diff --git a/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md b/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md index 7e68867..0eeea65 100644 --- a/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md +++ b/docs/ALTERNATE_BUSINESS_PROPOSAL.md @@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ We win if we are the shortest path from “AI can’t find / trust / correctly d Refocused 2026-10-01 so every section ladders to BUSINESS_PLAN North Star intent + concept Presence/Recommendability. Evidence from Localeze research and r/localseo; statistics are practitioner-reported, not independently replicated. -**Research brief appended 2026-10-01; three claims rewritten same day for zero-insider readers (problem / industry today / what we build + why viable), with prior North Star + muffin-shop + evidence kept below** — verbose evidence synthesis below (section RESEARCH BRIEF). PDF export: [`docs/research-brief.pdf`](./research-brief.pdf). Does not replace North Star / Problem / Solution / Differentiators / Open questions; amends Capture with this date stamp only. +**Research brief appended 2026-10-01; three claims for zero-insider readers; claim 1 revised same day to open with the owner’s trigger moment, with prior North Star + muffin-shop + evidence kept below** — verbose evidence synthesis below (section RESEARCH BRIEF). PDF export: [`docs/research-brief.pdf`](./research-brief.pdf). Does not replace North Star / Problem / Solution / Differentiators / Open questions; amends Capture with this date stamp only. --- @@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Refocused 2026-10-01 so every section ladders to BUSINESS_PLAN North Star intent ### Three claims (read this first) **1. What the problem is.** -A small business owner updates their Google listing — new phone number, new weekend hours — and thinks customers will find the right info everywhere. They will not. The same details still sit wrong or missing on Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps, and dozens of other online directories. A handful of big data companies quietly copy that stale information around the web. When someone asks an AI assistant — ChatGPT, Gemini, or anything like them — “where’s a good bakery near me?”, that assistant often pulls from those scattered, outdated copies. Sometimes the shop never shows up. Sometimes it shows up with last year’s number. The owner never sees the miss. Customers lose trust. Fixing one listing is not the same as being findable and accurately described wherever people discover local businesses today, including when they ask AI. +Picture a bakery owner who keeps losing easy customers. People show up after closing because the hours online are wrong. Others call a disconnected number and never call back. A few say they asked an assistant for a nearby bakery and got pointed somewhere else — or got her shop with the old phone number. She sits down on a Tuesday night with a clear job: fix this. She updates her Google listing — new phone number, new weekend hours — and thinks customers will find the right info everywhere. They will not. The same details still sit wrong or missing on Yelp, Bing, Apple Maps, and dozens of other online directories. A handful of big data companies quietly copy that stale information around the web. When someone asks an AI assistant — ChatGPT, Gemini, or anything like them — “where’s a good bakery near me?”, that assistant often pulls from those scattered, outdated copies. Sometimes the shop never shows up. Sometimes it shows up with last year’s number. The owner never sees the miss. Customers lose trust. Fixing one listing is not the same as being findable and accurately described wherever people discover local businesses today, including when they ask AI. **2. What the industry looks like today.** Most of the “help your local business get found” industry still chases Google Maps wins: polish the Google business profile, collect reviews, post photos, clean up a few directory listings. That work can bring more phone calls from Google. Companies sell subscription tools that push your listing to many sites at once, score how “complete” your profile looks inside their own software, and track where you rank on a map. Almost none of those products answer the question owners now care about: what do AI assistants actually say about my business — do they find me, recommend me, and get the facts right? Outside research shows AI assistants name far fewer businesses than the short list of three Google shows at the top of many local searches, disagree with each other, and often get hours or phone numbers wrong even when they recognize the shop. People who work in this field warn that big listing subscriptions can lock up your data — stop paying and your listings may disappear. Small owners who do the work themselves usually get the credit for results. Customers are asking AI for local recommendations more than they did a year ago, but the tools for sale still mostly optimize last year’s game. diff --git a/docs/research-brief.pdf b/docs/research-brief.pdf index f69441f..2cd841e 100644 Binary files a/docs/research-brief.pdf and b/docs/research-brief.pdf differ