Research Memos
Reading the evidence.
Occasional memos on product diligence, defensibility, and how operators turn industry knowledge into digital assets. There is no content calendar. Memos are published when there is something worth saying.
01 · Memo index
Published memos.
Each memo is a position, argued from evidence. Written for owners and investors evaluating serious product opportunities — not for an algorithm.
Product Diligence Before Product Development
No serious investor buys a company without diligence, yet most software is funded with none. What a product thesis must contain before capital moves — and why "do not build yet" is a result, not a failure.
Why Agencies Fail Serious Operators
Agencies bill for output, not outcomes — so the advice follows the invoice. An incentive analysis of the conventional vendor model, and the five things operators should demand instead.
Defensibility in Software-Enabled Businesses
Software alone is not a moat — code is the most replicable asset a business holds. Six defensibility layers for operator-led products, and the advantage a traditional business already owns.
The memos are the thinking. The prototype is the proof.
If you are evaluating a serious product opportunity, reading is the wrong test. The Encodex Free Prototype turns your thesis into working software in 72 hours — two engagements per month, chosen by application.