The Competitive-Gap Adaptation Method
Win by building the valuable skill your stronger rivals neglect
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 91%
When entering a field full of stronger specialists, avoid automatically competing on their strongest dimension. Start with an honest inventory of where they outperform you and where direct competition would be slow or unrealistic. Then inspect what those competitors undervalue, perform poorly, or dismiss as unimportant. Select a neglected capability that matters to customers and that you can become good at relatively quickly. Build it until it complements the field's core product rather than merely decorating it. Herjavec used this logic in cybersecurity: engineers held the technical advantage, but many undervalued social skills and sales. By explaining a product's value to buyers, he created a differentiated route to winning without pretending to be the best engineer in the room.
Origin
Herjavec explained how adaptability helped him find a sales advantage after entering cybersecurity among competitors with stronger engineering backgrounds.
Core principles
- 01Head-to-head competition is not always the best contest
- 02A weakness can reveal where not to compete
- 03Competitors' neglected skills create openings
- 04Value comes from combining complementary capabilities
How to run it
- 1
Map the dominant contest
Identify the capability on which the field normally competes. Compare your current ability honestly with established rivals.
Pro tip Use observed performance rather than job titles or confidence.
Watch out Do not invent a differentiation story to avoid admitting a real skill gap.
- 2
Decline the losing matchup
Accept where direct competition would place you at a persistent disadvantage. Preserve enough baseline competence to operate responsibly, but do not make imitation your whole strategy.
Watch out A complementary strength cannot replace essential technical competence.
- 3
Find the neglected capability
Look for customer-relevant work competitors perform poorly or consider unimportant. Prioritise gaps that influence adoption, trust, comprehension, or results.
Pro tip Listen for complaints customers repeat about otherwise strong providers.
- 4
Build the gap skill quickly
Practise the selected capability in real situations and seek rapid feedback. Aim to become meaningfully better, not theoretically perfect.
Pro tip Choose a capability that compounds with strengths you already possess.
- 5
Translate it into value
Use the new capability to improve how customers understand, buy, or benefit from the core offer. Measure whether it changes real outcomes.
Pro tip Describe the customer result rather than the skill itself.
Watch out If customers do not value the gap, choose another one.
In the wild
A founder enters an analytics market where competitors have deeper data-science credentials. Customer interviews reveal that buyers cannot explain what rival dashboards mean for weekly decisions. Instead of trying to out-publish the scientists, the founder becomes exceptional at discovery, plain-language interpretation, and decision-focused onboarding.
→ The company wins customers who value usable decisions more than another layer of technical complexity.
Common mistakes
Competing on rivals' strongest axis
Copying established specialists can lock a newcomer into a contest where time and credentials favour the incumbent.
Choosing a gap nobody values
Being different is not useful unless the neglected capability changes a customer outcome.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for adaptable operators entering a field where they cannot immediately win on the dominant skill.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the neglected capability has little customer value or the core technical threshold is mandatory for safe performance.
From the transcript
“What can I compete with? What are my competitors not great at that I can become great at quickly? And I realized social skills, sales.”
“I thought what if I could tell people the value of the product? So, I leaned into sales and that's how I like got to…”
From the episode
Episode 507: Robert Herjavec: The Mindset Behind Shark Tank-Level Success
Robert Herjavec