# Spectra — Pre-Sprint Readiness Report

> Generated Feb 14, 2026 | 5 parallel verifications completed | All docs analyzed

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## Executive Summary

Spectra has **excellent technical architecture** (B+/85 from Uncle Bob review) but **critical gaps in product strategy, competitive positioning, and GTM** that must be addressed before or during the hackathon sprint. The competitive landscape has shifted dramatically — CodeRabbit, SonarQube, Snyk, and Semgrep have ALL added AI/multi-agent capabilities. The window is 6-12 months.

| Area | Grade | Status |
|------|-------|--------|
| Architecture | B+ (85/100) | Strong. 4 ambiguities to clarify before sprint. |
| Product Strategy | C+ (65/100) | Pricing broken. North Star wrong. Platform layer missing. |
| Competitive Intel | D (45/100) | Claims outdated. Major competitors missed. |
| YC Application | B- (72/100) | Strong founder, weak traction narrative. Timing brutal. |
| Brand & GTM | C (60/100) | Brand 7/10, GTM 5/10. Growth loops mostly fantasy. |

---

## 1. Architecture Verdict

**Overall: Well-designed. Fix 4 ambiguities before writing code.**

### What's Excellent
- Clean Architecture dependency rule rigorously enforced (A grade)
- Pattern selection is sophisticated: Template Method, Decorator Chain, Facade, Factory
- Domain model is immutable, type-safe, uses Result<T, SpectraError> correctly
- Error hierarchy (SPEC-001 to SPEC-009) with retry policies is production-grade

### Must Fix Before Sprint (saves 8-10 hours of thrashing)

**1. Timeout Pattern** — Use `Promise.allSettled` with individual 30s timeouts:
```typescript
const results = await Promise.allSettled([
  Promise.race([archAgent.run(), timeout(30_000)]),
  Promise.race([secAgent.run(), timeout(30_000)]),
  Promise.race([qualAgent.run(), timeout(30_000)]),
  Promise.race([docAgent.run(), timeout(30_000)]),
]);
```

**2. Agent Failure State Machine** — Define what happens:
- 0 fail → continue normally
- 1 fail → continue with 3 dimensions, weight scorecard proportionally
- 2+ fail → abort, generate partial report with available dimensions
- CritiqueAgent fail → skip critique, mark report as "unvalidated"

**3. Token Budget Allocation** — Split explicitly:
- MetaPrompter: 5K tokens
- 4 Specialists: 150K each (shared pool)
- CritiqueAgent: 200K (reserved, never cut)
- If overrun: scale specialist prompts proportionally

**4. SPEC-005 Recovery** — Zod validation fails:
- Step 1: Retry parse (maybe JSON was truncated)
- Step 2: If still fails, retry LLM call once
- Step 3: If still fails, mark agent as failed, increment failure count

---

## 2. Product Strategy — Critical Issues

### Issue #1: Pricing Is Broken
| Tier | Price | Analyses | COGS/Run | Gross Margin |
|------|-------|----------|----------|-------------|
| Pro | $49/mo | 50 | $22.50 | **-2,194%** |
| Team | $199/mo | Unlimited | $22.50 | **-Infinite** |

**Recommendation:** For hackathon, don't worry about pricing. Post-hackathon: Pro $99/20 analyses, Team $299/unlimited.

### Issue #2: Wrong North Star
- WAA (Weekly Active Analyses) is vanity
- Better: **"% of paying users completing ≥2 analyses in 30 days"**
- 20% W1 retention is a churn signal, not a success metric

### Issue #3: Feature vs Platform
- CLI tool = feature (copied by GitHub in 6 months)
- Need: historical trends, team collaboration, CI/CD integration
- Move dashboard + GitHub Action to Phase 1 priority (post-hackathon)

### Revenue Reality
| Projection | Spectra Claims | Realistic |
|-----------|---------------|-----------|
| Year 1 ARR | $1.2M | $180K |
| Year 3 ARR | $12M | $4-6M |
| Customers needed (Y1) | 100 | 400 |

---

## 3. Competitive Landscape — Major Update Required

### Your Claims vs Reality (Feb 2026)

| Competitor | Your Claim | Verified Reality |
|-----------|-----------|-----------------|
| CodeRabbit | "PR-only, single model" | **Has agentic workflows, 9K+ orgs, multi-agent** |
| SonarQube | "Can't add AI" | **Shipped Remediation Agent + Foundation Agent + MCP** |
| Snyk | "Can't expand beyond security" | **Launched "Evo" multi-agent orchestration** |
| Semgrep | "Can't add LLM" | **AI-powered detection in private beta** |
| GitHub Copilot | Not mentioned | **15M+ users, agentic code review, embedded** |

### Missing Competitors
- JetBrains Qodana (enterprise entrenched)
- CodeScene (architecture visualization)
- Amazon CodeGuru + Q (AWS ecosystem)
- Open source: PR-Agent, DeepSWE, LibVulnWatch

### What's Still True
No competitor combines ALL of: 6 dimensions + extended thinking critique + full-repo analysis + <2min + zero config. **But this window is 6-12 months max.**

### Realistic Moat
Your prompt IP + golden files + extended thinking process power give you **12-18 months of technical lead**. Brand, network effects, and aggregate data moats don't exist yet.

---

## 4. YC Application Assessment

### Scores
| Category | Score | Comment |
|----------|-------|---------|
| Founder | 8/10 | Exceptional track record, execution proof |
| Market | 6/10 | Real TAM but SOM overstated, entrenched competitors |
| Product | 7/10 | Clean architecture, thoughtful design |
| Traction | 3/10 | 20 repos tested = beta, not traction |
| Timing | 4/10 | Window closing fast, competitors moved |

### To Get from "Need More Info" to "YES"
1. Show 50-100 paying customers (post-hackathon priority)
2. Articulate defensible wedge beyond "multi-agent" (extended thinking critique, 6-dimension scorecard)
3. Sharp competitive answers ("Here's why GitHub/CodeRabbit won't win...")
4. Path to 70%+ gross margin without relying on LLM price drops

### Top Interview Questions to Prep
1. "CodeRabbit has agentic workflows now. Why Spectra?"
2. "Walk me through $22.50 → $1.50 COGS — engineering, not wishful thinking"
3. "Your 20 repos — where's your retention data?"
4. "If GitHub ships this natively, what do you do?"

---

## 5. Brand & GTM Assessment

### Brand: 7/10
- Name "Spectra" is strong, memorable, domain-relevant
- Voice framework (Clear, Confident, Sharp, Warm) is solid
- Color palette works (Violet + Amber) but needs accessibility testing
- **Fix:** Positioning is generic. Change from "analyze code" to "Know your code's actual health in 90 seconds"

### GTM: 5/10

**Growth Loops Reality Check:**
| Loop | Claimed | Reality |
|------|---------|---------|
| Viral Reports | "Share beautiful output" | 40% real — only works if reports are actionable + have persistent URLs |
| README Badges | "Score: 85/100 A-" | 20% real — no trust signal pre-launch, works at month 6+ |
| Benchmarks | "Anonymous aggregate scores" | 15% real — needs 500+ repos, month 6+ feature |

**Launch Sequencing (Corrected):**
1. Week -2: README + demo video + seed 50-100 beta users
2. Day 1 AM: Product Hunt (with social proof from beta)
3. Day 2: Hacker News (technical deep-dive framing)
4. Day 3-7: Dev Twitter, LinkedIn
5. Week 2+: GitHub SEO kicks in

**Missing (Critical):**
- GitHub Action MVP (your retention driver)
- Persistent report URLs (spectra.dev/report/{uuid})
- Team dashboard (for non-individual use cases)

---

## 6. Pre-Sprint Action Items

### P0: Before Sprint Starts (2-3 hours)
- [ ] Clarify timeout pattern (Promise.allSettled + individual 30s)
- [ ] Define agent failure state machine
- [ ] Define token budget allocation formula
- [ ] Update CLAUDE.md with these clarifications

### P0: During Sprint (Hackathon Focus)
- [ ] Ship working CLI with 6 agents + HTML report + ScoreCard
- [ ] Ensure <120s runtime on 5 reference repos
- [ ] Write killer README with demo screenshots
- [ ] Prepare 2-3 OSS repo analysis examples

### P1: Post-Hackathon (Week 1-2)
- [ ] Update competitive claims in all docs
- [ ] Build GitHub Action MVP
- [ ] Rework pricing tiers
- [ ] Create persistent report URLs
- [ ] Prep YC interview answers

### P2: Post-Hackathon (Month 1-2)
- [ ] Build team dashboard (Phase 2 → Phase 1 priority)
- [ ] Publish "Spectra Scores" content series
- [ ] Seed 50-100 beta users
- [ ] Collect retention + conversion data for YC

---

## 7. What's Working (Don't Change)

1. **Architecture is excellent** — Clean Architecture + SOLID + patterns are rigorous
2. **6-dimension model** — maps to what CTOs actually care about
3. **Extended thinking on CritiqueAgent** — genuinely differentiating (6-12 months)
4. **Founder credentials** — 8/10, exceptional execution track record
5. **Error hierarchy** — SPEC-001 to SPEC-009 is production-grade
6. **Brand voice** — Clear, Confident, Sharp, Warm + forbidden words list
7. **Agent team delegation model** — smart use of Claude Code for solo founder

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## 8. Biggest Risks (Ranked)

| # | Risk | Impact | Likelihood | Mitigation |
|---|------|--------|-----------|-----------|
| 1 | GitHub ships native multi-agent code review | Fatal | Medium (6-12 mo) | Speed to market, own the workflow (trends, teams), not the feature |
| 2 | COGS stays >$5/run | High | High | Hybrid models (Sonnet specialists), prompt caching, token optimization |
| 3 | No retention (one-and-done usage) | High | High | GitHub Action, CI/CD integration, team dashboard |
| 4 | CodeRabbit adds full-repo analysis | High | Medium (3-6 mo) | Differentiate on extended thinking + 6 dimensions + ScoreCard UX |
| 5 | 90-second SLA blown under load | Medium | Medium | Stage-level timeouts, progressive budget allocation |

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*This report is saved to the Cortex vault as ADR-001 and to the workspace as this markdown file.*
