business: phase 0 - initial proposals for business model

projects/business/memory/decisions.md

@@ -1,8 +1,21 @@
-# Business Decisions Log
+# Decisions Log
 
-## 2026-02-14
-- **Decision**: Start autonomous business project
-- **Budget**: €200 starting capital
-- **Constraint**: Must generate first income before requesting more funds
-- **Model**: Opus 4.6 for all sessions
-- **Sessions**: 5x daily
+## 2026-02-14 — Phase 0: Business Model Analysis
+
+### Constraints Assessed
+- €200 budget, no human identity for accounts/payments
+- Must be fully automatable by AI agent
+- Digital products only
+- Human partner handles: domain purchases, account creation, payment setup
+- Available tech: Go, TypeScript, Python; Forgejo for git; can deploy on existing infra
+
+### Models Evaluated & Rejected
+- **Content/SEO sites**: Too slow to monetize, saturated, requires ongoing content
+- **Freelance marketplace**: Requires human identity, client calls
+- **Course/info product**: Need audience first, slow ramp
+- **Chrome extension**: App store accounts need identity, review process unpredictable
+- **Newsletter**: Audience building too slow for €200 budget
+- **Marketplace/platform**: Chicken-and-egg problem, needs critical mass
+
+### Models Shortlisted (3 proposals)
+See proposals below — sent to user for approval.

projects/business/memory/proposals-v1.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# Business Proposals — v1
+
+## Proposal A: API Toolkit / Developer Micro-SaaS
+**What:** A paid API that solves a specific developer pain point. Examples:
+- **Screenshot API** — URL → screenshot/PDF, usage-based pricing
+- **Email validation API** — bulk email verification
+- **OG Image generator** — dynamic social preview images for blogs/SaaS
+
+**Why it works:** Developers pay for APIs that save them time. Usage-based = revenue scales with adoption. No sales calls needed — devs find tools via docs, HN, Reddit, dev.to.
+
+**Costs:**
+- Domain: ~€10
+- Hosting: €0 (can run on existing infra or free tier Fly.io/Railway)
+- Total: ~€10-15
+
+**Revenue model:** Freemium — free tier (100 req/day), paid from €9/mo or usage-based
+**Time to MVP:** 1-2 weeks
+**Time to first revenue:** 4-8 weeks (need to build, then market)
+**Realistic monthly revenue (6mo):** €50-300
+
+**Risks:** Competitive market. Need to pick the right niche and differentiate.
+
+---
+
+## Proposal B: Prompt/Template Marketplace
+**What:** A curated marketplace selling premium prompt templates, system prompts, and AI workflow templates. Think "ThemeForest but for AI prompts."
+
+**Why it works:** AI adoption is massive, most people write terrible prompts. Businesses pay for quality. We can both create inventory AND eventually allow third-party sellers (commission model).
+
+**Costs:**
+- Domain: ~€10
+- Hosting: €0 (static site + Stripe/Lemon Squeezy)
+- Initial inventory: €0 (we create the prompts ourselves)
+- Total: ~€10-15
+
+**Revenue model:** Direct sales €3-15 per template pack, bundles €29-49
+**Time to MVP:** 1 week (static site + payment integration)
+**Time to first revenue:** 2-4 weeks
+**Realistic monthly revenue (6mo):** €100-500
+
+**Risks:** Low barrier to entry, others can copy. Need strong branding and curation.
+
+---
+
+## Proposal C: Niche Data/Report Service
+**What:** Automated reports for a specific niche. Examples:
+- **Weekly competitor analysis reports** for small SaaS companies
+- **SEO audit reports** — automated site analysis with actionable recommendations  
+- **Market trend briefings** for specific industries
+
+**Why it works:** Businesses pay for intelligence that saves them hours. We can automate data collection and report generation. Subscription model = recurring revenue.
+
+**Costs:**
+- Domain: ~€10
+- Hosting: €0
+- Data sources: €0-30/mo (free APIs, web scraping)
+- Total: ~€10-40
+
+**Revenue model:** Subscription €29-99/mo per customer
+**Time to MVP:** 2-3 weeks
+**Time to first revenue:** 4-8 weeks
+**Realistic monthly revenue (6mo):** €100-500
+
+**Risks:** Need to find right niche. Customer acquisition harder (B2B). Higher churn if reports don't deliver value.
+
+---
+
+## Recommendation
+
+**Proposal A (API Toolkit)** — specifically an **OG Image API** or **Screenshot API**.
+
+Reasoning:
+1. Clearest product-market fit — devs already search for these
+2. Fastest path to "set and forget" revenue
+3. Usage-based pricing means happy free users become paying ones organically
+4. We can build this well within budget
+5. Technical moat — performance, reliability, uptime matter more than features
+6. Easiest to market (dev communities, Show HN, Product Hunt)
+
+But I'd defer to the human's judgment on which resonates most.

projects/business/memory/sessions.md

@@ -1,2 +1,11 @@
 # Session Log
 
+## Session 1 — 2026-02-14 12:16 UTC
+- Phase 0: Business Model Discovery
+- Analyzed constraints (€200 budget, no human identity, must be automatable)
+- Evaluated ~10 models, rejected 6, shortlisted 3
+- Wrote detailed proposals: API toolkit, prompt marketplace, niche data service
+- Recommendation: API toolkit (OG image or screenshot API)
+- **Status:** Sent proposals to user, awaiting approval
+- **Next:** Build MVP once direction is chosen
+- **Blocker:** Need human decision on which model to pursue

projects/business/memory/state.json

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 {
   "phase": 0,
   "phaseLabel": "Business Model Discovery",
-  "status": "starting",
-  "currentPriority": "Research viable business models and prepare 2-3 proposals for human approval",
-  "blockers": [],
+  "status": "awaiting_human_approval",
+  "currentPriority": "Waiting for human to review proposals and pick a direction",
+  "blockers": ["Need human approval on business model before proceeding"],
   "startDate": "2026-02-14",
-  "sessionCount": 0
+  "sessionCount": 1
 }