# VYNDR — NORTH STAR v1.1
### The map every session builds against. Lives in /specs. Updated only deliberately. (v1.1: kill list corrected per founder ruling; zero-out-of-pocket rule added; media model corrected.)

## WHAT VYNDR IS
A sports data intelligence platform. **FREE = the complete picture** — schedule, stats, game logs, streaks, hot/cold, matchup context, line comparison — always populated, always interpreted through the VYNDR lens. **PAID = the read** — grades, archetypes, correlation parlays, factor analysis, CLV intelligence: the complete synthesized picture behind the paywall. **PROOF = the Ledger** — the CLV-verified public record, misses included. Free answers "what's happening." Paid answers "what it means, all together, and what to do." The platform is NEVER empty at any hour.

## THE THREE ASSETS (protect above all features)
1. **The record** — time-gated moat; never fabricate, never curate, never render under n≥20 (enforced at the aggregate API).
2. **The dataset** — every settle trains the model; every scan is labeled data; nothing pollutes it (no anon writes, no fabricated values, refusals over hollow grades).
3. **The habit + audience** — daily free excellence, the wire (VOICE v1.1), Kev's media engine, partner network.

## THE FOUR STAGES
**Stage 1 — The Tool ($0→$100K/mo MRR).** Subscriptions; ~2,000 Desk-equivalent subs. Arcs 1–2 + the A1 board. Funds all reinvestment.
**Stage 2 — The Affiliate Layer.** Sportsbook CPA ($250–500/depositing signup) via BOOK IT + best-line + editorial. The free tier becomes a profit center; at scale affiliate can out-earn subscriptions 3:1.
**Stage 3 — The Network ($10M→$100M ARR).** User ledgers: every bettor gets a CLV-verified public record — Strava for betting. Leaving VYNDR = abandoning your receipts. Needs capital + small team.
**Stage 4 — The Platform (the billions).** From strength, choose: B2B data/API licensing (Sportradar path, low regulatory drag) or Operator (contest rake, PrizePicks path, heavy regulatory lift, where $5B valuations live).
**Market honesty:** subscription tools alone exit at ~$80–240M. The billions require ascending the stack. Tool = wedge, record = moat, audience = leverage.

## FREE-LAYER DOCTRINE
1. Free is genuinely excellent — never crippled (crippled free = no traffic = dead flywheel = no affiliate revenue).
2. The lens applies to free data; the GRADE and synthesis are paid.
3. The tease is structural: locked grade badges on free surfaces; 3 free reads/day.
4. Free must be a standalone daily habit: never empty, faster than ESPN, better organized than anyone.
5. Every free surface has a share path — free users are distribution.
6. Every free user has affiliate value independent of subscription intent.

## THE COMPANY SHAPE
Kev = media + partnerships, full time, publisher of everything (nothing auto-posts, anywhere, ever). The product self-operates (autonomy loop + ntfy alerting) and self-arms Kev daily (/desk copy-paste arsenal + DATA BRIEF for freeform writing with Claude on the Max sub). Claude Code = the build force; Claude in Chrome = ops verification runbooks; the Hetzner box runs everything — nothing depends on a local machine.

## OPERATING RULES (permanent)
- **ZERO OUT-OF-POCKET:** no new paid APIs, services, or dependencies. Existing infra + Max subscription only. Revenue unlocks upgrades — the reinvestment loop is the only budget (Kev's standing rule: money made reinvests into tech + tools).
- No pricing claim the product doesn't deliver; no feature the pricing page doesn't honestly describe.
- One meaning per color; all data in mono; glow = A-tier only; the dark terminal IS the brand.
- Absent beats wrong; refusal beats hollow; real-and-small beats fake-and-big.
- Density is unlimited under fixed grammar (ROW-GRAMMAR.md); mobile physics respected.
- The voice is VOICE v1.1 — the wire, deadpan, misses lead, Stark layer smirks only with a receipt. No exclamation points, anywhere, including the product UI.
- Killed permanently: AI chat assistant, light mode. Everything else earns scheduling, not exile.
- Responsible gaming built sincerely. The company that lasts is the one users don't resent in five years.

— NORTH STAR v1.1 · July 2026 —
