Build Competitive Intelligence for Fintech

Company Context

Northstar Pay is a mid-market B2B payments software company serving 4,200 small and midsize merchants in the U.S. and Canada. The company generates $48M in annual recurring revenue, grows at 18% YoY, and competes against larger platforms such as Stripe, Adyen, and Block, as well as niche vertical SaaS providers embedding payments. Northstar Pay has historically relied on founder relationships and ad hoc sales feedback to understand the market, but leadership now believes it is missing competitor moves and reacting too slowly to pricing, product, and partnership changes.

Strategic Situation

You are the new Head of Strategy. The CEO has asked you to design a practical approach for how Northstar Pay should keep up with industry trends and competitor activities, and how that intelligence should influence product roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market decisions over the next 12 months. The issue is urgent because the company has seen slowing win rates in new business and increasing discount pressure in renewals. Leadership does not want a “research for research’s sake” function; they want a lightweight system that produces actionable insights and measurable business impact.

Data Points

Additional market facts:

• U.S. SMB payments software market estimated at $9.5B, growing 11% annually
• Northstar Pay's current average contract value is $11,400 per year
• Sales team reports losing 29% of competitive deals to Stripe and 18% to vertical SaaS bundles
• Marketing currently spends $1.8M annually, but only 6% is allocated to market research, analyst subscriptions, and competitive enablement
• The CEO is willing to approve up to $600K incremental annual budget if the plan is clearly tied to revenue outcomes

Deliverables

Prepare a recommendation for the executive team that addresses the following:

1. Define the most important industry trends and competitor activities Northstar Pay should monitor.
2. Propose a repeatable competitive intelligence system, including sources, cadence, owners, and outputs.
3. Prioritize where intelligence should directly influence decisions: product, pricing, partnerships, sales enablement, or market expansion.
4. Estimate the business value of a stronger intelligence capability using reasonable assumptions.
5. Recommend a 12-month implementation plan with milestones, risks, and success metrics.

Constraints

• Plan must be operational within 90 days
• Incremental annual budget cannot exceed $600K
• No large central strategy team; only 2 full-time hires are available
• Product organization can act on only 3 major strategic insights per year
• Sales leadership wants outputs that are usable by frontline teams, not long reports