 "other_directions": [],
 "tldr": {
  "headline": "We compare jobs, not brands, because no named rival list exists yet",
  "points": [
   {
    "icon": "map",
    "text": "Seven alternatives founders use instead, from doing it themselves to review apps and analytics."
   },
   {
    "icon": "warn",
    "text": "No named tool, price or feature of another company is recorded in our sources."
   },
   {
    "icon": "eye",
    "text": "Weak spots today: we do not post, schedule, run ads or measure in v1."
   },
   {
    "icon": "chat",
    "text": "One battlecard per category for calls, never on a public page with a name."
   },
   {
    "icon": "lock",
    "text": "If a founder asks for a head to head, offer a read of their store."
   }
  ],
  "stat": null,
  "decide": "Which named tools do we research first, and do we spend on it?",
  "mood": "waiting"
 },
 "sources": [
  "brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-5 alternatives, alongside; b-6 where-we-sit",
  "brand-directions/book/content/i.js i-4 alternatives, differences",
  "brand-directions/_research/sources.md:1-43, product-audit.md:1-385: no competitor research in either",
  "brew origin/main a559de6: SCOPE.md:11-20, 36-39; ai-standing.js:1-6; team-brief.js:20",
  "brew working tree docs/pricing.md:44, untracked",
  "memory: treg-usage-rules, no-spend-while-building, fb-ad-library-mcp"
 ],
 "open_questions": [
  "**Which named tools do we research first?** No source names any. Proposal: the first three that design partners name in calls, nothing before.",
  "**May we spend on competitor research?** Proposal: free pages and the Ad Library only until the partnership ends.",
  "**Do we ever publish a comparison page?** Proposal: no; compare jobs in public and offer a read instead.",
  "**Is our team a competitor to agencies, since it ships briefs?** Proposal: no; say our team is one of the people a brand can hand off to, priced per brief, never bundled."
 ],
 "parts": {
  "Answer": "How Brew compares with the ways a store gets its marketing done today, by job and never by brand name in public; we have no sourced list of named competitors yet, so this page holds the category grid and one battlecard per category, and the named list waits on research Param approves.",
  "Today": "### What we know, and what we do not\n\n- The research folder holds notes on Octalysis and Duolingo only; there is no competitor research in it [src: brand-directions/_research/sources.md:1-43]\n- The product audit is an audit of our own build, not of rivals [src: brand-directions/_research/product-audit.md:1-385]\n- The old book says the same: no sourced competitor list, so it compares categories [src: brand-directions/book/content/i.js i-4 alternatives]\n- No named tool, price or feature of another company is recorded anywhere in our sources. Nothing below names one.\n\n### The categories founders use instead\n\n| Alternative | What they get | Where it falls short for the weekly job | How we sit with it | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|---|\n| Doing it yourself | Full control, your own voice | Tired hours, a blank page every week, no time to read reviews, rivals or AI answers | We do the reading and the first draft | [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-5 alternatives] |\n| A marketing agency | Strategy and making | Needs a brief, its own calendar, a monthly cost | We hand them a brief written for an agency | [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-5 alternatives] [src: brew/team-brief.js:20] |\n| A freelancer | Making on demand | Waits to be told what to make | The brief page gives what, why, words, specs and files | [src: brand-directions/book/content/i.js i-4 alternatives] |\n| A marketing hire | Brand knowledge | The same reading and planning load | Plays with proof give them a start they can defend | [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-5 alternatives] |\n| A general AI chat | Fast words | Knows the store only if you paste it in; no proof on what it says | We start from a read of the store and show the source of every number | [src: brand-directions/book/content/i.js i-4 alternatives] [src: brew/SCOPE.md:13] |\n| Design, scheduling and ad apps | Making, posting, running | Do not decide the week | We decide and draft; they can still make and run it | [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-5 alternatives] |\n| Review apps, analytics, social listening | They read one part of the store | They do not draft the work | We read across sources and draft | [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-6 where-we-sit] |\n\n### Where we sit\n\n| | Drafts the work | Does not draft |\n|---|---|---|\n| Reads your store | Brew: reads, writes Plays, drafts, hands off [src: brew/SCOPE.md:11-20] | Review apps, analytics, social listening [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-6 where-we-sit] |\n| Does not read your store | Chat assistants, design apps, agencies working from a brief [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-6 where-we-sit] | Schedulers and ad managers, which run what you give them [src: brand-directions/book/content/b.js b-6 where-we-sit] |\n\n### Our honest weak spots against each\n\n| Weak spot | Who wins on it today | Source |\n|---|---|---|\n| We do not post, schedule or run ads in v1 | Schedulers and ad apps | [src: brew/SCOPE.md:36-38] |\n| We do not measure results in v1 | Analytics tools | [src: brew/SCOPE.md:39] |\n| Finished, polished creative is a paid final, and our team ships briefs per brief | Agencies and freelancers | [src: brew/SCOPE.md:18] [src: brew working tree docs/pricing.md:44] |\n| No brand switcher for agencies | Any tool with many brands in one login | [src: handbook content/product/personas.md] |\n| Reads are capped while we build | Any tool you can sign up for now | [src: brand-directions/book/content/h.js h-6 programme] |\n\n### The product already reads a brand's own rivals\n\nBrew finds each brand's rivals, their ads and how AI answers name them, counted where the shopper named no brand [src: brew/ai-standing.js:1-6]. That is for the brand's rivals. We have never pointed it at our own.",
  "Tomorrow": "| Item | Version | Tag |\n|---|---|---|\n| A sourced list of the named tools design partners use, with each one's own pricing page and date read | v1 | New |\n| Battlecards per category | v1 | Stays |\n| Never a named rival in public, on a slide or in the product's own marketing | v1 to v4 | Stays [src: brand-directions/book/content/i.js i-4 alternatives] |\n| Against schedulers: we post only after your yes, from the Play that decided it | v2 | Changes |\n| Against analytics: we show what worked against the Play that made it | v3 | Changes |\n| Against ad autopilots: rules and a budget you set, with undo | v4 | Changes |",
  "How we do it": "1. In every design partner call, ask: which tools, people or agencies do you use for marketing today, and what does each cost you. Log the answer in the [interview and call library](/research-and-insights/interview-and-call-library).\n2. When a named tool comes up twice, read its own site and pricing page, free, and add a row to a named list here with the date read and the page address.\n3. Never call a paid source for this without asking Param first [src: memory no-spend-while-building] [src: memory treg-usage-rules].\n4. Their ads can be read free from the public Ad Library through our local scraper [src: memory fb-ad-library-mcp].\n5. Compare the job, never the brand, in anything a customer reads.\n6. If a founder asks for a head to head, say we do not publish comparisons and offer a read of their store.\n\n### Battlecards\n\nOne card per category. Use in a call; never on a public page with a name in it.\n\n#### Doing it yourself\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | I just do it myself on Sunday night |\n| What is true | They know the brand best and pay nothing |\n| What we say | Keep your voice. We read the reviews, ads and AI answers you never get to, and hand you a first draft with its proof |\n| Show | One card's proof sheet from their own read |\n| Never say | You are doing it wrong |\n\n#### An agency\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | Our agency handles this |\n| What is true | Agencies make and ship; we do not in v1 |\n| What we say | Keep them. We give them a better brief every week, written for an agency |\n| Show | A brief with To set to your agency |\n| Never say | Replace your agency |\n\n#### A freelancer\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | I have a designer for this |\n| What is true | A freelancer ships fast on a clear job |\n| What we say | We decide what to make and hand them one page with the words, specs and files |\n| Show | The read only brief page on a phone |\n| Never say | You will not need them |\n\n#### A general AI chat\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | I already use ChatGPT |\n| What is true | It writes fast when you give it the facts |\n| What we say | It only knows what you paste. We read the store first and every number shows where it came from |\n| Show | A card's proof sheet, then the same question asked in a blank chat |\n| Never say | It is worse than ChatGPT |\n\n#### Design, scheduling and ad apps\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | We have tools for posting and ads |\n| What is true | They run the channel well |\n| What we say | They run what you give them. We decide what to give them, and draft it |\n| Show | Today with the week's picks |\n| Never say | We post for you, before v2 ships |\n\n#### Review apps, analytics and listening tools\n\n| | |\n|---|---|\n| When they say | We already see our reviews and numbers |\n| What is true | They read one part well |\n| What we say | We read across them and turn what you see into a drafted Play |\n| Show | A Heard card turned into a draft |\n| Never say | We measure results, before v3 ships |",
  "Numbers": "| Metric | Definition | Where measured | Status |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Alternative named per call | What the founder uses today, by category | Interview and call library | Proposed |\n| Losses to an alternative | Lost deals by the alternative they kept | [Win and loss](/product-marketing/win-and-loss) | Proposed |",
  "Open": "1. **Which named tools do we research first?** No source names any. Proposal: the first three that design partners name in calls, nothing before.\n2. **May we spend on competitor research?** Proposal: free pages and the Ad Library only until the partnership ends.\n3. **Do we ever publish a comparison page?** Proposal: no; compare jobs in public and offer a read instead.\n4. **Is our team a competitor to agencies, since it ships briefs?** Proposal: no; say our team is one of the people a brand can hand off to, priced per brief, never bundled."
 }
}