diff --git a/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md b/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md
index 0eeea65..2b35d4e 100644
--- a/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md
+++ b/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 
 ## North Star (what every section serves)
 
-From [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md): **enable local businesses to be discovered and recommended by AI assistants.**
+Full verbatim statement (from [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md) §1) is also repeated under **The North Star** inside the RESEARCH BRIEF so the PDF export includes it:
+
+> **Intent (stable):** Enable local businesses to be discovered and recommended by AI assistants.
 
 On this branch that intent is scored as two owner-facing outcomes in the concept SoT:
 
@@ -100,6 +102,23 @@ Refocused 2026-10-01 so every section ladders to BUSINESS_PLAN North Star intent
 **Branch:** `planning-selfserve-audit`  
 **Relationship:** Append-only evidence layer for this alternate proposal. Does not replace the concept SoT ([`SELF_SERVE_AI_DISCOVERABILITY_CONCEPT.md`](./SELF_SERVE_AI_DISCOVERABILITY_CONCEPT.md)). Labels in the evidence sections below: **practitioner-reported**, **vendor**, **primary study**, **UNVERIFIED**.
 
+### The North Star
+
+There is no separate `NORTH_STAR.md` in this repo today. The durable statement lives in [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md) §1 (“North star (wording still open)”). **Verbatim:**
+
+> **Intent (stable):** Enable local businesses to be discovered and recommended by AI assistants.
+>
+> Still wordsmithing the exact sentence. The job does not change while the phrasing does.
+
+On this branch we score that intent as two outcomes (same meaning as Presence and Recommendability in the concept SoT):
+
+1. **Present and accurately represented** wherever a local business is discovered — including AI answers, Google, Apple, Bing, Yelp, and the directory copies underneath.
+2. **Recommendable** — if someone asks an AI for a business like yours nearby, would it pick you, and would it get the facts right?
+
+Longer-term destination in the concept SoT (not version one): an industry graph the industry can use. Version one earns that by making the two outcomes above true in today’s assistants, with the owner’s consent.
+
+Every claim and table below serves that North Star text — not a slogan without a definition.
+
 ### Three claims (read this first)
 
 **1. What the problem is.**  
@@ -115,14 +134,9 @@ The sections below keep the longer framing, a muffin-shop story, the research ta
 
 ---
 
-### North Star (how to read this brief)
+### How to read the evidence (points back at The North Star)
 
-The North Star for GEOLOCAL is **agent-era local SMB discoverability**: local businesses **discovered and recommended by AI assistants**. That intent (from [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md)) is scored on this branch as two outcomes:
-
-- **Presence** — being present and accurately represented wherever a local business is discovered (majors, umbrellas, directories, and the copies assistants lean on).
-- **Recommendability** — would an AI pick you for a real buyer ask, and would it **get you right** (not just mention you)?
-
-Everything below is evidence gathered **in service of that North Star** — what practitioners and vendors say moves Maps/calls vs what actually bears on AI Presence and Recommendability, what is waste, and where the proof is thin. It is not a general local-SEO encyclopedia; read every finding against “does this help an owner become discoverable and accurately recommended by agents?”
+The actual North Star statement is in **The North Star** section above (verbatim from [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md)). Everything below is evidence gathered **in service of that statement** — what practitioners and vendors say moves Maps/calls vs what actually bears on being present, accurately represented, and recommended by AI assistants. It is not a general local-SEO encyclopedia; read every finding against “does this help an owner become discoverable and accurately recommended by agents?”
 
 ### In plain English (the muffin shop)
 
diff --git a/docs/research-brief.pdf b/docs/research-brief.pdf
index 2cd841e..b1a0f41 100644
Binary files a/docs/research-brief.pdf and b/docs/research-brief.pdf differ