# Self-serve “Am I discoverable by AI?” — execution plan

**Branch:** `planning-selfserve-audit` (from `planning-rev2`)  
**Status:** Working draft — captured from strategy conversation 2026-10-01  
**Scope:** Ideas, concepts, and strategic direction turned into actionable phases. Not an artifact inventory from the old tree.

Related durable context lives in [`BUSINESS_PLAN.md`](./BUSINESS_PLAN.md). This file is the methodical build plan for the self-serve audit wedge.

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## Strategic spine

- **Spine:** Agent-era local SMB discoverability.
- **Pipes:** MCP (or other transports) are implementation choices, not the product.
- **Northstar (not v1):** An industry-wide graph others can use. Do not block v1 on the graph.
- **v1 wedge:** A self-service check where a business owner asks: “Is my business discoverable by AI?”
- **Channel:** Flexible — standalone web portal and/or inside a business’s own chatbot. One audit engine; shells can differ.
- **Positioning:** As much business-owner-to-AI as possible. Human-in-the-loop exists but will not scale — design must minimize human dependency.
- **Demand:** Advertising (and similar) drives small businesses to the portal for self-initiated audits.

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## Owner flow (target experience)

1. **Initiate** — Owner (or their AI / trusted helper) starts the check on the outcome promise, not on plumbing.
2. **Stakeholder verify** — Prove they are a stakeholder in the business (e.g. six-digit code to a known email on file). Unverified users do not get the deep audit.
3. **Deep audit** — Goes beyond NAP consistency across major providers to categorical information and relevance.
4. **Dual outcome** — A holistic picture of:
   - **Presence:** Are they on the map?
   - **Recommendability:** If they are, would an AI engine likely recommend them when someone asks about something in their genre?
5. **Self-serve next steps** — Plain-language findings and ranked DIY fixes; optional re-check. Human expert path is an escape hatch, not the default.

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## Phases (sequence)

### Phase 0 — Lock the promise

- One-sentence value prop owners understand without jargon.
- First wedge genre (who we speak to first).
- Plain-language definition of “recommendable.”
- v1 shell decision: web, chatbot embed, or both sharing one engine.

**Success:** The promise can be said in one breath without naming a transport (MCP, etc.).

### Phase 1 — Trust gate

- Claim-a-business + stakeholder verification (email code first; other signals later).
- Minimal PII, clear consent, rate limits / abuse controls.

**Success:** Verified owners reach the audit; unverified cannot.

### Phase 2 — Audit engine (the product)

- **Presence score:** On the map across major providers + category consistency.
- **Recommendability score:** Likelihood an AI would surface them for genre-relevant queries.
- Start with a thin, explainable rubric — not a black box.
- Outputs: plain-language findings + ranked owner-actionable fixes.

**Success:** Same business twice ≈ same scores; owner understands why.

### Phase 3 — Self-serve loop

- Results page / chat readback, fix checklist, optional re-check.
- No mandatory human review.
- Optional “ask an expert” as escape hatch only.

**Success:** Majority complete without human touch.

### Phase 4 — Demand

- Lightweight campaigns that send SMBs to the portal for a self-initiated audit.
- Funnel metrics: start → verify → complete → recheck.

**Success:** Acquisition cost and completion rate are known; creative/genre can iterate.

### Phase 5 — Toward the graph (later)

- Only after audits produce structured, consented business truth worth composing.
- Graph remains Northstar; does not gate v1.

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## Build order (what ships first)

1. Promise + wedge genre  
2. Verify gate  
3. Presence score  
4. Recommendability score  
5. Self-serve results / fixes  
6. Recheck  
7. Then ads / demand programs  

Do **not** wait on the industry graph or a single wire protocol.

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## Open decisions

- First v1 genre  
- Web vs chatbot shell (or both)  
- Which providers feed “on the map”  
- How “would AI recommend” is measured without overclaiming  
- Source of “email on file” for verify  
- Free vs paid audit  
- What never goes to a human  

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## v1 success bar

- Owner can finish alone  
- Two clear scores with explainable why  
- Actionable DIY fixes  
- Repeatable recheck  
- Ads can point at it without a sales call  

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## Workstreams (parallel once Phase 0 is clear)

| Workstream | Owns |
|------------|------|
| Promise & wedge | Positioning, genre, “recommendable” language |
| Trust & verify | Claim flow, codes, consent, abuse |
| Presence engine | Provider coverage, NAP + category checks |
| Recommendability engine | Rubric, explainability, genre relevance |
| Experience shell | Web and/or chatbot UX on one engine |
| Growth | Campaigns, funnel metrics |
| Graph (later) | Composition of consented structured truth |

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## Capture note

Drafted in conversation 2026-10-01; written here so the plan is durable and not call-only. Revise in place as Ty locks decisions.