Overview

/presales-research is a production command in the Presales category of the Prismatic Platform that performs comprehensive competitor research and market intelligence gathering to support presales strategy formulation. The command systematically analyzes competitor offerings, market positioning, pricing intelligence, technology stacks, and customer sentiment to produce actionable competitive intelligence that strengthens proposal positioning and informs sales strategy.

The research engine combines structured data sources (vendor websites, product documentation, analyst reports, pricing pages) with unstructured intelligence (customer reviews, social media mentions, job postings, patent filings, press releases) to build multi-dimensional competitor profiles. These profiles go beyond surface-level feature comparisons to reveal strategic insights about competitor direction, market share trends, customer satisfaction levels, and potential vulnerabilities that can be leveraged in competitive positioning.

This command operates under the L2+ authority level and is executed by the competitor-researcher agent. It is part of the platform's 216-command slash command registry, built on the AIAD (Autonomous Intelligence Agent Design) standard. The competitor researcher agent specializes in open-source intelligence gathering techniques applied to commercial competitive analysis, leveraging the platform's OSINT capabilities for business intelligence purposes.

Within the presales workflow, /presales-research enriches the intelligence available for opportunity assessment and proposal positioning. Competitive insights inform pricing strategy via /presales-price, shape technical differentiation in proposals via /presales-propose, and contribute to win probability estimation in case management via /presales-case. The command transforms raw market data into structured competitive intelligence that directly improves win rates.

Architecture

The research architecture implements a multi-source intelligence gathering and synthesis pipeline with structured output generation.

Source Layer                Analysis Layer              Output Layer
┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│ Vendor Websites  │    │ Feature Extractor │    │ Competitor Profile  │
│ Product Docs     │───>│ (Capability Map)  │───>│                     │
│ Pricing Pages    │    │                   │    │ - Feature Matrix    │
│ Analyst Reports  │    │ Pricing Analyzer  │    │ - Pricing Comparison│
│ Review Sites     │───>│ (Rate Card,       │───>│ - SWOT Analysis     │
│ Social Media     │    │  Packaging)       │    │ - Win/Loss Intel    │
│ Job Postings     │    │                   │    │ - Market Position   │
│ Patent Filings   │───>│ Sentiment Engine  │───>│ - Differentiators   │
│ Press Releases   │    │ (NPS proxy,       │    │ - Battle Cards      │
│ GitHub/Forums    │    │  satisfaction)    │    │ - Strategy Recs     │
└──────────────────┘    └──────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘
         │                       │                        │
         v                       v                        v
   Source Cache            Intelligence DB          Presales Pipeline
   (Rate-limited)        (Structured profiles)     (Case integration)

The Feature Extractor parses competitor documentation and marketing materials to construct a structured capability map. Each competitor feature is categorized, described, and compared against the Prismatic Platform's corresponding capability. The comparison identifies areas of parity, advantage, and disadvantage, providing the basis for competitive positioning statements.

The Pricing Analyzer collects publicly available pricing information from competitor websites, review sites, and analyst reports. When exact pricing is unavailable, the analyzer estimates pricing ranges based on publicly disclosed deal sizes, customer references, and market positioning signals. This intelligence feeds directly into the pricing strategy formulated by /presales-price.

Usage

Basic Competitor Research

# Research specific competitor
/presales-research --competitor "BitSight"

# Research multiple competitors
/presales-research --competitors "BitSight,SecurityScorecard,Black Kite"

# Quick competitive overview
/presales-research --competitor "BitSight" --quick

Market Intelligence

# Full market analysis for EASM segment
/presales-research --market easm --depth full

# Industry trend analysis
/presales-research --market cybersecurity --trends --range 12m

# Market sizing and share estimation
/presales-research --market easm --sizing --regions eu,us

Battle Card Generation

# Generate sales battle card vs specific competitor
/presales-research --competitor "BitSight" --battle-card --format pdf

# Generate comprehensive battle card set
/presales-research --competitors "BitSight,SecurityScorecard,Black Kite" \
  --battle-cards --format pdf --output battle-cards/

Case-Specific Research

# Research competitor mentioned in opportunity
/presales-research --case-id "CASE-2026-042" --competitive-context

# Enrich case with competitive positioning
/presales-research --case-id "CASE-2026-042" --competitor "BitSight" --link-to-case

Options & Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
`--competitor`	string	none	Single competitor to research
`--competitors`	string	none	Comma-separated competitor list
`--market`	string	none	Market segment for analysis
`--quick`	flag	false	Quick overview without deep analysis
`--depth`	enum	standard	Research depth: quick, standard, full
`--battle-card`	flag	false	Generate sales battle card
`--battle-cards`	flag	false	Generate battle cards for all competitors
`--case-id`	string	none	Link research to presales case
`--competitive-context`	flag	false	Research based on case context
`--link-to-case`	flag	false	Persist research to case record
`--trends`	flag	false	Include market trend analysis
`--sizing`	flag	false	Include market size estimation
`--regions`	string	global	Geographic regions: eu, us, apac, global
`--range`	duration	6m	Time range for trend data
`--focus`	enum	all	Research focus: features, pricing, sentiment, technology, all
`--sources`	enum	all	Source filter: public, analyst, community, all
`--format`	enum	table	Output: table, json, html, pdf, markdown
`--output`	path	stdout	Output file path

Execution Flow

The research pipeline follows a structured intelligence gathering and synthesis process.

Phase 1 -- Target Identification (< 1 second): The research targets are identified from the command parameters or case context. For case-specific research, competitors mentioned in the opportunity analysis or assessment are automatically identified as targets. The research scope is configured based on depth and focus parameters.

Phase 2 -- Source Collection (5-30 seconds): The intelligence gathering engine queries multiple source categories concurrently. Vendor websites are crawled for product pages, pricing, and case studies. Review sites (G2, Gartner Peer Insights, TrustRadius) are queried for customer feedback and ratings. Job postings are analyzed for technology stack and growth signals. Press releases and news are collected for strategic direction indicators. All collection respects rate limits and terms of service.

Phase 3 -- Intelligence Extraction (3-10 seconds): Collected raw data is processed through specialized extractors. The feature extractor identifies product capabilities and maps them to the competitive comparison framework. The pricing analyzer normalizes pricing data across different models and packaging structures. The sentiment engine aggregates customer feedback into net promoter score proxies and satisfaction indicators.

Phase 4 -- Analysis and Synthesis (2-5 seconds): Extracted intelligence is synthesized into structured profiles. Feature comparison matrices identify areas of competitive advantage and disadvantage. SWOT analysis organizes intelligence into strategic frameworks. Win/loss patterns are identified from customer review data. Market positioning maps place competitors in strategic quadrants.

Phase 5 -- Deliverable Generation (1-3 seconds): The analysis is rendered into the requested output format. Battle cards are structured for quick reference during sales conversations. Full competitor profiles provide detailed intelligence for strategy sessions. Market analyses provide context for executive decision-making.

Integration Points

Component	Integration Type	Description
/presales	Parent Command	Top-level presales orchestration
/presales-analyze	Complementary	Opportunity analysis enriched with competitive data
/presales-price	Downstream	Competitive pricing feeds pricing strategy
/presales-propose	Downstream	Competitive positioning feeds proposals
/presales-case	Case Management	Research linked to presales cases
/investigate	Cross-domain	OSINT capabilities for competitive intelligence
Prismatic Agents	Execution	`competitor-researcher` agent
Telemetry	Observability	Research quality and freshness metrics

Best Practices

Research Early and Update Regularly: Start competitive research when an opportunity is first identified. Update before proposal submission to ensure positioning reflects the latest competitive landscape.

Focus on Differentiators: Rather than exhaustive feature comparisons, focus on identifying the key differentiators that matter for each specific opportunity. A few strong differentiators are more persuasive than comprehensive feature parity matrices.

Use Battle Cards in Sales Calls: Generate battle cards before prospect meetings. They provide concise, ready-to-use competitive positioning that enables confident responses to "how do you compare to X?" questions.

Verify Pricing Intelligence: Competitor pricing data from public sources may be outdated or incomplete. Flag pricing intelligence confidence levels and verify critical pricing assumptions through additional channels when possible.

Link to Cases: Always use --link-to-case when researching competitors for a specific opportunity. This creates a permanent record of competitive intelligence for the deal and enables win/loss analysis later.

Error Handling

Error Condition	Behavior	Recovery
Competitor not recognized	Warning with suggestion list	Verify competitor name
Source unavailable	Skip with warning, use cached data	Research continues with available sources
Rate limit exceeded	Automatic backoff and retry	Reduce scope or wait
Insufficient data	Partial profile with confidence ratings	Lower depth or broaden sources
Case not found	Error with available cases	Verify case ID
Market segment unknown	Error with available segments	Use supported segment identifier

Advanced Usage

Competitive Monitoring

# Set up continuous competitive monitoring
/presales-research --competitors "BitSight,SecurityScorecard" \
  --monitor --interval 7d --alert-on-change

# Track competitor product launches
/presales-research --competitor "BitSight" --monitor --focus features \
  --alert-on "new-feature,pricing-change,acquisition"

Strategic Analysis

# Full competitive landscape analysis
/presales-research --market easm --depth full --sizing --trends \
  --format pdf --output easm-landscape-2026.pdf

# Porter's Five Forces analysis
/presales-research --market easm --framework porters --format pdf

Doctrine Compliance

All commands operate under the NO MERCY, NO DOUBTS doctrine:

NO MERCY: Zero tolerance for incomplete execution or quality violations. Competitive analysis covers all identified competitors -- none are omitted due to data collection difficulty. Feature comparisons are honest, acknowledging competitor strengths as well as weaknesses.
NO DOUBTS: Full investigation before action, evidence-based results. Every competitive claim is backed by source evidence with provenance tracking. The NABLA axiom of Signal Plurality requires that competitive assessments be corroborated across multiple independent sources. The Contradiction Preservation axiom ensures that conflicting market signals (e.g., positive analyst reports vs. negative customer reviews) are both presented rather than selectively filtered.

/presales - Presales intelligence for company analysis and opportunity identification
/presales-analyze - Text, file and URL analysis for presales opportunity assessment
/presales-assess - Technical assessment of opportunities and cases
/investigate - Launch comprehensive OSINT investigation across 121+ sources
/email-osint - Email-based OSINT gathering with breach correlation and social profiling
/google-hacking - Google dorking and advanced search intelligence extraction

Connect & Contribute

Created by Tomáš Korcak (korczis) | Open Source under GHL

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