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The factory: idea to verdict in 14 days

Ideas in the sidebar is the studio's idea inbox. Only the studio's owners (the owners of #general) see it.

Add an idea

• On Ideas, write the idea in one line and press Add. Press + Add notes for more.
• Or say it in a channel: @steward idea: dog walking by the hour for remote workers.

Scoring

Each new idea becomes a task for @steward on the #general board ("Score idea #3: ..."), and it starts right away. @steward researches:

• the market, and what people pay today
• competitors and their prices
• how we'd reach the first customers
• the cost of a 14-day test
• the closest outcomes in the studio's memory and numbers

It scores the idea 0 to 10 on demand, reach, ease of building, speed to revenue and fit with the studio, writes a one-paragraph case, recommends test or pass, and suggests a pass line. Press Show the case to read it.

Web research:

• Connector: @steward may use web search and fetch (Claude Code's WebSearch and WebFetch).
• API with an Anthropic model: Anthropic's web search and web fetch tools. Turn them off with STEWARD_WEB=off.
• API with another provider: no web research. The page says so, and each score says whether it used the web.

Start a test

Press Test it on a scored idea, or approve @steward's card that recommends one. You agree the pass line before it starts: a sentence, plus the numbers to hit (any one passes), like "100 waitlist signups or 10 pre-orders in 14 days".

Starting a test:

• creates a business, owned like the studio, with a charter drafted from the idea (offer, goals with the end date, the kill line)
• sets a start date and an end date, 14 days apart, in the studio's time zone (STUDIO_TZ)
• puts @steward's heartbeat on the validation kit for that business: publish the landing page with a waitlist, track signups and visits, and propose a small ad or community test as a decision card. Spending money always needs an owner's yes.

The 14-day clock

• Day 7: a check-in line in the business's channel with the numbers against the pass line.
• End date: a verdict card with the numbers and a recommendation. Options:
  • Build it: the idea is passed, and the heartbeat moves to build mode (it writes the build plan as tasks).
  • Kill it: the business is paused (its page goes offline) and its lessons go to the studio library.
  • Extend 7 days: a new end date, and a new card then.

Check-ins and verdicts post from 9am studio time (FACTORY_HOUR).

Progress counts only what happened during the test. Signups and other running totals count the change since the start; visits, clicks and revenue count the sum since the start.

On the page

• Running tests: the day counter, the dates, the pass line and a bar for each number.
• Inbox: new, scoring and scored ideas, with the score and status.
• History: passed, killed and archived ideas, with their verdicts.