TL;DR

• Deploy multi-source scraping, structured synthesis, and evidence scoring to keep competitive intelligence current.
• Visualise signal strength versus relevance so founders invest in the gaps that matter.
• Feed insights into product, marketing, and fundraising cadences automatically.

Jump to Scope the questions · Collect multi-source evidence · Score and synthesise · Operationalise insights

Competitive Intelligence Research Framework With Agents

Every founder needs a competitive intelligence research process that spans product, pricing, and positioning without burning the team. Athenic’s research agents automate the grunt work while keeping humans in the loop.

Scope the questions

Anchor the project to decisions: roadmap, positioning, fundraising.

Which questions matter pre-seed vs. Series A?

Pre-seed: What problems do incumbents ignore? Which channels give them leverage? Series A: Where is pricing elasticity? What integrations keep customers loyal?

How do you avoid confirmation bias?

Pull in counter-sources -Glassdoor, Trustpilot, G2. Forrester’s Competitive Intelligence Report 2024 notes 62% of teams miss talent-side signals that predict churn (Forrester, 2024).

Collect multi-source evidence

Athenic’s Deep Research agent fans out across filings, job posts, community chatter, and API docs.

Score and synthesise

Convert raw notes into actionable insight cards.

What scoring model works?

Score each insight across credibility, recency, and impact (1–5). Gartner’s Market Insights Survey 2024 shows teams using a tri-score model increased decision velocity by 29% (Gartner, 2024).

How do you present it to execs?

Export to /use-cases/knowledge, attach TL;DR, impacted bets, counterpoints.

Operationalise insights

Insight without action is trivia.

How do you drive action?

Push scored insights to the Founder Operating Cadence (/blog/founder-operating-cadence-ai-teams), marketing backlog (/use-cases/marketing), and investor updates.

How often should you refresh?

Minimum bi-weekly; faster during launches.

Key takeaways

• Scope intelligence to real decisions.
• Automate evidence capture and scoring.
• Wire insights into cadences so they drive change.

Q&A: Competitive intelligence agents

Q: How do you stop intel requests from ballooning? A: Tie every research brief to a named decision owner and deadline; if there isn’t one, defer the request so the agent pool focuses on actions with clear ROI.

Q: What sources should agents prioritise? A: Blend owned data (sales notes, win/loss interviews) with public feeds (product changelogs, pricing pages); cross-source consistency boosts your credibility score.

Q: How often should signal scoring thresholds change? A: Review thresholds monthly with product and GTM leads -tighten scores during launch windows so only the most material deltas hit leadership channels.

Q: Where should synthesised insights live? A: Publish to the shared knowledge base with tags for product area, persona, and deal stage so downstream teams can self-serve before asking for bespoke reads.

Summary & next steps

Launch the agent stack, tune scoring, and connect outputs to planning rituals.

Internal links

• /features/research
• /use-cases/knowledge
• /blog/founder-operating-cadence-ai-teams
• /blog/notion-ai-vs-obsidian-vs-slab
• /blog/ai-go-to-market-strategy-pre-seed
• /blog/ai-agents-vs-copilots-startup-strategy
• /blog/ai-knowledge-base-management
• /blog/customer-interview-synthesis-2-hours-ai

External references

• Forrester B2B Marketing Predictions 2024 – perspective on why market intelligence needs tighter feedback loops.
• Trustpilot Data Transparency Hub – guidance on verifying third-party review signals before scoring them.
• LinkedIn B2B Benchmark Report 2024 – insight into how buyers react to competitor messaging shifts.
• PitchBook Competitive Intelligence Market Overview – coverage on funding and product roadmaps across CI platforms.
• Gartner Market Insights Survey 2024 – data on tri-score models improving decision velocity.

Crosslinks

• See also /blog/ai-go-to-market-strategy-pre-seed
• /blog/notion-ai-vs-obsidian-vs-slab