It’s become pretty cliche to talk about the declining cost of “starting up” over the last 10 years.  But one area rarely mentioned is the ease at which competitive analysis can be done.  With linkedin, crunchbase, angelist, you’re able to literally get real numbers behind your competitions funding, employee count, and sales.  And with vimeo, youtube, and blogs, you’re able to hear your competitor openly discuss their strategical thinking. 

Not so in the day of expensive gartner reports.