See who is already solving it
The competitor map is the part of a Buteo validation that shows who is already solving your problem. Research names the rivals, profiles each one separately, and keeps a row only when a page the search returned backs it. A price appears only where a cited page states it.
By Buteo · Updated
01
Research names who to look at
- A direct rival
- An adjacent tool
- An open-source project
- A name nothing backed
02
Each one is profiled on its own
A direct rival
An adjacent tool
An open-source project
A name nothing backed
03
The map keeps what a page backs
A direct rival
The same problem, for the same buyer · Price as its own page states it
An adjacent tool
Part of the problem, for a neighbouring buyer · No price stated, so none shown
An open-source project
Free to run, and costs time to set up · Free, as its repository says
A name nothing backed
Dropped: no page the search returned backs it
How it works
Research names the rivals
Direct competitors, adjacent tools and open-source projects. Names to follow, not evidence yet.
Each is profiled separately
One search pass per name, in parallel, reading that company's own pages.
The map keeps what holds
A row no supported finding backs is dropped. A price nobody states is left out.
What you get
A row per real competitor
What it sells and to whom, where it is strong and where it is weak.
Sources on every row
The findings behind a row link to the pages they came from.
Prices as stated
Only where the competitor's own page states one. Never an estimate.
The gap, argued
What the named alternatives leave unsolved is a claim of its own, tested like the others.
Open-source alternatives
Free projects a buyer could run instead, when research finds one to cite.
Who already failed
Companies that tried this and shut down, researched on every run.
What is on the competitor map?
The companies and projects already working on your problem, one row each: what it sells and to whom, where it is strong, where it is weak, and its price where its own pages state one. Every row is backed by findings you can open.
It is part of every validation. Competitor research is one of the passes that always run, whatever else the plan selects.
How does Buteo find competitors?
In three steps. Research first names who to look at. Each name is then profiled on its own, in parallel, by searching for that company's pages. Last, the map is assembled from what those searches returned. The names in the first step are leads to follow, never evidence: a company is only on the map if a page says what the row says.
Why would a competitor be left off?
Because nothing the search returned backs it. A language model can name a plausible company that does not exist, or describe a real one wrongly. A row with no supported finding behind it is dropped, and a price is shown only when a cited page states it.
That makes the map shorter than a list a chatbot would write, and every row on it checkable. How a finding is held to its source.
What can the map miss?
A competitor with no public footprint: a product still in private beta, or one that only sells through conversations. The map shows who can be found and proven from published pages. If you know a rival it missed, that is worth a test of your own before you rely on the gap.
Where it sits on the way to a startup
01 Find the idea
02 Validate
- Idea validation
- Source checking
- Competitor map
03 Test
04 Build
05 Launch
06 Grow
- Find leadsSoon
- Marketing campaignsSoon
Questions people ask about this
Does Buteo also look at companies that failed?
Yes, on every validation. A separate research pass looks for companies that already tried the idea and shut down, and what they said about why. It is one of the passes that cannot be switched off.
Where do the prices on the map come from?
From the competitor's own pages, as a cited finding states them. If no page the search returned states a price, the map shows none rather than an estimate.