About Small Optic

Small Optic is an editorial publication that evaluates AI-surfaced business ideas. We publish what passes our evaluation; we archive what doesn’t.

What we publish

Each Dig describes a single, specific idea: who would build it, who would buy it, what would need to be true for it to work, and what would sink it. We don’t pitch ideas. We evaluate them and tell you the result.

The pipeline that drafts the candidate is automated. The decision to publish, the framing, and the final review are not. Read the methodology.

Small Optic Desk

Small Optic Desk is our editorial team. The desk is organized around three editorial voices — factual, direct, and narrative — each anchored by a named editor. The names are personifications of the editorial process for each voice, not biographical individuals; we use them because consistent editorial identity matters more for readers than the distinction between “a person with that exact name” and “the editorial desk that consistently writes in that voice.” The AI content policy describes this in full.

The desks:

• M. Vance — Data desk. Factual. Regulated industries — healthcare, financial services, compliance-heavy verticals where the wedge is structural.
• R. Tate — Consumer + indie desk. Direct. Consumer apps and indie tools, where founder-market fit and time-to-first-revenue matter more than addressable market.
• J. Calder — Cases desk. Narrative. Case studies, post-acquisition workflows, and ideas where the human story is the wedge.

Corrections

If we got a number wrong, misattributed a claim, or built a Dig on a wrong premise: tell us. We correct or retract publicly. We don’t silently edit.