Using SpotYourStartup well

The intended path through the product, from quiz to decision.

SpotYourStartup is a research library, not a feed. The value compounds when you follow one deliberate path: teach it who you are, let it rank the library for you, read a small number of dossiers deeply, and pressure-test the one you like. This page walks that path feature by feature.

1. Teach it who you are

Take the fit quiz first (Dashboard → Fit quiz, about two minutes). Every ranking in the product changes the moment a profile exists: the dashboard reorders by personal fit instead of general trending, the library gains a fit sort, and every idea page shows a fit verdict with the factors behind it.

Answer the two optional steps too — skill coverage beyond your main strength, and how you feel about selling. They are what separates a rough match from a fine one: the engine weighs seven factors (skill coverage highest, then capital, time to revenue, interests, risk, sales motion, audience match), and the optional answers feed three of them.

Your profile is editable any time. When your situation changes — more hours, more budget, a co-founder who covers sales — update the quiz and the whole library re-ranks instantly.

Quiz or Discovery Studio? Both write the same founder profile, so pick by depth, not by fear of losing anything. The quiz is the two-minute path: one main skill, seven answers, done. The Discovery Studio (Builder and up) is the fine-grained path: you place individual trades on a map, Scout asks follow-up questions, the library re-ranks live while you build, and your top matches can get a personal angle. Committing in the studio replaces your quiz answers — and vice versa.

2. Read your dashboard

The overview shows four ideas ranked for you, each with the factor that carries the match most (for example "Strongest match: Skill coverage"). The category list below ranks whole categories by your average fit. Green means strong (70+), amber workable (45+), red a mismatch. A red fit is information, not an insult: the factors on the idea page tell you exactly what would have to change.

3. Read a dossier top to bottom

Each idea has nine sections in a deliberate order: overview, opportunity, audience, market, revenue, roadmap, competition, validation, evidence. Two habits pay off:

• Read Opportunity and Validation first. If the pain is not real or the cheap test does not convince you, the rest of the dossier does not matter.
• Click the four signals open. Every signal (market, momentum, competition gap, build ease) breaks down into measured sub-metrics with a justification and a source type. The opportunity score is computed from these, never asserted.

The fit card on the right shows your personal verdict with the three factors that help or hurt most.

4. Save, compare, decide

Save the ideas that survive your reading, then use Compare (Dashboard → Compare) to see up to three side by side: scores, signals, effort, revenue models and your fit in one table. The goal is not to find the perfect idea — it is to disqualify quickly and give the one survivor your full attention. What to do in the first 30 days after that decision has its own guide: "From breakdown to first customer".

5. Ask Scout

Scout answers questions strictly from the library: "Which saved idea fits my profile best and why?", "What is the wedge in this dossier?", "Show me B2B ideas under medium effort." It reads the same gated content you can read, never invents ideas, and cites what it uses. Chat questions come out of a monthly quota that depends on your plan, plus a fair-use budget; both reset monthly.

6. Deep analysis

A deep analysis takes a free-text brief ("10k budget, 15 hours a week, no consumer apps, strong at backend") and returns a ranked shortlist from the library with reasons, marked as AI-generated. Use it when your constraints are more specific than the quiz can express. Weekly allowance depends on your plan.

7. Export and alerts

Every dossier exports as clean Markdown (button on the idea page) for your own notes or an AI assistant, provenance block included. Score alerts notify you when a saved idea's opportunity score changes on re-research, and the weekly update mail covers new drops — both opt-in under Dashboard → Updates.