Spot the Stall
A dashboard for a fictional venture. Where is it stuck? Each puzzle gives you four months of numbers and a few notes from the desk. The founders always think they know the answer. Pick the stage it's really stuck at, then see our read and the reasoning behind it.
Four stalled ventures.
- Puzzle 01 · Fictional
The notes nobody takes
An AI assistant that writes up site meetings for small architecture practices: who said what, what was decided, and who does what next.
The founders think: "The product is ready. We need a better sales process."
Solve it - Puzzle 02 · Fictional
Twenty-three features
A staff scheduling app for independent restaurants: rotas, shift swaps, hours and holiday.
The founders think: "Customers keep asking for things. We need more engineers to keep up."
Solve it - Puzzle 03 · Fictional
The leaky launch
An AI bookkeeping assistant for freelancers: it reads receipts and bank feeds and keeps the books ready for tax time.
The founders think: "Sign-ups are growing every month. More marketing will grow them faster."
Solve it - Puzzle 04 · Fictional
The one-city wonder
An ordering assistant for independent cafés: it suggests the week's order from each supplier and places it on the café's say-so.
The founders think: "Sales outside our home city are slow. Maybe the product isn't good enough there."
Solve it
Every venture, name and number in these puzzles is fictional. The patterns are the ones we see most often.
Six stages, one question each.
- 01
Ideate
Is there a real problem worth solving here?
- 02
Define
What exactly are we building, for whom, and what are we not building?
- 03
Build
Does the thing exist, and does it work?
- 04
PMF
Do the right people want it badly enough to keep using it?
- 05
Market
Can we reach them repeatably, and will they pay?
- 06
Grow
Does it compound without us pushing it?