Vantage-Discover — Build the Real Competitor Set

The most common failure in competitive analysis is analyzing the wrong set — the competitors leadership names instead of the ones the buyer actually considers. This skill builds the set from market evidence, tiers it, and caps the deep-dive to a workable size.

Web-only. See ../vantage/references/data-sources.md for sourcing patterns.

Method

1. Anchor on the subject brand. WebFetch its homepage; extract category, ICP,

and the buyer problem it solves. The set is "who else solves this for this buyer."

1. Cast the net across five lenses (each surfaces a different rival type):

• SERP rivals — run 5–10 buyer queries for the category; collect domains that

repeat on page 1. These are who the buyer sees.

• "Alternatives / vs" mining — "<brand>" alternatives, "<brand>" vs,

best <category> 2026. Read the listicles and G2 "compare" tabs.

• Review-site neighbors — on G2/Capterra, the "competitors" and "compare"

modules name the considered set directly.

• Ad rivals — who bids on the brand term (Google Ads Transparency) and who

runs ads on the same angles (Meta Ad Library keyword search).

• Emerging/funded — <category> startup funding 2025 2026; catch entrants

before they're obvious.

1. De-dupe and classify each candidate into a tier (below).
2. Tier and cap. Keep the top 5–7 for deep-dive by relevance to the

subject's actual buyer; list the long tail so nothing's lost.

Tiering model

Don't forget the indirect tier. For many growth/sales motions the biggest competitor is "the buyer keeps doing it manually," and the messaging must beat that.

Relevance scoring (to pick the deep-dive set)

Score each candidate 0–3 on: buyer overlap, problem overlap, how often it co-appears (SERP/reviews/deals), and momentum. Sum → rank → take the top 5–7. Show the scores so the cut is defensible.

Output

# Competitor Set — [Subject Brand]
*Category: [category] · Buyer: [ICP] · Prepared [date]*

## Deep-dive set (top N by relevance)
| Competitor | Tier | Buyer overlap | Why in set | Relevance |
|-----------|------|---------------|-----------|-----------|

## Long tail (named, not deep-dived)
[list with one-line each]

## Notable absences / blind spots
[markets/segments we couldn't see; sources that blocked fetching]

## Recommended deep-dive set → hand to /vantage
[the 5–7 to run channel teardowns on]

Then offer: "Run the full /vantage teardown on this set?"