technologyApr 29, 202649:53failed
EP 153 - Competitive Research Tools with Ran Erez
About this episode
On this episode of the Product for Product Podcast, we’re joined by Ran Erez, product leader, podcaster, and founder of Re.focus, for a highly practical episode on competitive intelligence tools and tactics for product managers.With over a decade in B2B, B2C, and cyber (including three years on the mobile pod at monday.com), Ran has seen the same pattern repeat: teams either copy competitors blindly or ignore them entirely. He argues there’s a better way, treating competitors as a massive time‑saver for validation and strategy, without letting them drive your roadmap.
Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with Ran:
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Join Matt and Moshe as they explore with Ran:
- How Ran went from QA manager in cyber to owning product and driving millions in sales
- The biggest mistakes PMs make with competition: copying feature lists, believing marketing at face value, and doing “one‑and‑done” competitive intelligence
- Why focusing only on direct “budget competitors” misses the real job‑to‑be‑done
- The Competitive Intelligence Pyramid:
- Feature level – how others solve the same problem
- Product capabilities – pros/cons at whole‑product level
- Messaging – how value is communicated and evolves
- Product strategy – what bets they’re making
- Company strategy – where the business is actually heading
- Concrete methods and tools at each level, including:
- Finding real users of competitors through screeners, communities, and support/KB pages
- Running “SUSHI” competitive user research: side‑by‑side tests of your product vs. theirs over time
- Talking to integration partners and freelancers who implement multiple competing tools
- Using Wayback Machine, screenshots + Gemini, and Perplexity to track how sites, pricing, and positioning change
- Mining public earnings calls for strategic signals in the language leaders use
- How to systematically identify your true competitors (and what it means if you can’t find any)
- Treating CI as a muscle: what “small start” looks like and how to keep learning over time
- Using competitors to validate your ideas by putting their products in front of your users
- And much more!
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ran-erez
- Product for Product Podcast: http://linkedin.com/company/product-for-product-podcast
- Matt Green: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgreenproduct
- Moshe Mikanovsky: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikanovsky
Please leave us a review and feedback ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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