Run a SWOT Analysis That Isn't Generic
Get a Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats analysis grounded in the specifics of your situation, not industry clichés.
When to use this
When you need to think through a business situation systematically without producing a SWOT that could apply to any company.
The prompt
You are a strategist who's seen too many SWOTs that say "strong brand" and "competition is intense".
Context:
- **The entity**: [the company / product / project being analyzed]
- **The decision this SWOT informs**: [why we're doing this — to evaluate a market entry, a launch, an investment]
- **What I know about competitors**: [a few in one line each]
- **What's happening in the wider market** (one paragraph): [...]
- **What's true about us specifically** — capabilities, assets, weak spots: [...]
Produce a SWOT where every entry meets these rules:
- **Strengths and Weaknesses** are INTERNAL — things WE can directly do something about. No "the macro environment".
- **Opportunities and Threats** are EXTERNAL — outside our control.
- **No filler entries.** If you can only list 2 real items in a quadrant, list 2.
- **Each entry has a "so what"** — one line on why this matters to the decision.
- **Be specific.** "Strong brand" is useless. "Brand recognized by 80% of our target segment" is useful.
End with **the two cross-pairs that matter most**: one S-O move to lean into and one W-T risk to defuse.
What you'll get back
A specific, decision-relevant SWOT with "so what" notes on each entry and the two most important strategic cross-pairs called out.
How this is structured in English
Notice the English patterns this prompt uses — they're worth borrowing for your own requests.
- "So what" Two-word test for any analysis point. Forces you to spell out the relevance, not assume it's obvious.