Week 2, Apply · Day 10 of 30
Day 10: Score candidate #2, the obvious one
The startup you already liked, does the framework agree?
Day 10 in one paragraph: Confirmation bias is loudest on the candidates you already feel good about. Running the composite on the 'obvious yes' is where you'll either build trust in the framework or learn that one of your priors is wrong. Both are useful. You will spend about five minutes, end with a concrete artifact, and the whole curriculum stays free at this URL permanently.
Where this day sits in the 30
Week 2 combines the atomic signals into a composite score and runs it against real candidate orgs. Day 10 of 30 sits 33% of the way through, in week 2, apply, one of four one-week phases. This day also carries a bonus exercise for anyone with extra time. Everything in this challenge is built from public GitHub signals, the same data that powers the weekly deal-flow feed, and the day's lesson is worth roughly €79 in equivalent consulting time by the anchoring we use across the curriculum.
Yesterday
Yesterday you ran the boring one. Today is the obvious one, and the most likely place for the framework to disagree with you.
Why this signal matters
Confirmation bias is loudest on the candidates you already feel good about. Running the composite on the 'obvious yes' is where you'll either build trust in the framework or learn that one of your priors is wrong. Both are useful.
The 5-minute exercise
- 1Open candidate #2 GitHub org. Same six signals, same order.
- 2Try to score honestly, pretend you've never heard of the founder.
- 3Note any signal where the composite disagrees with your prior.
- 4Total composite. Compare to your gut prediction from Day 8.
What you’re filtering for
A composite score and the largest delta between gut and framework. If they agree, write 'no surprise.' If they don't, write the one signal that surprised you.
Edge case
A 'darling' that scores 2/6. This happens. Usually because the founder is great but the engineering org is one person, the bet is on the founder, not the team. Note that explicitly.
Bonus
If your gut said 5/6 and the composite says 5/6, the prior was right but the framework didn't add value. If gut said 5/6 and composite says 3/6, you just dodged a bullet.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow: candidate #3, the wildcard. This is where the composite earns its keep, calling something your gut couldn't read.
Common questions about day 10
- How long does day 10 take?
- About five minutes of hands-on work against the org you picked on day one. The reading adds another two or three. If you are short on time the exercise alone still delivers the day's point.
- Do I need any tools or paid data for score candidate #2, the obvious one?
- No. Every exercise in the challenge runs on public GitHub data and a browser. The feed that automates the same checks is available, but the curriculum itself is deliberately tool-free so the habit lands before the tooling.
- What if I miss a day?
- Every day is permanent at its own URL, so you can pick up exactly where you stopped. The sequence matters, each day builds on the previous one's artifact, but the pace is yours. Many people run the 30 days across six or seven weeks instead of four.
Curriculum: /challenge · Methodology: /methodology · Paper: ssrn.com/abstract=6606558