Get a competitor briefing deck every month without the research hours
Starts on a schedule with your competitor list. Ends with a link to a briefing deck: news, funding, hires and pricing, sorted into four categories.
Bring the step you are stuck on: 30 minutes, a straight answer and the next step. If you would rather have it built, a reply within 5 working days.
The route
7 steps: 2 rule steps, 3 AI steps and no person step
Copy, share, discuss
- Copy
Available once this workflow passes its checks.
- Share
todkett.com/automations/marketing/competitor-research-deck/
- Discuss
Opens when the first workflow passes its checks. No GitHub account? Ask about this by form.
How the library, the tracks and the talk work: the community page.
At a glance
- Starts when
- A schedule, reading the competitor list from a table.
- Input
- The competitor list from a table.
- Output
- A link to a briefing deck: news, funding, hires and pricing, sorted into four categories.
- AI
- Uses AIResearch, fact extraction, chart planning, chart images and slide writing.
- Rule checks
- 3 checks around the AI
- Tools
- Airtable, Explorium, fal (image generation), Gamma, Google Sheets
- Last stress test
- No recorded run yet
01Steps
The steps
7 steps: 2 rule steps, 3 AI steps and no person step. You need a market map for the next pitch and have no analyst. Tracking competitors' launches, pricing, funding and hires takes days each month, so it rarely happens.
01Trigger
Competitor list
The competitor list from a table.
02Rule step
Enrich in batches
Enrich each competitor with company data, in batches of a set size.
03AI step
AI researches each one
AI pulls recent news, funding, leadership moves and pricing from public research.
04AI step
AI sorts the facts
AI sorts the key facts into four categories and saves them.
05AI step
AI plans and draws charts
AI plans three charts, and an image model draws them.
06Rule step
Wait for images and deck
Wait-and-check loops wait for the images and the deck to finish.
07Output
Deck link
A 12 to 15 slide deck and its link.
Briefing deck
02Where AI is used
Where AI is used, and what stays with you
AI reads, judges or drafts. Fixed rules check, decide and route. A person approves anything that goes out.
AI step
Steps 03, 04, 05Research, fact extraction, chart planning, chart images and slide writing.
Summarising research and writing slides is the job.
What the model reads
- Public research on each competitor: company data, news, funding, hires and pricing pages.
What it never sees or decides
- Private data: it works from public sources only.
- Anyone outside your team: the deck stays with you.
Model calls: Not counted from the workflow yet. It is counted before this page goes live.
Fixed rules
They check, decide and route. 2 rule steps.
- 02Enrich in batches
- 06Wait for images and deck
A person
No step waits for a person. Human sign-off (ST7) is not needed: stays with you.
03Checks
Checks around the AI
What runs before the model, and what checks its answer after, in plain words. Build these into your version too.
- 01A batch size limit on each run.
- 02Wait-and-check loops for image and deck generation.
- 03The prompts forbid invented numbers. No code check compares the numbers with the research yet.
04The 8 checks
Stress test
The 8 checks we run on every workflow, and you can run too. A check marked Not needed says why.
- Status
- Not yet0 of 7 that apply have a recorded pass
- Last run
- No recorded run yet
- Model review
- Still open
Checks marked Not yet are still open.
0 passed · 1 not needed · 7 not yet
What we testWe show what we tested, never the test data. The example below is made up.
05Test replay
How to test it
Before you trust a workflow, try to break it. The sample record runs the route step by step. Each break test below gets its own replay once its recorded run exists.
- Record
- BRIEF-11
- Data
- Sample run, made-up data
01Competitor list
Three made-up competitors from Fernway's list
Done02Enrich in batches
Company data added in one batch
Done03AI researches each one
News, funding, hires and pricing from public sources
Done04AI sorts the facts
Facts sorted into four categories
Done05AI plans and draws charts
Three charts planned and drawn; numbers not yet checked in code
Done06Wait for images and deck
Images and deck finished
Done07Deck link
Link to a 12 to 15 slide deck
Briefing deckArrived
BRIEF-11 reached the last station: Briefing deck. Link to a 12 to 15 slide deck.
Sample run on made-up data. No stress-test run is recorded yet, so this plays the example, not a test. Nothing runs live.
The break tests for this workflow
06Example
The example, in and out
Made-up data, written to show the steps; no recorded run stands behind it yet. Fernway is a made-up small software company, and its address ends in .example, so it cannot belong to a real business.
InputExample
Example on made-up data: Fernway's list of three made-up competitors.
OutputExample
News, funding, hires and pricing facts sorted into four categories, three charts planned and drawn, and a link to a 12 to 15 slide deck. The chart numbers are not yet checked in code.
07Limits
When not to automate this
- Until the number check exists, treat every chart as a draft and check it against the sources.
- Public sources only.
08What you need
What you need to run it
| Tool | Access |
|---|---|
| Airtable | Read the competitor list |
| Gamma | Create the deck |
| Research and image services | One key each, with a spending limit |
- Where it runs
- In n8n, self-hosted or n8n cloud.
- Model calls
- Not counted from the workflow yet. It is counted before this page goes live.
- Running costs
- Yours, paid to each service directly. Scope in writing first. A quote before any build. No prices on the site yet.
How to adapt it
Changes we have made or tested on this workflow.
- 01Track pricing pages only, with a Google Sheets pricing-tracker variant.
What changed
- ContentFirst version, written from the 23 Oct 2026 catalog.
09FAQ
Questions people ask about it
Where does the research come from?
Public sources: company data, news, funding, leadership moves and pricing pages.
Are the numbers in the deck checked?
Not yet. Today the prompt forbids invented numbers, but no code compares the chart numbers with the research data. That is check ST8, and it has not passed yet.
Is the workflow built from scratch?
No. It adapts a public n8n community template, which this page will credit by name.
10Related
Where to go next
Use cases
7 steps
6 steps
Can you automate it?
Stuck on your version of this workflow?
Bring the step that does not work. In 30 minutes you get a straight answer and the next step. If you would rather have it built, tell us your tools and the rules you already follow. Scope in writing first. A quote before any build. No prices on the site yet.