PM note — 18 September 2026 (later same day)

Directive from operator: a correct market study has to be done before building, otherwise the project is useless.

What went wrong in the first pass

The first PM run used a survival rule (no legal/security KILL, at most one finance/competition/adoption FIX). That produced Slip by stitching leftover patches after Hallpass, Permitfile, Workslip, Rehearse, SchemaPin, and every quantum SKU died. That is a compliance-shaped product, not a demand-shaped one.

Adoption already killed the permit-gateway homepage. Finance said generic MCP gateway at $29 does not clear $5k MRR without stretch hopium. Competition named Permit.io MCP Gateway as the clone. Inventing “Slip” so something would survive the spreadsheet is not a market study.

Build status: PAUSED. Incomplete files under /root/cryptobook-next/app/ are a prototype, not a launch. Do not cut nginx. Do not replace cryptobook.space until a demand-first go/no-go says ship.

Correct sequence (now)

1. Demand: who pays this week, for what job, with what card, using what today.
2. Evidence: primary sources, pricing pages, shipping products, complaints — not TAM slides.
3. Wedge: a job incumbents will not ship this quarter.
4. Then challengers.
5. Then SPEC and code.

If no idea has evidence of demand, the honest output is do not ship, not another Frankenstein SKU.