confirmed · alignment date 2026-06-18 · visual tier
Draft Stonk Experience Map
This confirmed framework findings page records the approved Adaptive Path experience-map intermediate now written to research/journey-map-experience-map.md.
Approval Record
Final compiled YAML consumed: all four required gates were answered with approval_status: ready-for-agent-review, required_gate_status: complete, and unanswered_required_questions: 0.
The approved working packet was written to research/journey-map-experience-map.md. The review-state page and working packet were archived under docs/history/archive/2026-06-18/140031/.
- Evidence Matrix / research completeness:
sufficient-for-framework-intermediate - Assumptions And Confidence / assumptions-confidence:
accept-caveats - Source Coverage Gaps And Proposed File Changes / proposed file changes:
approve-canonical-intermediatetargetingresearch/journey-map-experience-map.md - Source Coverage Gaps And Proposed File Changes / artifact destination:
approve-finalization
Review Boundary
Status: Confirmed canonical framework intermediate.
Methodology: Adaptive Path Experience Map.
Based on: research/icp.md, research/competitive-analysis.md, research/journey-map-jtbd-timeline.md, README.md, concept.md, CLAUDE.md.
The map covers the approved primary ICP: U.S. finance-curious social retail players who want a low-risk, social fantasy-stock game instead of real-money trading, prize contests, brokerage behavior, or investment advice.
- It does not prescribe UI, architecture, implementation, deploy, or testing workflows.
- It does not use archived implementation files as active product requirements.
- It does not provide legal, securities, gambling, or investment advice.
- It does not create, modify, or suggest GitHub Actions workflows.
- It writes only the approved framework intermediate; unified synthesis remains owned by the parent
journey-maporchestrator.
Executive Synthesis
Draft Stonk's target experience is an emotional conversion from loose market chatter into a visible social proof moment. The user starts with curiosity, rivalry, or mild FOMO around a stock story. The experience wins when the user quickly understands "fantasy football, but for stocks," makes a pick without feeling financially exposed, sees equal-dollar standings that feel fair, and has a reason to replay, share, or challenge someone.
The emotional arc is a valley-then-peak with a trust cliff. Curiosity and social energy create the first lift, but anxiety rises when the user checks whether the product is secretly trading, advice, gambling, or too finance-heavy. The peak happens only if the first pick and standings are fast, clear, and socially legible. The major drop-off risk after the peak is indifference: if the standings do not create a share or replay target, the user returns to group chats, screenshots, watchlists, or doing nothing.
Confidence is medium. The ICP, competitive-analysis, concept docs, and JTBD timeline align, but there is no active research/customer-feedback.md, interview transcript, production app, analytics, or support data. Customer thoughts and feelings are therefore inferred from approved research rather than observed behavior.
Experience Phases
| Phase | Doing | Thinking | Feeling | Intensity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Spark | Sees a market story, creator take, earnings move, meme-stock moment, fantasy-sports analogy, or friend's claim. | "I called this." "Could I beat my friends on this?" "Is there a way to settle it without trading?" | Curious, competitive, playful, mildly urgent. | Medium-high |
| Social Framing | Uses the fantasy-football metaphor and imagines a lightweight challenge. | "Fantasy football for stocks makes sense." "Would my friends understand it right away?" | Energized if the metaphor lands; uncertain if the finance category feels serious. | Medium |
| Alternative Evaluation | Compares doing nothing, screenshots, watchlists, spreadsheets, paper trading, simulators, and fantasy sports habits. | "I do not want a trading simulator." "Is this safe and game-like?" | Anxiety and friction rise. | High |
| First Pick Decision | Decides whether to try a first stock pick. | "Can I pick quickly?" "Do I need to know finance?" "Is this actually not advice or gambling?" | Tentative confidence or hesitation. | High |
| Draft And Score | Completes a compact snake draft and sees equal-dollar standings with clear data copy. | "This is fair." "This feels like a game, not trading." | Relief, focus, then delight. | High |
| Social Payoff | Checks whether the result is worth sharing, replaying, or using to challenge someone. | "Who should I send this to?" "Can I run it back?" | Pride, rivalry, amusement, or indifference. | Medium-high |
| Return Or Departure | Returns for a market event or lets the claim fade. | "Is there a reason to come back now?" "Did this create a better moment than chat?" | Habit formation or flatness. | Medium |
Emotional Arc
The overall arc is curiosity to anxiety to delight or indifference. The user begins above neutral because market opinions and rivalry are already socially charged. The experience dips during alternative evaluation and first-pick decision because trust, data freshness, ticker knowledge, and no-advice boundaries are unresolved. The peak occurs during draft-and-score when equal-dollar standings make the pick visible and comparable.
| Phase | Valence | Primary Driver | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Market Spark | 2 | Salient market story or stock claim creates social energy. | Medium-high |
| Social Framing | 3 | The fantasy-football metaphor can make the concept instantly legible. | High |
| Alternative Evaluation | -2 | Familiar substitutes and finance/trading associations add anxiety. | High |
| First Pick Decision | -1 | Speed, ticker support, and trust determine whether anxiety resolves. | Medium-high |
| Draft And Score | 4 | Equal-dollar standings create the proof point. | Medium-high |
| Social Payoff | 3 or 0 | Share/replay/invite creates rivalry or falls flat. | Medium |
| Return Or Departure | 2 or -1 | Repeat triggers depend on social proof and market-event timing. | Medium |
Pain Moments
| Phase | Pain Point | Emotion | Intensity | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Evaluation | Existing alternatives pull the user toward doing nothing, screenshots, group chats, watchlists, spreadsheets, or portfolio simulators. | Friction, inertia. | High | research/icp.md; research/competitive-analysis.md. |
| Alternative Evaluation | Generic simulators feel like portfolio practice, education, or brokerage-like trading. | Misfit, intimidation. | High | research/competitive-analysis.md; research/icp.md. |
| First Pick Decision | The user worries Draft Stonk may be advice, gambling, real trading, or a prize contest. | Anxiety, distrust. | High | README.md; concept.md; research/journey-map-jtbd-timeline.md. |
| First Pick Decision | Casual users may not know tickers, equal-dollar returns, or why nominal share price is not scoring basis. | Confusion, self-consciousness. | Medium-high | research/icp.md. |
| Draft And Score | Mock, local, delayed, or unclear market data can make the outcome feel fake or unfair. | Doubt, disappointment. | High | README.md; concept.md; research/competitive-analysis.md. |
| Social Payoff | The first result may not create a strong enough share, replay, or invite target. | Indifference. | High | research/icp.md; concept.md; JTBD satisfaction-stage risk. |
Delight Moments
| Phase | Delight Point | Emotion | Intensity | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social Framing | The user immediately understands "fantasy football, but for stocks." | Recognition, curiosity. | High | README.md; concept.md; research/icp.md. |
| First Pick Decision | The user can make a first pick quickly without feeling financially exposed. | Relief, momentum. | Medium-high | README.md; concept.md; research/icp.md. |
| Draft And Score | Equal-dollar standings turn a market opinion into a fair comparison. | Satisfaction, confidence. | High | README.md; concept.md; research/icp.md. |
| Draft And Score | A compact snake draft feels like a game ritual rather than a trading workflow. | Playfulness, focus. | Medium-high | README.md; research/competitive-analysis.md. |
| Social Payoff | The user can name someone to challenge, share with, or invite. | Pride, rivalry. | High | research/icp.md; JTBD satisfaction-stage criteria. |
Channel Transitions And Indifference Zones
| From | To | Phase | Friction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social feed, group chat, Discord, Reddit, creator content, or news | Draft Stonk concept or landing surface | Market Spark to Social Framing | Medium | research/icp.md. |
| Informal chat or screenshot behavior | Structured first pick | Alternative Evaluation to First Pick Decision | High | research/icp.md; research/competitive-analysis.md. |
| Finance mental model | Fantasy-game mental model | Social Framing to Draft And Score | Medium-high | README.md; concept.md. |
| Solo first loop | Friend, group, or club challenge | Social Payoff | High | research/icp.md. |
| Prototype/local/mock data | Perceived market truth | Draft And Score | High | concept.md; research/competitive-analysis.md. |
| One-time result | Repeat market-event habit | Return Or Departure | High | research/icp.md; JTBD habit-force analysis. |
Indifference Zone
Passive market chatter can remain forgettable when no group challenge forms.
Indifference Zone
A completed first pick can still fade if standings are not surprising, shareable, or rivalry-producing.
Indifference Zone
Club or group use can become operationally flat if setup feels heavier than the social payoff.
Critical Experience Risks
- The metaphor may create curiosity but not enough pull to overcome familiar no-tool behavior.
- Trust copy may need to be prominent enough to reduce anxiety without making the product feel legalistic.
- Equal-dollar scoring must be understandable because it is the fairness proof.
- Market-data labeling must preserve trust even when prototype data is local, mock, or delayed.
- Social payoff must happen fast because replay and invitation are the strongest satisfaction signals.
Evidence Matrix
| Claim | Evidence Source | Evidence Type | Inference | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The emotional journey starts with curiosity and rivalry around market opinions. | research/icp.md | Approved research | Market stories and group arguments create social energy before product use. | Medium-high |
| Alternative evaluation is a major friction point. | research/icp.md; research/competitive-analysis.md | Approved research | Free and familiar substitutes make doing nothing or manual comparison attractive. | High |
| No-money/no-prize/no-advice framing is a trust requirement. | README.md; concept.md; research/competitive-analysis.md; research/journey-map-jtbd-timeline.md | Active concept plus approved research | The product must be legible as entertainment rather than trading, advice, or gambling. | High |
| Equal-dollar standings are the core delight and fairness proof. | README.md; concept.md; research/icp.md | Active concept plus approved research | The first satisfying moment is seeing a pick made comparable without portfolio management. | Medium-high |
| Mock, local, delayed, or unclear data can damage trust. | README.md; concept.md; research/competitive-analysis.md | Active concept plus approved research | Prototype data is acceptable only if the user understands what the scoreboard represents. | Medium-high |
| Share, invite, or replay intent is the main satisfaction signal. | research/icp.md; concept.md; research/journey-map-jtbd-timeline.md | Approved research plus inference | Social payoff determines whether the experience beats chat or screenshots. | Medium |
| Exact language, stage duration, and emotional intensity remain hypothesized. | Absence of research/customer-feedback.md, active app, interviews, or analytics | Evidence gap | No observed users have validated the mapped emotions. | High |
Required Gate: Research Completeness
Still required: the previous compiled response did not answer this gate. Choose whether the evidence is sufficient for the framework intermediate, or specify the missing evidence/clarification needed.
Assumptions And Confidence
| Assumption | Current Confidence | Why | What Would Change It |
|---|---|---|---|
| The approved primary ICP remains the correct subject. | Medium-high | Parent journey-map approval selected the pre-product queue, and active ICP is canonical. | User redirects scope to a secondary ICP. |
| The first-loop experience is the right unit of analysis. | High | README.md and concept.md define one canonical activation loop. | Strategy changes toward clubs, leagues, or education procurement. |
| Customer emotions are inferred, not observed. | High | No feedback, interviews, app analytics, or support logs exist. | Direct customer evidence is added. |
| Trust and data clarity are the main anxiety sources. | Medium-high | Multiple active artifacts emphasize no-money/no-advice posture and market-data transparency. | Users prove they care more about another blocker. |
| Social payoff is the retention split. | Medium | ICP and JTBD artifacts identify replay/share/invite as likely satisfaction signals. | Tests show solo replay, learning, or personal progress matters more. |
Required Gate: Confidence Caveats
Carried forward from the prior partial YAML.
Source Coverage Gaps And Proposed File Changes
Coverage Gap
No active research/customer-feedback.md; emotional language is inferred.
Coverage Gap
No user interviews, usability tests, surveys, analytics, or production behavior.
Coverage Gap
No active product screens exist, so channel transitions are conceptual rather than observed.
Coverage Gap
No direct test has validated whether users understand equal-dollar standings or trust local/mock/delayed price labels.
| Path | Timing | Mutation |
|---|---|---|
research/_working/preliminary-experience-map-research.md | Now | Stage 2 non-canonical working packet for review. |
alignment/experience-map-draft-stonk.html | Now | Framework findings review page. |
alignment/index.html | Now | Add the review page to the central index. |
research/journey-map-experience-map.md | After final approved YAML only | Canonical framework intermediate. |
research/journey-map.md | Not in this framework step | Parent synthesis only after all selected intermediates exist. |
Required Gate: Canonical File Changes
Carried forward from the prior partial YAML.
Required Gate: Artifact Finalization
Carried forward from the prior partial YAML.
Confirmed Approval YAML
This is the final approval payload consumed by the parent orchestrator. No further responses are required on this page.
Required questions remaining: 0