Hey guys, welcome back. 1
Let's get our market intelligence on and start finding some competitors. 2
We cannot carve our beautiful Greek statue of a woman with no arms (always no arms) unless we have a large stone. 3
We cannot carve our beautiful Greek statue of a woman with no arms (always no arms) unless we have a large stone. 4
Terrible metaphor? 5
Yeah, probably, but I think you know what I mean. We first need to channel all of our energy into building a 6
Yeah, probably, but I think you know what I mean. We first need to channel all of our energy into building a 7
list of potential competitors, 8
and once we have that list, then we can start chipping, and carving, and making the critical decisions 9
that we need to make as a product manager. 10
Ok, let's get started. 11
And step one - you probably can't guess it - actually step one for this is capture. 12
And step one - you probably can't guess it - actually step one for this is capture. 13
Now, what do I mean by capture? 14
Well, we need to set up some way of recording the competitors we find. Do that before you even start looking 15
for your first competitor. Whatever you use - Evernote, Google Docs, a piece of paper, 16
you can even talk into Siri and have it record something for you - 17
you just need something set up. For those of you who want to follow along and do everything I do, open up a Google sheet. 18
you just need something set up. For those of you who want to follow along and do everything I do, open up a Google sheet. 19
That's what I'm going to use (or an Excel if you want to), I'm just going to fill column A with the competitors 20
we find. Why do I put them there? You'll find out later. 21
we find. Why do I put them there? You'll find out later. 22
The first thing I'm going to do to this list is I'm going to divide it into two categories, known and unknown. 23
The first thing I'm going to do to this list is I'm going to divide it into two categories, known and unknown. 24
So first one is "known" and then I'm going to leave five spaces. 25
I will explain. 26
"Unknown." 27
Now, for the top category, you can put as many as you want, to be honest, and if you need more than five 28
spots, by all means, you can shift everything else down. 29
But do you know what I mean 30
for "known"? Well, if you're a product manager, presumably you work within a company, and the company is probably 31
prior established. 32
In that scenario, you're probably going to know who your biggest competitors are. 33
These are the people that you probably grumble about in your sleep and theoretically talk trash about 34
to your other employees. 35
These are the people that, when you're driving your car, you end up swerving because you get so angry 36
when you hear their commercial on the radio. 37
You should know these, so put these down. 38
This gives you a leg up. 39
Now, people out there who are doing this as an entrepreneur, you're not going to know this, so you're probably 40
not going to have a "known" category. 41
Now, if you are in a company and you don't know who your known competitors are, 42
number one, don't let your boss know, 43
and number two, try to figure this out as quickly as possible and don't let anyone know that you don't know this. 44
and number two, try to figure this out as quickly as possible and don't let anyone know that you don't know this. 45
I'll give you a quick tip for finding this in roughly four seconds. 46
Second one and second two, go to Google.com. 47
Second three and second four, all I want you to do is type the name of your company and then the word "versus." 48
Second three and second four, all I want you to do is type the name of your company and then the word "versus." 49
So, if I were using the company GoPro, I would say "GoPro versus." 50
There you go. 51
Sony has essentially answered the question for me or at least given me a head start. Right in the search 52
suggestions, Google tells me that GoPro competes with Sony and Canon, and if I were to search, I could find even more, 53
suggestions, Google tells me that GoPro competes with Sony and Canon, and if I were to search, I could find even more, 54
things like Xiaomi, and Contour, and etc. etc. Great, you got it? 55
things like Xiaomi, and Contour, and etc. etc. Great, you got it? 56
Now, put your known right there, however many there are, 57
and then the next section, that's where we're going to go out and start digging for the ones we might not be aware of. 58
and then the next section, that's where we're going to go out and start digging for the ones we might not be aware of. 59
These are the ones that are kind of hiding in the bushes. And as we collect these, we're just going to 60
be typing these down and - like your therapist - passing no judgment on them whatsoever. 61
We are just collecting them, known and unknown. 62
So how exactly do we search for unknown competitors? 63
Well, the way you do that is you focus on problems. Not your problems, crybaby, I'm talking about the problems 64
of your customers. 65
Now, you probably have figured this out already 66
up until the point in this course, because we've said this over and over and over again, all ideas, products, and 67
features, all stem from solving a problem for someone. 68
Even the most frivolous things out there still solve a problem 69
if you sit and think about them long enough. 70
So what you need to do is just stop, take the product or the feature that you are evaluating, and answer 71
the question "What problem does this solve?" 72
And then, when you figure that out, answer the question "For whom?" 73
Now, a pro tip. 74
Don't put "my users" in the second section because that is how you get tunnel vision and you just end up making mistakes. 75
Don't put "my users" in the second section because that is how you get tunnel vision and you just end up making mistakes. 76
We need to get a lot more specific than that. 77
So let's do it with an example, and we'll use GoPro since they're one of my favorite punching bags. 78
What problem does a GoPro Hero Black 4 solve? 79
Well, the problem it solves is probably that people want to film action sequences, or film shots that 80
involve moving objects, cars, paragliders, parachuting, whatnot, and the traditional applications are just not suited for it. 81
involve moving objects, cars, paragliders, parachuting, whatnot, and the traditional applications are just not suited for it. 82
You're not going to be carrying a large camcorder or a DSLR in these situations, you need something 83
with a different form factor. So, to put simply, it is hard to film action sequences with traditional cameras. 84
And "For whom?" 85
Well, mostly thrill seekers, specifically the ones that want to film it. 86
So I'd probably say thrill seekers and/or videographers. 87
Now, once you've identified the problem that it solves and for whom, you're basically halfway there. 88
Ok, now that we have a distilled version of what our product or feature does, we know who it's for and what problem it solves, 89
Ok, now that we have a distilled version of what our product or feature does, we know who it's for and what problem it solves, 90
let's use three different techniques with this information to find competitors. 91
Now, there are obviously tons and tons of ways that you can find competitors, but these are three easy 92
ways that will get you a very large amount of coverage. 93
Be very surprised if you had to use anything else. 94
Fortunately for you, it's easy. Just go to Google.com. 95
Google's the best search engine, they're the best at finding things online, 96
that's why we use them. Now, strategy 97
number one - I want you to channel the type of user you're building your feature or your product for. 98
This is a user that has the problem you've identified. Now, that user probably complains about the problem. 99
How would they complain about the problem? 100
What specific wordings, or phrases, or context would they use when complaining about it online? 101
Try to channel your annoying sister for just a second and think about what have they been saying before 102
that you've seen, you've recorded, you've observed, 103
and is there any other way that they could articulate this or verbalize the problem that you can think of? 104
and is there any other way that they could articulate this or verbalize the problem that you can think of? 105
Take those and write them down. 106
If I was a thrill seeker that really needed a camera to stick to my head, I'd probably be complaining 107
along the lines of "DSLR too big for action shots" or something along the lines of "Keep breaking my 108
camera for" - insert the activity - you know, parachuting, or BMX biking, or skateboarding, or all the different 109
things that GoPro people use these for. Try to write down as many as you can. 110
Once you have the variations down, take those variations and start Googling them. What you'll find are 111
three different things. 112
One, companies that are using that verbiage. Companies often do that, they take their customers or their 113
potential customers, see what they're complaining about, and they'll use the exact same language in their marketing message. 114
potential customers, see what they're complaining about, and they'll use the exact same language in their marketing message. 115
So, when you search for that exact wording, you might find companies that are targeting them. 116
The second thing you'll find are individual people complaining about it online. Now, 117
that itself is not particularly helpful, but when they're complaining about it, chances are there is a 118
conversation around it or resulting from it, 119
and then you can see how other people reacted to it. 120
And in most cases you'll find how other people solved the problem. 121
You can find potential competitors that way. "Can't find cameras small enough for my skateboarding videos." 122
"Oh man, that sucks, have you tried the Sony CyberShot?" 123
"Oh man, that sucks, have you tried the Sony CyberShot?" 124
I'm not really into the cameras. 125
Number three is that you'll find what Google seems to be related to that problem. 126
Google is very good at connecting the dots between what people search for and what they typically are 127
looking for or what web sites they're going to. 128
So you might serendipitously find competitors because Google made the connections for you. Now, as a pro tip, 129
I suggest using this tag in Google. It goes "site:" and then insert the name of a web site you want to search. 130
I suggest using this tag in Google. It goes "site:" and then insert the name of a web site you want to search. 131
Now, what this does is it tells Google to only search a specific web site. 132
Now, why would we use this in this technique? Well, we're trying to channel customers saying something. 133
So we probably want to find individual people actually complaining about it and we want to find places 134
where they're probably discussing it. 135
So if you say "site:" then what you can do is you can insert some well-known sites in communities 136
where people often talk about this stuff. 137
So I'll just give you some of the hot ones, like Reddit.com is a fantastic way of finding consumer 138
conversations. Quora.com is another one. 139
Believe it or not, Yahoo Answers is a decent resource for finding this stuff. 140
Look through the results, prune what you can find out of it, and add it to your list. 141
Now, strategy number two. Strategy number two is to literally describe exactly what your product or feature 142
does - be like a robot and just literally describe it. 143
"Tiny camera fits to your head shoots video," "tiny camera designed for action," "compact camera you can attach 144
to your head that films" - things like that. 145
Now, what you'll get, again, are three different things. 146
One, you'll find companies that use those literal descriptions of their features. 147
Now, they might not use the marketing verbiage or the complaint verbiage that we had in the last strategy 148
but they might use some of the feature descriptions, very literal, "it does this," and that's a great way 149
of picking up competitors you otherwise wouldn't find. 150
Now, the second thing you're going to find is at the top of your search list there's going to be ads 151
and those ads are essentially companies who have self-selected themselves to pitch to you because they 152
think that that function you're searching for is related to their product. 153
Those people are paying to be there, 154
therefore, probably a good chance they could compete with you. And then, number three, what Google, again, thinks about it. 155
therefore, probably a good chance they could compete with you. And then, number three, what Google, again, thinks about it. 156
Very, very helpful. 157
Now, pro tip for this strategy. 158
One thing I would suggest doing is play around with quotation marks. 159
Now, when you put quotation marks around what you're searching, that is a hard search. 160
So when you do a hard search, Google only looks for exact matches of whatever is in the quotations. 161
The reason why you might want to do that is because if I said "camera that mounts on your head," I don't 162
want that to match up with something that says, you know, "mount a camera on your head" like a suggestion 163
or "mount a horse and use a camera." 164
Things like that. 165
Those are a little bit too off the mark. 166
And then the last one is try to search for how you in your head would pitch this product or feature. 167
If I was pitching the GoPro, maybe I might call it World's Smallest 4K camera. 168
If I was pitching the GoPro, maybe I might call it World's Smallest 4K camera. 169
That's a one sentence pitch. 170
Try to think of some one sentence pitches that describe what it is that you're working on and try entering that. 171
Try as much as you can to be specific when you use this strategy. 172
Don't just say "this app saves you time" - a lot of things out there save you time. 173
This isn't going to help you if you're that vague. 174
If your app saves you time by saving your voice notes to Evernote, well, then search for it like a pitch 175
on that, like "save time by recording your voice," "save time on the go by using your voice," "write to do lists 176
with your voice," "save time on the go by just speaking." Things like that. 177
with your voice," "save time on the go by just speaking." Things like that. 178
Ok, got it? Those are three different techniques. 179
Ok, got it? Those are three different techniques. 180
Figure out the problem you solve, who you solve it for, 181
Figure out the problem you solve, who you solve it for, 182
and then use those three different strategies to drum up a list of competitors that you think might be worth analyzing. 183
and then use those three different strategies to drum up a list of competitors that you think might be worth analyzing. 184
Throw those in the list, and I'll see you in the next lecture.