2 Competitive Intelligence Tools You’re Missing

Aqute Angle: 2 CI Tools You’re Missing

Hey. You want to know the best tools for competitive intelligence? The best books? The big moves your competitors have made?

That’s the Aqute Angle. Puns are free.

COOL TOOLS

Straight from our analysts’ desks, here are 2 cool tools to help you research your competitors. One for product images, one for pricing. Sure, nothing is as life-changing as analysis from Aqute, but these tools can get you started on your own research.

#1: Mobbin promises screenshots of any app, including B2B apps (although that seems less likely). Delivered in ~2 weeks for a few thousand dollars each.

#2: Vendr shows pricing for thousands of B2B SaaS products, by collecting real price quotes from real customers. There’s a fair amount of estimating, but still a useful tool.

HOT NEWS IN B2B SAAS

SaaS pricing is increasing way ahead of inflation, with common increases from 5% (e.g. Microsoft) up to 50% (e.g. Adobe).
Price increases are all over the place. And more companies are testing new pricing models, especially as they learn how to sell AI. Are your competitors selling AI as a paid add-on, or as a free inducement to premium tiers, or is it already a standard feature? The answer varies wildly by company, and what companies were doing at the start of the year is not what they are doing now.
IPOs could be coming soon for Navan (expense management), Genesys (contact centers), Databricks (cloud analytics) and Discord (communications).
IPOs do not necessarily change a company’s go-to-market (it may give them an air of respectability) but they can be a catalyst for change as a company tightens up its business. And the injection of money can be invested in new products (no prizes for guessing what — something something AI) and expand the sales organization.
Big M&A transactions include Workday buying Sana (AI agents) for $1B+ and Atlassian buying Dia (AI browser) for $600M+.
The need to be “doing AI” has invigorated the industry in a way perhaps not seen since the 2000s. Some of these moves show that companies think AI is going to be existential to their business. If you can’t see major developments in your competitors’ AI, you can bet something’s coming soon.

DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOUR COMPETITORS’ PRICING?

You could know your competitor’s pricing by the end of the week. What? Yes!

Clients often tell us they don’t have the time or budget for a full competitor analysis. Sales teams need the #1 most wanted competitor data – competitor pricing – and they need it now. That’s why we’ve launched our Pricing Express service: your competitor’s pricing, delivered in 3 days. That’s less than 73 hours. Ask us how.

BEDTIME READING

Business books guaranteed to make you cool, wealthy and happy, or your money back.

#1 Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future. Chinese companies are not often competitors in the US market but this is a fascinating look at China’s engineering-led culture.

#2 Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work. Looks at a future where work teams can be built on demand from remote workers and AI (and consultants, surely?!).

#3 Prediction is Hard. Excellent episode of the Net Assessment podcast, looking at how experts evaluate their own analysis – a constant challenge in our own work.