Respond strategically to a competitor's major move
A calm assessment of a competitor's launch, price cut, funding, or acquisition, with response options and what not to do.
The prompt
Help me decide how to respond to a major move by a competitor.
Competitor and what they did: [e.g. "raised $100M", "cut prices 40%", "launched our core feature", "acquired a company"]
Source and what's confirmed: [PRESS RELEASE, rumor, customer report]
Our position: [our strengths, weaknesses, customers, pricing]
Early signals of impact: [lost deals, customer questions, team anxiety, or "none yet"]
What my team is proposing: [IDEAS on the table]
Analyze:
1. What the move likely means: their probable goal, how sustainable it is for them, and which of our customers or segments it actually affects. Distinguish facts from assumptions.
2. Real impact vs. perceived impact: will it change buying decisions, or mainly create noise and internal anxiety?
3. Response options, each with cost, risk, and timing:
- Ignore and stay the course.
- Reinforce strengths and messaging.
- Targeted response (protect at-risk segments or key accounts).
- Match or counter the move directly.
- Change strategy.
4. Second-order effects: how a price response affects margins and existing customers, and what it signals to the market.
5. Recommendation, and the leading indicators that would tell us to escalate.
6. Talking points for sales and customer teams.
7. A short internal message to the company that keeps people focused.
Don't overstate the competitor's capabilities or ours. Mark unverified claims as [UNVERIFIED].
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Business Strategy & Startups prompts
What to fill in
- PRESS RELEASE, rumor, customer report
- our strengths, weaknesses, customers, pricing
- lost deals, customer questions, team anxiety, or "none yet"
- IDEAS on the table
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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