Startup Competitors
Multi-wave competitor research into battle cards, pricing landscape, and feature matrix
Test report
- Verdict
- Tested · Works
- Score
- Tested
- Jul 21, 2026
- Environment
- Claude Code 2.x (agent harness)
- Upstream re-checked
- Aug 10, 2026 · d5a0903
Fetched SKILL.md and spot-checked 3 referenced files (research-scaling/synthesis/honesty-protocol) — all HTTP 200; frontmatter has name+description, no hardcoded paths or security smells. Trigger phrasings — SHOULD (all judged load): "Who are my competitors in the AI note-taking space?", "Build me battle cards for my top 3 competitors", "Do a pricing comparison across the PM tools we're up against"; should NOT (correctly declined): "Design my startup's brand identity and logo", "Write a cold email to a prospect at Acme" — 5/5. Output test: produced a Calendly battle card with no skill (sc_baseline.md) vs strictly following the battle-card template + honesty protocol in Knowledge-Based mode (sc_skill.md). Concrete difference: baseline asserts "generous free tier" and invents no review evidence with zero sourcing or numbers; the skill version adds [Data]/[Estimate]/[Assumption]/[Opinion] labels, quantifies funding/pricing with >12mo staleness flags, uses objection->response format, and writes "DATA GAP: No verified verbatim review quote available" instead of fabricating a customer quote, plus Red/Yellow Flags and Sources. I could not exercise the skill's core live-web multi-agent research engine, only its synthesis/honesty layer, so output is a real but bounded improvement (7).
Scored on four weighted criteria — install, triggering, output vs. baseline, docs. How scoring works
- Installs cleanly 5/5
- Triggers reliably 5/5
- Output vs. baseline 7/10
- Docs & honesty 4/5
What Startup Competitors does
A competitive-intelligence skill that profiles 5-8 competitors across three research waves (product/pricing, customer sentiment, GTM/growth signals), then synthesizes battle cards, a pricing landscape, a feature matrix, and a strategic report with confidence ratings and declared data gaps. Triggers on requests like "who are my competitors", "competitive analysis", "battle cards", or "competitor pricing comparison". Uses live web search when available and falls back to a labeled knowledge-based mode when it is not.
How to install Startup Competitors
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/ferdinandobons/startup-skill.git /tmp/startup-competitors-src
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R /tmp/startup-competitors-src/startup-competitors ~/.claude/skills/startup-competitors
# SKILL.md lands at ~/.claude/skills/startup-competitors/SKILL.md
# Needs WebSearch for full value; without it, runs in labeled Knowledge-Based fallback mode.
# In Claude Code it spawns parallel research agents; on Claude.ai it runs the same waves sequentially.
# Plugin-marketplace alternative: repo ships .claude-plugin/marketplace.json (plugin "startup", 4 skills).
Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/
(per-project). Restart Claude Code after installing.
Commands — how to trigger Startup Competitors
-
/startup-competitorsMulti-wave competitor research into battle cards, pricing landscape, and feature matrix
It also activates on plain-language prompts like these:
-
Analyze my competitors' pricing and positioning -
Build battle cards for our top three competitors -
Research who we're competing against in this market
Frequently asked questions
- Is the Startup Competitors skill free?
- Yes. The skill itself is free from ferdinandobons/startup-skill. SkillProof publishes the install command and an independent test verdict at no cost.
- Does Startup Competitors work with Claude Code?
- We tested it with Claude Code 2.x (agent harness) on Jul 21, 2026. Verdict: Tested · Works. Fetched SKILL.md and spot-checked 3 referenced files (research-scaling/synthesis/honesty-protocol) — all HTTP 200; frontmatter has name+description, no hardcoded paths or security smells. Trigger phrasings — SHOULD (all judged load): "Who are my competitors in the AI note-taking space?", "Build me battle cards for my top 3 competitors", "Do a pricing comparison across the PM tools we're up against"; should NOT (correctly declined): "Design my startup's brand identity and logo", "Write a cold email to a prospect at Acme" — 5/5. Output test: produced a Calendly battle card with no skill (sc_baseline.md) vs strictly following the battle-card template + honesty protocol in Knowledge-Based mode (sc_skill.md). Concrete difference: baseline asserts "generous free tier" and invents no review evidence with zero sourcing or numbers; the skill version adds [Data]/[Estimate]/[Assumption]/[Opinion] labels, quantifies funding/pricing with >12mo staleness flags, uses objection->response format, and writes "DATA GAP: No verified verbatim review quote available" instead of fabricating a customer quote, plus Red/Yellow Flags and Sources. I could not exercise the skill's core live-web multi-agent research engine, only its synthesis/honesty layer, so output is a real but bounded improvement (7).
- What is the Startup Competitors SkillProof Score?
- 8.4/10 — installs cleanly 5/5, triggers reliably 5/5, output vs. baseline 7/10, docs & honesty 4/5.
- How do I install Startup Competitors?
- Copy the install command from this page, run it in your terminal, and restart Claude Code. Skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ (global) or .claude/skills/ inside a project.
- Can I use Startup Competitors with Cursor, Copilot, Gemini CLI, Codex or other AI tools?
- The SKILL.md format is native to Claude (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai). The instructions inside adapt to other assistants: Cursor rules, GitHub Copilot instructions, Windsurf rules, Custom GPTs, AGENTS.md for OpenAI Codex, and GEMINI.md for Google Gemini CLI — our conversion guides cover each, and the free converter on the tools page does the wrapping for you.