Competitor Analysis & Feature Differentiation Matrix

What it does

Competitor Analysis & Feature Differentiation Matrix is a Cursor skill: a SKILL.md playbook that AgenticKit installs at .cursor/skills/competitive-matrix. Cursor's agent loads it when the task matches the skill description, instead of stuffing the same rules into every chat.

Creating objective competitor comparison charts, identifying unmet market needs, and highlighting key differentiators without bashing competitors.

Feature parity audits, pricing comparisons, SWOT analysis, and positioning. The file is domain knowledge, not a slash macro. You do not type it. The agent reads it when the job is competitive matrix.

Why it exists

Default Cursor has no memory of how your team ships positioning, copy, and launch assets. Founders paste the same conventions into chat, then watch the model drift on the next turn. This skill exists so those conventions live on disk and load only when relevant.

It ships in the Marketing Kit. It is wired to the Market & Competitor Analyst (competitive-analyst) and Product Positioning Expert (positioning-strategist) agents. It is wired to the /competitive-analysis: Competitor Intelligence & Feature Comparison Matrix and /positioning: Product Positioning & ICP Strategic Framework commands. That graph is the point: the skill is the standard, the agent is the role, the command is the trigger.

When to use it

• Use Competitor Analysis & Feature Differentiation Matrix when the work is specifically about feature parity audits, pricing comparisons, swot analysis, and positioning.
• Load it before a long session that will touch this surface more than once. A one-line edit does not need the full playbook.
• Use it when you are writing something a buyer will see: landing copy, launch posts, SEO pages, or positioning docs.

When not to use it

• Do not treat the skill as a replacement for a slash command. Skills teach. Commands run a pipeline.
• Do not paste the whole SKILL.md into chat. If Cursor is not loading it, fix the description or invoke the matching command.
• Do not use it to generate spam or spray the same launch post across every channel.

Example workflow

1. Install the Marketing Kit so .cursor/skills/competitive-matrix lands in the repo.
2. Open a new Cursor agent chat pointed at the files this skill governs.
3. Ask the Market & Competitor Analyst (competitive-analyst) to read the skill, or run /competitive-analysis: Competitor Intelligence & Feature Comparison Matrix.
4. Review the first artifact against the practices below. If it violates one, stop and correct the file. Do not prompt 'just finish it'.
5. Commit the skill-guided files with the rest of the slice so the next session inherits the same standard.

Example usage

Example prompt: "Read .cursor/skills/competitive-matrix and apply it to this change. Do not invent extra conventions."

Or trigger the pipeline: /competitive-analysis: Competitor Intelligence & Feature Comparison Matrix. That command is written to load this skill.

Check the output against: Compare products objectively on real capabilities and architectural approaches

Example output

• The skill itself does not write a single output file. It changes what the agent is allowed to produce in positioning, copy, and launch assets.
• When you run /competitive-analysis: Competitor Intelligence & Feature Comparison Matrix, expect repo files plus notes under docs/, not a chat-only answer.

Best practices

• Compare products objectively on real capabilities and architectural approaches
• Highlight distinct trade-offs (e.g. one-time license vs recurring subscription)
• Identify features that competitors charge enterprise rates for and democratize them
• Use honest comparison matrices on dedicated SEO landing pages

Common mistakes

• Ignoring "Compare products objectively on real capabilities and architectural approaches" and hoping a later prompt will clean it up.
• Copying the skill into .cursor/rules as always-on. That burns context and fights Cursor's load-on-match design.
• Running two overlapping skills that contradict each other in the same turn.
• Publishing generated copy without a human pass. The skill is a playbook, not a publisher.