Frequently Asked Questions

Competitive intelligence is the systematic process of gathering, analyzing, and acting on information about your competitors, market trends, and industry dynamics. Unlike corporate espionage (which is illegal), CI uses only ethical, publicly available sources like websites, customer reviews, press releases, job postings, SEC filings, and industry reports.

For modern SaaS and tech companies, CI informs critical decisions across sales, marketing, product, and strategy. It answers questions like: How are we positioned against competitors? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What's their go-to-market strategy? How can we differentiate?

At Signal Labs, we help teams build CI capabilities that go beyond static reports, creating living intelligence that updates in real-time and flows directly into your workflow.

In B2B SaaS, the market moves fast. Competitors launch features, change pricing, pivot messaging, and enter new segments regularly. Without CI, you're flying blind - making decisions based on outdated assumptions.

Effective CI helps you:

• Win more deals: Sales teams armed with current competitor insights close deals faster and handle objections confidently
• Build better products: Product teams can anticipate market shifts and avoid building in a vacuum
• Create sharper messaging: Marketing teams can position against actual competitor claims, not assumptions
• Make strategic bets: Leadership can make informed decisions about roadmap, pricing, and market expansion

The companies that win aren't necessarily the ones with the best product - they're the ones who understand the competitive landscape and act on it faster.

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the process of gathering, analyzing, and understanding information about your competitors and market landscape. It's about knowing what competitors are doing, their strategies, strengths, weaknesses, and market positioning.

Competitive enablement takes that intelligence and puts it into action across your organization. It's about equipping teams - Sales, Marketing, Product, Leadership - with the insights, tools, and materials they need to make better decisions and win deals.

The relationship:

• CI = The knowledge: Understanding your competitive landscape
• Enablement = The action: Distributing that knowledge and making it usable

Traditional problem: Many companies do CI but struggle with enablement. They gather great intel but it sits in PDFs nobody reads, shared drives nobody accesses, or becomes outdated before teams can use it.

Modern approach (continuous competitive enablement): Intelligence flows directly into your team's workflow - fresh battlecards, real-time alerts, actionable insights delivered where and when teams need them.

That's why we call CIx a "competitive intelligence AND enablement platform" - we handle both the intelligence gathering and the enablement distribution in one place.

Market research focuses on understanding customers, market size, trends, and demand. It answers: "What do customers want? How big is the opportunity? What are the trends?"

Competitive intelligence focuses on understanding competitors and how you stack up against them. It answers: "Who are we competing with? What are their strategies? How can we differentiate and win?"

While related, CI is more tactical and action-oriented. Market research might tell you there's demand for a new feature category; CI tells you which competitors are already building it, how they're positioning it, and where their gaps are.

Both are critical - market research informs what markets to enter, while CI informs how to compete once you're there.

In fast-moving B2B SaaS markets, competitors change their positioning, messaging, and product features constantly - often weekly. A battlecard created in Q1 can be obsolete by Q2.

What changes quickly:

• Pricing: Competitors adjust pricing and packaging monthly
• Messaging: Marketing teams refresh positioning based on what's working
• Features: Product launches happen continuously, not just at big releases
• Market moves: Acquisitions, pivots, new segments - all shift the landscape

The traditional problem: Most teams update battlecards quarterly (at best). By the time a seller uses it, the intel is already outdated. When sellers use stale battlecards and get corrected by prospects ("Actually, we changed that last month"), they lose trust in the content.

The solution: Continuous competitive enablement. Instead of quarterly PDF updates, use living intelligence that refreshes automatically. When a competitor makes a move, your battlecard updates in days (or minutes), not quarters.

That's the shift from static slides to living intelligence.

Competitor tracking is monitoring what competitors do - new features, pricing changes, blog posts, hiring patterns. It's reactive and focuses on collecting data.

Competitive intelligence takes that data and turns it into strategic insights and actions. It's proactive and focuses on answering: "So what? Now what?"

For example:

• Tracking: "Competitor X launched a new integration yesterday"
• Intelligence: "Competitor X is targeting enterprise customers with this integration. We should accelerate our own enterprise integrations and update our battlecards to emphasize our current integration ecosystem"

Great CI programs do both - automated tracking feeds continuous intelligence that informs strategy and enablement.

Battlecards are quick-reference enablement documents that help sales reps compete effectively against specific competitors. They typically include:

• Competitor overview and positioning
• Their strengths and weaknesses
• Your competitive advantages
• How to handle objections ("They say X, you say Y")
• Proof points and customer evidence
• Competitive pricing intel
• Win strategies

Why they matter: In a sales call, reps don't have time to research competitors. Battlecards give them instant, confident answers. A good battlecard helps a rep turn a competitive objection into a win.

The problem with traditional battlecards: they're static PDFs that age quickly. By the time a competitor changes their messaging or pricing (which happens constantly), your battlecard is outdated.

That's why we built CIx to generate and update battlecards automatically using AI and real-time data.

Traditional approach: Quarterly updates
Reality: Battlecards age in days, not quarters.

In fast-moving markets, competitors change positioning, launch features, and shift strategies constantly. The speed of market change outpaces the speed of enablement.

Best practice:

• Major updates: Monthly or whenever a competitor makes a significant move (product launch, pricing change, repositioning)
• Minor updates: Ongoing, as new intelligence comes in
• Review cadence: Weekly check-ins to flag what needs updating

This is nearly impossible to maintain manually, which is why automation is critical. CIx continuously monitors competitors and flags when battlecards need refreshing, then can regenerate them instantly with updated intelligence - moving from static slides to living intelligence.

It varies by company size and structure:

Typical owners:

• Product Marketing: Most common. PMMs translate product value into market positioning, which requires competitive context
• Sales Enablement: In sales-heavy orgs, enablement teams often own CI to directly support reps
• Strategy/Market Intelligence: Larger enterprises may have dedicated CI or market intelligence teams
• Founder/CEO: In early-stage startups, founders often drive CI initially

Best practice: One owner (usually PMM), but CI is a cross-functional effort:

• Sales provides field intel from customer conversations
• Product shares competitor product insights
• Marketing tracks competitive content and campaigns
• Leadership sets strategic direction

The best CI programs build two-way feedback loops where insights flow throughout the organization.

The CI tech stack varies, but typically includes:

1. Monitoring & Alerts:

• Website change tracking (Visualping, Klue Compete)
• Social media monitoring (Mention, Brandwatch)
• News/PR tracking (Google Alerts, Meltwater)

2. Review & Feedback:

• G2, Capterra, TrustRadius (competitor reviews)
• Gong, Chorus (conversation intelligence for competitive mentions)

3. Intelligence Platforms:

• Klue, Crayon (established CI platforms)
• CIx (our AI-first platform for automated intelligence)

4. Enablement & Distribution:

• Slack (real-time competitive chatter)
• Confluence, Notion (knowledge repositories)
• Highspot, Seismic (sales enablement)

The problem: Most teams cobble together 5-10 tools, creating silos and manual work.

Our approach with CIx: Consolidate monitoring, analysis, and battlecard generation into one AI-powered platform that integrates with your existing workflow.

CI must be ethical and legal. Use only publicly available information:

✅ Ethical sources:

• Company websites, blogs, press releases
• Customer review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius)
• Public financial reports (if public company)
• Industry publications and news
• Conference presentations and webinars
• Job postings (reveal priorities and tech stack)
• Social media posts
• Customer conversations (when voluntarily shared)

❌ Unethical/illegal:

• Hacking or unauthorized access
• Misrepresenting yourself to gain information
• Bribing employees for insider information
• Breaking NDAs or confidentiality agreements
• Industrial espionage

Best practice: If you're unsure whether a source is ethical, ask: "Could this be considered deceptive or illegal?" If yes, don't use it.

At Signal Labs, we only use verified, publicly available sources and provide full source attribution for transparency.

Reactive CI:

• Responds to specific questions or events
• "Sales is asking about Competitor X - can you create a battlecard?"
• "Competitor Y launched a feature - what should we do?"
• Valuable but puts you in catch-up mode

Proactive CI:

• Anticipates competitive moves and market shifts
• Continuously monitors competitors and flags changes before they impact deals
• Identifies emerging competitors before they become threats
• Informs strategy before questions arise

The goal: Shift from reactive (firefighting) to proactive (strategic foresight).

How we help at Signal Labs:

• Consulting: Build proactive CI programs with monitoring, analysis, and distribution cadences
• CIx Platform: Automates continuous monitoring so you catch competitive moves in real-time, not weeks later

We offer two complementary solutions:

1. Expert CI Consulting:

• Strategic competitive assessments
• Battlecard creation and refresh
• CI program design and implementation
• Sales enablement and training
• Win/loss analysis
• Ongoing quarterly CI partnerships

2. CIx Platform (SaaS):

• AI-powered battlecard generation
• Automated competitor discovery
• Real-time monitoring and alerts
• Multi-source intelligence aggregation
• Product-level competitive tracking
• Custom intelligence workflows

When to choose what:

• Need strategic guidance and hands-on support? Consulting
• Need continuous, automated intelligence? CIx Platform
• Want both? Many clients combine consulting for strategy with CIx for day-to-day automation

1. AI-First Approach:
We don't just deliver reports - we help you build scalable, automated intelligence systems using our CIx platform.

2. Founder-Led Expertise:
Our founder, Emre Semercioglu, has built and scaled product-led growth companies (Rakam.io analytics platform) and understands both competitive strategy and technical implementation.

3. Action-Oriented:
We focus on intelligence that drives action - not just analysis. Every deliverable includes clear next steps for sales, marketing, product, and leadership.

4. Modern Methodologies:
We embrace automation, AI, and real-time intelligence rather than quarterly PowerPoint decks.

5. Startup DNA:
We work at startup speed with startup sensibilities - pragmatic, agile, and focused on what actually moves the needle.

Our Strategic Assessment is a focused engagement designed to give you actionable competitive intelligence and GTM assets quickly:

What's included:

• Competitive landscape analysis: 1 product vs. top 3 competitors
• Feature comparison & ratings: Detailed side-by-side analysis
• GTM rebuttals & talk tracks: Ready-to-use talking points for sales
• Battle card one-pagers: Professional, ready-to-distribute battlecards
• Strategic recommendations: Positioning and differentiation guidance

Timeline: Typically 1-2 weeks

Ideal for: Companies who need quick competitive clarity, are launching a CI function, or addressing a specific competitive challenge with actionable GTM assets.

Pricing: Contact us for a custom quote based on your specific needs.

Our Ongoing Intelligence program provides comprehensive competitive intelligence with continuous monitoring and regular deliverables:

What's included:

• Quarterly competitive reports: In-depth analysis and insights
• Ongoing competitive monitoring: Real-time tracking of competitor moves
• Sales enablement materials: Battlecards, talk tracks, and objection handling
• Win/loss interview program: Structured customer feedback and pattern analysis
• Monthly strategy sessions: Regular alignment and planning calls
• Slack CI support: Direct access to our team for questions and collaboration

Deliverables:

• Regular battlecard creation and refresh
• Competitive landscape updates
• New competitor analysis
• Market movement reports
• Strategic recommendations for GTM, Product, and Leadership

Ideal for: Companies who want a dedicated CI partner and continuous intelligence flow to enable their teams.

Pricing: Contact us for a quarterly fee quote based on your scope and needs.

Yes! We can create standalone battlecards for specific competitors.

What we deliver:

• Comprehensive competitor research
• Professional battlecard (ready-to-use format)
• Talking points and objection handling
• Source attribution and evidence
• Customized to your brand and tone

Turnaround: 3-5 business days

Best for: Urgent competitive needs or testing our services before a larger engagement.

Pricing: Contact us for a quote based on competitor complexity.

Absolutely - this is one of our most valuable engagements.

What we cover:

• CI program design and governance
• Tool stack recommendations and setup
• Competitive monitoring workflows
• Intelligence distribution and enablement
• Metrics and measurement
• Team training and enablement
• Launch plan and ongoing optimization

Deliverables:

• CI program playbook
• Competitive monitoring setup
• Battlecard templates and guidelines
• Enablement materials
• Training workshops

Engagement: Typically 4-8 weeks

Ideal for: Companies transitioning from ad-hoc CI to a structured program, or those hiring their first CI/PMM role.

Yes, we offer win/loss analysis as part of consulting engagements or as a standalone service.

Our approach:

• Customer interview design and execution
• Competitive pattern analysis
• Thematic coding and insights
• Product, pricing, and positioning recommendations
• Battlecard updates based on findings
• Presentation to sales, product, and leadership

Typical engagement: 20-30 interviews over 4-6 weeks

Ideal for: Companies looking to understand why they win or lose against specific competitors, or to validate product and messaging decisions.

CIx is an AI-powered competitive intelligence and enablement platform that automates everything from competitor discovery to battlecard generation. Think of it as moving from static slides to living intelligence.

Core capabilities:

• Instant Battlecards: Generate role-specific battlecards (Sales, Marketing, Product, Leadership) in seconds with AI-powered modifications
• Competitor Discovery: Automatically identify and analyze competitors with AI-driven suggestions
• Real-Time Monitoring: Track competitor websites, pricing, product updates, and news 24/7
• Multi-Source Intel: Aggregate verified data from websites, G2 reviews, news, and technical docs - all with transparent source attribution
• Product-Level Intelligence: Track competitors across both company and product levels to unlock more actionable intelligence
• Custom Intelligence: Tailor CIx to your brand's tone, playbooks, and data so every battlecard reflects your brand
• Live Signals: Instant POVs and recommended actions when your competitors make a move - product launch, pricing change, or announcement

The goal: Replace static, manual CI processes with continuous competitive enablement that's fresh, actionable, and measurable.

CIx uses AI to research competitors and generate comprehensive battlecards in minutes:

Step 1: Select Competitor
Choose a competitor from your tracked list or add a new one

Step 2: Choose Focus
Select battlecard focus: Sales (GTM), Marketing, Product, or Leadership

Step 3: AI Research
CIx automatically:

• Scrapes competitor website, docs, pricing
• Analyzes G2/Capterra reviews
• Gathers recent news and announcements
• Compiles product features and positioning

Step 4: Generate Battlecard
AI creates a structured battlecard including:

• Overview and positioning
• Strengths and weaknesses
• Your competitive advantages
• Key talking points
• Side-by-side feature comparison
• Pricing intelligence
• Win strategies

Step 5: Customize
Use AI prompts to modify: "Add more pricing details" or "Focus on security weaknesses"

Result: Professional battlecard in 2-3 minutes vs. 2-3 days manually.

All sources are clickable and verified - no AI hallucinations.

Great question - here's how we compare to established CI platforms:

CIx Advantages:

• ⚡ Same-day setup vs. 3-6 month implementations
• 🤖 AI-first architecture - Battlecards generated in minutes, not weeks
• 🎯 Multi-focus battlecards - Tailored for Sales, Marketing, Product, Leadership
• 💰 Transparent pricing - Simple per-credit model, no hidden enterprise fees
• 🚀 Built for speed - Modern startups and scale-ups, not legacy enterprise

Klue/Crayon Strengths:

• Established market leaders with 800+ customers
• Enterprise workflows and deep integrations
• Large content libraries and templates
• Dedicated implementation teams

Who CIx is for:

• Teams who need intelligence NOW, not in 6 months
• Companies who want AI-powered automation over manual workflows
• Startups and scale-ups who value speed and simplicity
• Teams tired of enterprise complexity and pricing

Bottom line: If you need an enterprise-grade platform with white-glove service and have 6 months for implementation, Klue/Crayon are great. If you want AI-powered CI you can start using today, CIx is built for you.

CIx uses a credit system for AI-powered actions:

Credit costs:

• Create battlecard: 1 credit
• Modify/refresh battlecard: 0.5 credits
• Track competitor (monthly): 5 credits/month
• Find sources: 0.5 credits
• Add product/company: 0.5 credits

Example: With 20 credits/month (Pro plan), you could:

• Generate 10 new battlecards + refresh 10 existing ones
• OR track 4 competitors + generate 10 battlecards
• OR any combination based on your needs

Plan credits reset monthly and don't roll over. Top-up credits never expire and are used after plan credits are exhausted.

This model gives you flexibility - use credits how you need them, when you need them.

Yes! We offer a free tier:

Free Plan includes:

• 1 seat
• 10 CIx credits/month
• Access to all core features
• No credit card required

Perfect for:

• Trying CIx before upgrading
• Individual CI operators with light usage
• Testing battlecard quality
• Small teams with 1-2 key competitors

To get started: Visit usesignallabs.com and click "Start Free"

No commitment, no pressure - just see if CIx works for your workflow.

High accuracy through:

1. Source Attribution:
Every claim in a CIx battlecard links to its source (competitor website, G2 review, news article, etc.). You can verify any statement instantly.

2. Multi-Source Verification:
We don't rely on a single source - CIx cross-references multiple data points to ensure accuracy.

3. No Hallucinations:
Unlike generic AI tools, CIx only uses verified, real data. If we don't have information, we say so rather than inventing it.

4. Human Review:
While AI generates the content, you can (and should) review and edit battlecards before sharing with your team.

5. Continuous Updates:
As competitors change, CIx can refresh battlecards to keep intelligence current.

Best practice: Treat CIx as a research assistant that does 90% of the work. Review outputs, add your strategic insights, and refine before distributing.

Current integrations:

• Slack: Push competitive alerts and new battlecards to channels
• Notion/Confluence: Export battlecards to your knowledge base
• Google Drive: Save battlecards and reports
• Email: Automated competitive briefings

Coming soon:

• Salesforce (competitive tracking in CRM)
• HubSpot (deal intelligence)
• Gong (conversation intelligence integration)
• Microsoft Teams (alerts and notifications)

Enterprise plan: Custom integrations available for your specific tech stack.

Don't see your tool? Let us know - we prioritize integrations based on customer demand.

CIx is built for any company that competes - from solo founders to enterprise teams with thousands of employees.

Who uses CIx:

• B2B and B2C companies across industries
• Startups building their first competitive intelligence function
• Growth-stage companies professionalizing their CI processes
• Enterprise teams who need speed and agility
• Product marketing teams who own CI but lack bandwidth for manual research
• Sales enablement teams who need fresh battlecards fast
• Strategy and leadership teams making competitive decisions

Company size:

• Solo founders tracking key competitors
• Small teams (1-50 employees) competing in crowded markets
• Mid-market (50-500 employees) scaling their CI programs
• Enterprise (500+ employees) needing fast, AI-powered intelligence

Industries we serve:

• Primary focus: B2B SaaS, tech, and software companies
• Also great for: E-commerce, fintech, healthcare tech, edtech, professional services, consulting, agencies, and any competitive industry

When CIx is most valuable:

• You have 3+ active competitors
• Competitive deals or decisions happen regularly
• Your market moves fast and requires fresh intelligence
• You want AI-powered automation instead of manual processes
• You need battlecards and competitive insights quickly (days, not months)

Option 1: Start Free

1. Visit usesignallabs.com
2. Click "Start Free"
3. Create account (no credit card needed)
4. Add your first competitor
5. Generate your first battlecard (free credits included)

Option 2: Request a Demo

1. Schedule a demo with our team
2. We'll show you CIx tailored to your competitors
3. Get a sample battlecard during the call
4. Discuss your needs and recommend a plan

Option 3: Book Consultation
If you're unsure whether you need CIx, consulting, or both, schedule a free consultation to discuss your competitive intelligence strategy.

Our consulting services are priced based on scope, complexity, and your specific needs. We offer flexible engagement models:

Strategic Assessment

• One-time engagement fee
• Perfect for quick competitive clarity and actionable GTM assets
• Includes: 1 product vs. top 3 competitors, battlecards, GTM rebuttals

Ongoing Intelligence

• Quarterly fee structure
• Comprehensive CI program with continuous monitoring
• Includes: Quarterly reports, sales enablement, win/loss analysis, monthly strategy sessions

Enterprise Program

• Custom annual fee
• Full-service CI program for enterprise teams
• Includes: Dedicated CI analyst, custom research, executive briefings, team training

Pricing: Every company's competitive landscape and needs are unique. Schedule a free consultation to discuss your specific requirements and receive a custom quote.

Available add-ons: Strategic intelligence, strategic recommendations, team enablement training

CIx Pricing:

Free - $0/month

• 1 seat
• 10 credits/month
• All core features

Pro - $79/month (annual) or $99/month

• 1 seat
• 20 credits/month
• Email support

Ultra - $350/month

• 3 seats
• 100 credits/month
• Email & Slack support
• Monthly strategy call

Enterprise - Custom pricing

• Custom seats
• Custom credits
• Custom integrations
• 24h SLA support
• Bi-weekly strategy calls
• Team enablement
• SSO/SAML

Top-up credits available:

• 10 credits: $60
• 25 credits: $145
• 50 credits: $275

Startups:
We offer startup-friendly pricing and can work with you on:

• Extended payment terms for consulting
• Discounted annual CIx plans
• Reduced-scope assessments

Reach out if you're a seed/Series A startup - we want to help you build competitive advantage early.

Nonprofits:
We support select nonprofit organizations with discounted consulting and free/discounted CIx access. Contact us to discuss your mission and needs.

CIx Platform:

• Free plan: No commitment, cancel anytime
• Paid plans: Cancel anytime, no questions asked
• No refunds on monthly subscriptions (cancel before next billing cycle)
• Annual plans: Prorated refunds available within first 30 days
• Top-up credits: No refunds (credits never expire)

Consulting:

• Deposits: 50% deposit required to start, non-refundable once work begins
• Cancellation: Can cancel with 2 weeks notice
• Satisfaction guarantee: If you're not satisfied with our Strategic Assessment, we'll work with you to make it right

We're confident you'll love working with us, but if there's ever an issue, let's talk.