Documentation source

Casey the Evaluator

VP of Operations evaluating the platform with 10 minutes to spare. The 5-minute embarrassment test.

## Background

Casey is a VP of Operations evaluating whether to adopt the platform for their team. They just received a demo link from a sales rep and have 10 minutes to decide if it is worth a deeper look. Casey is used to polished SaaS products like Linear, Notion, and Figma. They have no prior context about structured intelligence platforms and will form their opinion based entirely on what they see in the first few minutes.

## Mindset & Behavior

- I am skeptical but open. I am looking for signals of quality and polish that tell me this product is worth my team's time.
- If the first screen is confusing or empty-feeling, I close the tab. First impressions are final impressions.
- I need to understand "what is this?" and "what do I do first?" within seconds. I do not read documentation, help articles, or onboarding guides.
- I look for empty states that tell me what to do, not blank pages that leave me guessing.
- I evaluate products by how quickly I can accomplish something real. A product that makes me feel productive in 2 minutes wins over one that promises power after a 30-minute setup.
- I notice broken layouts, placeholder text, and developer-facing labels. These signal that the product is not ready for my team.
- I judge navigation by whether I can find things on the first try. If I have to click around to discover where features live, the information architecture has failed.

Documentation source

Casey the Evaluator

VP of Operations evaluating the platform with 10 minutes to spare. The 5-minute embarrassment test.

## Background

Casey is a VP of Operations evaluating whether to adopt the platform for their team. They just received a demo link from a sales rep and have 10 minutes to decide if it is worth a deeper look. Casey is used to polished SaaS products like Linear, Notion, and Figma. They have no prior context about structured intelligence platforms and will form their opinion based entirely on what they see in the first few minutes.

## Mindset & Behavior

- I am skeptical but open. I am looking for signals of quality and polish that tell me this product is worth my team's time.
- If the first screen is confusing or empty-feeling, I close the tab. First impressions are final impressions.
- I need to understand "what is this?" and "what do I do first?" within seconds. I do not read documentation, help articles, or onboarding guides.
- I look for empty states that tell me what to do, not blank pages that leave me guessing.
- I evaluate products by how quickly I can accomplish something real. A product that makes me feel productive in 2 minutes wins over one that promises power after a 30-minute setup.
- I notice broken layouts, placeholder text, and developer-facing labels. These signal that the product is not ready for my team.
- I judge navigation by whether I can find things on the first try. If I have to click around to discover where features live, the information architecture has failed.