How to Take a SWOT at Your Own Company
It’s the so-called dog days. Many investors and key decision makers have ‘gone fishing,’ so to speak and while it may seem like there’s nothing going on but the rent on that front, don’t be fooled, founders: it’s SWOT season and we’re not talking about mosquitoes and sand flies, although they’re out there, too. We’re talking about that now is a good time to do a SWOT analysis, the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.
Here are some excellent guidelines from Forbes, with a few tweaks:
Strengths. “Your Strengths are internal positives about your company that you can control and that often provide you with a competitive advantage. Some examples might be the quality of your product, the effectiveness of your processes, your access to physical or team assets or other competitive advantages.” Most importantly, what’s your superpower? What are you doing, short or long term, that will put you ahead of your competitors, or will possibly even be an industry game-changer?