AI Blocks › Study competitor ads
Know whether to take on a rival, and where to meet them
Describe your plan and a rival. Get a five-factor matchup, where to fight and avoid, and a go or no-go check.
Size up a rival and decide whether to go is a free AI workflow for the job "Study competitor ads". It guides your AI through several skills in order, passing each step's output to the next.
Free · No account · Made by AI Blocks · Level: beginner · Thinking: high
What it does
Most people pick a fight with a rival because the rival looks beatable on one measure, such as price or size. They move before they have looked at the people, the timing, the ground and the cost of a long contest. Or they never move, because every rival looks too big. This workflow compares you and the rival on the same five factors, so the comparison is fair. It ranks your options, from breaking their plan to avoiding them, and finds where they are thin or unready. Then it checks your plan against six common faults and three checks that you are ready, the rival is open and the ground allows it. It ends in go or no-go. The method comes from Sun Tzu's The Art of War, an old book on competing that still applies to business.
You give it
- Your plan or move, in a few sentences
- What you know about the rival, such as who they are, how they sell, their strengths and weak spots
- Your own situation, covering team, budget and timing
- Other rivals in the market (optional)
- Competitors (optional)
You get
- A side-by-side of you and the rival on five factors, with the reason for each
- A ranked list of your options, with where to fight and where to stay away
- A go or no-go answer, with the faults and checks it rests on
Use it when
- You are about to launch a product or offer into a market where a stronger rival already sells.
- A rival has just cut prices or copied your best idea and you need to decide how to answer.
- You are choosing between going head to head with a rival and finding a corner they ignore.
Steps
- Competitor comparison reviewer: Describe you and a rival. Get a side-by-side on the five factors, with where to fight and where to avoid.
- Go or no-go launch checker: Paste your plan. Get a go or no-go against the book's six faults and three halfway checks.
How to use it
- Download the handoff pack. It's a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
- Give the folder to Claude (in Claude Code, or as files in a Claude Project) and say "Follow HANDOFF.md".
- Describe your plan, your side and the rival. Be honest about your weak spots.
- It works step by step and saves each result. Read the matchup before the go or no-go.
- If the answer is no-go, use the "opening to wait for" in step 1 to decide when to look again.