James Cole

James Cole

James covers competitive strategy and platform dynamics. He focuses on moats, ecosystem leverage, and head-to-head SaaS tactics.

Information Asymmetry: Winning Enterprise Negotiations

1. TL;DR & Definition Information Asymmetry occurs when one party in an economic transaction possesses greater material knowledge than the other. In B2B SaaS, this translates to software vendors leveraging proprietary usage data, benchmark metrics, and opaque pricing tiers to…

Astroturfing: Manufacturing Fake Grassroots Support

Editor’s note: this piece breaks down aggressive competitive tactics for educational purposes. Some of these moves sit close to, or across, legal lines on deception, defamation, and fair competition, which differ by jurisdiction. Nothing here is legal advice; talk to…

Market Manipulation: Bending Market Perception

Editor’s note: this piece breaks down aggressive competitive tactics for educational purposes. Some of these moves sit close to, or across, legal lines on deception, defamation, and fair competition, which differ by jurisdiction. Nothing here is legal advice; talk to…

Sockpuppeting: Using Fake Accounts to Trash Competitors

Editor’s note: this piece breaks down aggressive competitive tactics for educational purposes. Some of these moves sit close to, or across, legal lines on deception, defamation, and fair competition, which differ by jurisdiction. Nothing here is legal advice; talk to…

Controlled Opposition: Funding Your Own Competitor

Editor’s note: this piece breaks down aggressive competitive tactics for educational purposes. Some of these moves sit close to, or across, legal lines on deception, defamation, and fair competition, which differ by jurisdiction. Nothing here is legal advice; talk to…