{
  "name": "WhittleOS Discovery gate census",
  "description": "Every candidate our Discovery gate refused across all real runs we still hold, with the check it was refused on. Published because the category argues about idea validation with anecdotes; this is a record of a gate applied at scale with its reasons attached.",
  "url": "https://whittleos.com/benchmark",
  "dataUrl": "https://whittleos.com/gate-census.json",
  "publisher": "WhittleOS",
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
    "attribution": "WhittleOS Discovery gate census, measured 2026-09-22 — https://whittleos.com/benchmark (CC BY 4.0)"
  },
  "measuredOn": "2026-09-22",
  "coverage": {
    "firstRun": "2026-06-02",
    "lastRun": "2026-09-08"
  },
  "method": {
    "source": "Production database, read-only.",
    "population": "Reports carrying a full_pipeline result, excluding AI_STUB_MODE synthetics (68 of 101 reports), which kill nothing and would dilute every rate while looking like a bigger sample.",
    "dropDefinition": "A prefilter entry that did not survive AND carries at least one kill reason. A soft-killed candidate survives carrying its reason as a flag and is not counted as a drop.",
    "reasonGrouping": "Grouped by buyer-facing label, so two internal tokens sharing one name count as one check."
  },
  "notAnAccuracyClaim": "There is no ground truth on whether a refused idea would have sold. These numbers show the gate was applied with its reasons recorded — not that it was right.",
  "notADemandSignal": "The runs are overwhelmingly the founder's own accounts; the product has had one paying customer. This is a record of the machine's behaviour, not of market demand.",
  "totals": {
    "runs": 33,
    "candidates": 1728,
    "dropped": 895,
    "droppedPct": 51.8,
    "namedReasons": 1599,
    "failedMoreThanOneCheck": 619,
    "failedMoreThanOneCheckPct": 69,
    "mostChecksOnOneIdea": 4
  },
  "reasons": [
    {
      "check": "We found no documented problem",
      "ideasDropped": 496,
      "pctOfDropped": 55
    },
    {
      "check": "Too much hands-on support",
      "ideasDropped": 270,
      "pctOfDropped": 30
    },
    {
      "check": "Leans too hard on one platform",
      "ideasDropped": 193,
      "pctOfDropped": 22
    },
    {
      "check": "Just an AI wrapper — no real product",
      "ideasDropped": 148,
      "pctOfDropped": 17
    },
    {
      "check": "Can't charge enough",
      "ideasDropped": 129,
      "pctOfDropped": 14
    },
    {
      "check": "Hard for a solo founder to sell or run",
      "ideasDropped": 109,
      "pctOfDropped": 12
    },
    {
      "check": "No repeatable way to reach buyers",
      "ideasDropped": 85,
      "pctOfDropped": 9
    },
    {
      "check": "Needs heavy compliance (licenses, certifications)",
      "ideasDropped": 63,
      "pctOfDropped": 7
    },
    {
      "check": "No clear way to make money",
      "ideasDropped": 63,
      "pctOfDropped": 7
    },
    {
      "check": "Needs enterprise sales and legal review",
      "ideasDropped": 40,
      "pctOfDropped": 4
    }
  ],
  "unlabelledDrops": 3
}