I asked founders how they track competitor launches, customer discussions, funding rounds, etc. The post ended up getting 1.4k+ views and a lot of thoughtful feedback.
A few things really challenged my assumptions:
- Almost everyone agreed that information overload is a real problem.
- Many pointed out there are already plenty of monitoring tools.
- The biggest concern wasn't finding information—it was trusting the system to know what actually deserves your attention.
- One comment really stuck with me: "The product has to earn the right to interrupt me." I think that's exactly right.
- Another good challenge was whether founders would actually pay for monitoring, or if this is just a "vitamin" rather than a "painkiller."
That completely changed how I'm thinking about the product.
Instead of trying to monitor everything, I'm now exploring whether the value is in personalized decision support—understanding your startup's goals, competitors, and context, then explaining why something matters instead of simply notifying you that it happened.
One question I'm still trying to validate:
If you already track competitors or market changes, what does your workflow actually look like?
- Google Alerts?
- RSS feeds?
- Competitor spreadsheets?
- Reddit searches?
- Product Hunt?
- Something else?
Or do you mostly check things manually when you remember?
I'm far more interested in what founders actually do than what they think they should do.
I've started building a prototype based on all the feedback. If you're interested in trying it or following the progress, I've put together a small waitlist: https://spectre-black.vercel.app/
And if you have more thoughts (or think this is a terrible idea), I'd genuinely love to hear them. The discussion so far has been far more valuable than people simply saying, "I'd use it."