Know your market. Run your own race.
Watch competitors too closely and you start copying them. Ignore them and they catch you off guard. Guy Franklin shows how to stay aware without reacting to every move. Start with one sentence and a website, check what AI gets wrong, build a report you could hand to your team, then see how to set up a monthly email.
BusinessAI Lunch & Learn · Wednesday 4 November 2026 · 12 to 1pm AEDT · Presented by Guy Franklin and Brandon Burns
What to expect
A quick preview of what we'll cover in the session.
Session recording
The full session replay goes here once it's up.
What you see us build
About 33 minutes of live content, then Q&A in a 45-minute session on Microsoft Teams. No technical skills needed. Find competitors, steer the research, make it one page and set up a monthly check. The booked room remains 12 to 1pm AEDT.
Start with one sentence and your website. AI finds possible competitors and tells you what it assumed.
Check the sources and correct the picture using what customers compared, why they chose you and why you lost a sale.
Compare three competitors on 5 to 7 things customers weigh up. Finish with options, including doing nothing.
Set up a monthly email in a scheduling tool. React, Note or Ignore, without copying every competitor move.
A landscape supply business sells retaining wall and paving products to builders, landscapers and homeowners. AI might suggest the obvious local yards, but also a hardware trade desk, online suppliers or alternatives. These are possibilities to check, not confirmed competitors. Guy's live demo will show how to test the fit.
Your hosts
CEO & Portfolio Director, Empire One
Guy leads the live demo. He has over 20 years of experience building technology startups, leading corporate innovation, and investing in and advising early-stage companies. He oversees strategy, performance and new business development across the Empire One portfolio.
Head of Experience, BusinessAI
Co-presenting. Runs the setup on screen and the room.
What you'll get out of it
Find competitors you hadn't considered, fix the ones AI gets wrong, and decide which three matter most.
A plain-English comparison with sources, honest gaps and two or three options for action, including doing nothing.
Know when to check, see how a monthly update can reach your inbox, and take away all four prompts ready to paste.
Do's and don'ts
The prompts and the setup
Open ChatGPT or Claude. A free account lets you follow along with the research. Nothing to install.
Turn web search on. Have your business website ready. If you already know your competitors, bring their website links too.
Choose your starting point. Scenario 1 finds competitors; scenario 2 compares the ones you already know. Swap the brackets for your details. An AI with your business documents gives the best result, but a project isn't required.
Start here if you don't know who your competitors are, or want to uncover more.
I want to do a competitive analysis of my company [your website]. Don't ask me questions first: make sensible assumptions, tell me what they were, and keep it all in this chat.
Read it before moving on. Is it right about you, is it really about competitors, and is it telling you to copy? Click the sources. Correct the assumptions. Note a competitor's move without automatically reacting.
I'm not sure who my real competitors are, but I know my customers. Before you shrink this, ask me three short questions only I can answer: what customers compared us with before they bought, why they chose us, and why we've lost a sale. Wait for my answers. Then cut this down to one page I'd read in two minutes: 1. The three competitors that matter most, and why. 2. How we compare: one table of the 5-7 things customers weigh up, rated Strong, Mixed, Weak or Not found. 3. Two or three options for action, including doing nothing. Don't suggest copying a competitor. Leave out general business advice. Cite a source for each fact and write "not found" rather than guessing.
Answer the three customer questions first. Keep the finished one page: it's the baseline for your next check.
Go straight here if you already know who your competitors are. Build your one page, then keep it current.
I want to keep an eye on these competitors: [competitor website], [competitor website], [competitor website]. My business is [your website]. Give me one page I'd read in two minutes: 1. How we compare: one table of the 5-7 things customers weigh up, rating us and each competitor Strong, Mixed, Weak or Not found. 2. For each competitor, one line on what they do well and one on where they're weak. 3. Two or three options for action, including doing nothing. Don't suggest copying a competitor. Cite a source for each fact and write "not found" rather than guessing.
Already know your competitors? Start here. If you've completed scenario 1, use those three competitors and your one-page report as context.
Set this up as a monthly scheduled task, on the first Monday of each month, and email me the result. Use the one page I've pasted below: it has our business, our competitors and how we compare. Each month, search for anything those competitors changed in the last month, and for any new businesses that have started competing for our customers. Send me a short email: - A one-line headline. If nothing important changed, say so. - One line per change: the competitor, what changed, the source link and our call: React, Note or Ignore. - New entrants: one line each, with what they offer and the source link. If there are none, say so. - Options, only if something needs a response, including doing nothing. Keep it under 250 words. [Paste your one page here]
Scheduling needs Claude Cowork or a similar agent. Otherwise, set it up as a Zap. Copy your one page from the chat and paste it into the prompt. Confirm the email destination and schedule, then test a run before relying on it. Without scheduling, save a calendar reminder and run the check yourself. Stuck? Talk to the BusinessAI team.
Before you act
Sample files
Both scenarios, all four prompts and the follow-along notes in session order.
Download text fileThree competitors, 5 to 7 customer factors, source links and options for action.
Download text fileChanges, new entrants and your call: React, Note or Ignore.
Download text fileWhat customers weigh up
These are starting points, not a fixed checklist. Pick 5 to 7 factors that matter to your customers. Rate your business and each competitor Strong, Mixed, Weak or Not found. Cite a source for every fact; leave out generic business advice.
Choose your cadence
01
Quarterly is usually enough. Monthly doesn't hurt. Go weekly only if you're in a real race.
02
The demo sets a monthly task: check changes and new entrants against your saved one page, then email fewer than 250 words.
03
Open the source behind any important change. If nothing important changed, a short headline is enough.
04
React, Note or Ignore. Consider options only when a response is needed, including doing nothing.
Illustrative examples
Compare delivered price, product fit and lead times. An online supplier may serve the same customers even without a local yard. Check its delivery area before including it; faster delivery could be an option instead of matching price.
Compare service areas, availability and published experience. A cluster of public job ads might suggest expansion, but it is not proof. Check the source and note the signal rather than jumping to a conclusion.
Compare installation timeframes, aftercare and repeated review themes. Customer complaints can point to a gap worth checking. Choose a response that fits your strengths, including doing nothing.
“Bloody hell. I wasn't expecting to feel this confident, this soon, using AI in my business.”
Business Owner, Outdoor Living & Blinds Retailer
“I was pretty impressed. If you think about it, that's probably tens of thousands of dollars and 2 to 3 months of agency work, done in about 2 and a half hours.”
Director, Home Improvement & Construction
What you can and can't track
Web search can miss pages or return stale information. Research in a chat is not an automatic email service. Scheduling needs Claude Cowork or a similar agent, or a Zap. Confirm access, email delivery and the first-Monday schedule with a test run.
At a glance
2
Scenarios: find them or watch them
4
Ready-to-paste prompts
3
Competitors that matter most
1 page
A report to read in two minutes
Monthly
First-Monday email demonstrated
45 min
About 33 minutes of content, then Q&A
Ask a question anytime below and we'll respond ASAP.
Past sessions
Every Lunch & Learn we have run, with the workbook page for each one. Free to use, no sign-up.
John Mayers, Brandon Burns
Charlotte Hall, Brandon Burns
Rhys Henderson, Brandon Burns
Brandon Burns
Brandon Burns
Josh Telford, Brandon Burns
BusinessAI
Brandon Burns
Brandon Burns
Brandon Burns
Brandon Burns
BusinessAI
BusinessAI
John Mayers, Rhys Henderson
Straight from our Weekly Q&A
Use AI for hyper-personalised outreach and to query your ad performance in plain language, so you're not relying purely on an agency for insight.
Turn off delete permissions on connected tools and use Claude's approval workflow, so nothing happens without a review first.
Record a repetitive task once as a Claude skill, then just say "do the thing" and Claude runs the whole workflow from there.
Meet the team
Aaron Sansoni
Founder
Rhys Henderson
Chief Executive
Charlotte Hall
VP People & Performance
Arsedian Ivan
Director of AI & Product
John Mayers
Director of Consulting
Fergus Lundy
Director of Sales
Brandon Burns
Head of Experience
Josh Telford
Senior AI Strategy Consultant
Marty Astbury
AI Strategy Consultant
Brayden Tayler
Technical Product Manager
Mariella Liezl Perez
AI Engineer
Brendan Coyne
AI Growth Partner
Tim Ahern
AI Growth Partner
Don't know your competitors yet? Start with scenario 1 and your website. Already know them? Start with scenario 2. Check the sources, save your one page, and choose whether to React, Note or Ignore. If you'd like a hand, talk to the BusinessAI team.
