{"api":{"name":"api.sb","description":"Business-as-Code surface for Startups.Studio","home":"https://api.sb","docs":"https://api.sb/docs","version":"1.0.0"},"$context":"https://api.sb/$context","$type":"FoundingHypothesis","$id":"https://api.sb/founding-hypotheses/fh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","links":{"self":"https://api.sb/v1/founding-hypotheses/fh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","canonical":"https://api.sb/founding-hypotheses/fh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","pool":"https://api.sb/v1/founding-hypotheses"},"foundingHypothesis":{"id":"fh:w4-4451-buying-decision:v1","lens":"AIService","type":"founding-hypothesis","click":{"rubricScores":{"C8_lensFit":1,"C7_magicLensFit":1,"C4_competitorHonesty":1,"C6_crossSlotCoherence":1,"C1_customerSpecificity":1,"C2_problemFrictionRealism":1,"C9_killCriteriaAttestability":1,"C3_approachEngineCoverability":1,"C5_differentiationLoservilleEscape":1},"upperRightLoserville":true},"cellRef":{"id":"work-contexts.org.ai/w4-4451-buying-decision","stableHash":"wcc:w4:4451:buying-decision:v1"},"problem":{"slotStatement":"When Category Managers run a line review to pick which vendors and SKUs to list, delist, or swap, they pull Nielsen/IRI scans, slotting-fee offers, promo funding, velocity, and margin into scattered spreadsheets — and then cannot produce a review-ready record showing WHY one vendor beat another when the VP or a rejected broker pushes back weeks later."},"approach":{"oneSentence":"An AI service that ingests the chain's POS, syndicated scan data, and each vendor's bid/trade-funding sheet, scores every candidate SKU against the category's weighted buying criteria (velocity, margin, slotting, promo lift, shelf productivity), and emits a traceable vendor-selection record with every score linked back to the source line item the Category Manager and VP can sign off on."},"customer":{"icpShape":"Regional and independent grocery chains with 8–80 stores in North America, where the buyer is the VP of Merchandising (or Director of Center Store) who signs category-review and vendor-selection tooling budgets, and the daily user is the Category Manager running line reviews and new-item cut-ins","beachheadShape":"EarlyAdopterJTBD: regional grocery chains running 2–4 annual category line reviews where Category Managers currently defend vendor/SKU selections to the VP of Merch with ad-hoc Excel scorecards"},"archetype":"startup-archetypes.org.ai/AIService-MoneyOnDelivery","beachhead":"EarlyAdopterJTBD: regional grocery chains running 2–4 annual category line reviews where Category Managers currently defend vendor/SKU selections to the VP of Merch with ad-hoc Excel scorecards","competitors":{"substitutes":[{"name":"Excel/Google Sheets category-review workbooks passed between Category Manager and broker","category":"status-quo"},{"name":"NielsenIQ Byzzer / Circana (IRI) Unify category-review modules","category":"incumbent"},{"name":"RangeMe + ECRM vendor-discovery workflows","category":"adjacent vertical"},{"name":"ChatGPT / Claude used ad-hoc by the Category Manager to summarize vendor decks","category":"AI-native horizontal"}]},"studioThesis":"T-LOW","killThreshold":{"K":8,"M":30,"N":7,"rubricItemSet":["C1_customerSpecificity","C2_problemFrictionRealism","C3_approachEngineCoverability","C4_competitorHonesty","C5_differentiationLoservilleEscape","C6_crossSlotCoherence","C7_magicLensFit","C8_lensFit","C9_killCriteriaAttestability"],"verdictPolicy":"all-load-bearing-pass-and-overall-ge-X","loadBearingItemSet":["C1_customerSpecificity","C2_problemFrictionRealism","C3_approachEngineCoverability","C4_competitorHonesty","C5_differentiationLoservilleEscape","C6_crossSlotCoherence"],"verdictPolicyVerbatim":"KILL unless every load-bearing rubric item passes per workbook AND overall pass-rate ≥ 7/9 (CASCADE.md §4 Stage 9 commit threshold)."},"lifecycleState":"Active","differentiation":{"twoByTwo":{"xAxis":"Depth of integration with the chain's own POS + vendor bid sheets (proprietary internal data, not just syndicated panel)","yAxis":"Per-decision auditability — every SKU score traces to the exact scan row, contract clause, or trade-funding line","winningQuadrant":"High integration with chain-specific POS/vendor bids AND per-line-item traceable selection record the VP of Merch can defend to brokers and internal audit","loservilleEscape":true,"loservilleQuadrant":"Generic LLM chat summarizing vendor slide decks with no POS wiring and no source-linked scoring — the failure mode Category Managers hit today when they paste a broker deck into ChatGPT and get a confident paragraph they cannot defend in the line-review meeting"}},"unmetRequirements":[],"pricingArchitecture":"usage-meter"},"actions":{},"options":{},"relationships":{"runtimeUnit":"https://api.sb/v1/runtime-units?startupRef=startup%3Afh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","brand":"https://api.sb/v1/brands?startupId=startup%3Afh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","listing":"https://api.services/listings?foundingHypothesisRef=fh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1","cell":"https://api.sb/v1/cells/work-contexts.org.ai/w4-4451-buying-decision","thesis":"https://api.sb/v1/theses/T-LOW"},"meta":{"level":"L0","scopes":[]},"user":{"requestId":"a05759eade4fa594","edgeLocation":"a05759eade4fa594","geo":{"country":"US"},"ua":{"browser":"Claude"}},"references":{"total":0,"limit":25,"page":1,"links":{"self":"https://api.sb/v1/founding-hypotheses/fh%3Aw4-4451-buying-decision%3Av1/references"},"items":[]}}