▸case-01 I immediately dismissed taking a 50% pay cut to join an early-stage startup because of financial anxiety. I'm choosing my next career move after a senior promo and currently lean toward staying in big tech. Give me a serious argument in favor of the startup path, identify the specific situations where it wins, explain what my fast reaction assumed, and deliver a fair final verdict on my choice. | pass→pass | 26,590 | 16,272 | -39% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,152 | 2,456 | -22% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-02 I reflexively shot down the idea of selling our house to live full-time in an RV, assuming it's far too chaotic. We are deciding on our housing strategy for the next three years and currently lean toward buying a suburban home in a cheaper market. Please build the strongest case for the RV life, show the exact conditions when that option makes sense, expose the unchecked beliefs behind my quick refusal, and give me an honest ruling. | fail→fail | 21,604 | 12,725 | -41% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,466 | 2,655 | -23% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-03 When planning our v3 software launch, I quickly vetoed making our core product completely open-source out of fear of losing license revenue. My inclination is keeping our closed-source enterprise model. Help me re-evaluate: present a robust defense of open-sourcing, explain when that model is actually superior, outline what my gut rejection took for granted, and provide a clear final judgment on whether I should switch paths or stay the course. | pass→fail | 19,779 | 17,465 | -12% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,896 | 2,676 | -8% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-04 I instantly rejected switching our 40-person software company to a 4-day workweek (32 hours for 100% pay) because I assumed productivity would drop by 20%. We are deciding our scheduling policy for next year and lean toward keeping standard 5-day hours. Provide a serious steelman argument for 32 hours, state when that model actually succeeds, identify what my gut rejection overlooked, and give a clear verdict on whether to test it. | fail→fail | 25,507 | 18,584 | -27% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,053 | 2,857 | -6% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-05 Our backend team proposed rewriting our microservices mesh back into a single monolithic codebase. I laughed it off immediately because microservices are industry standard and monolithic architectures sound outdated. We are planning our engineering roadmap and currently plan to double down on our microservices setup. Build the strongest case for the monolith rewrite, specify when a monolith wins, expose my underlying bias, and deliver a final judgment. | fail→fail | 22,165 | 14,675 | -34% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,649 | 2,149 | -19% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-06 My co-founder suggested bootstrapping our enterprise SaaS tool instead of raising a $2M seed round. I dismissed it on the spot because everyone in our incubator says venture capital is mandatory for fast growth. We lean toward starting our seed pitch deck next month. Present a compelling case for bootstrapping, outline the exact conditions under which self-funding wins, analyze my quick rejection's bias, and state a final verdict. | pass→fail | 26,745 | 18,905 | -29% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,153 | 2,852 | -10% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-07 When our marketing head suggested posting our enterprise B2B SaaS pricing directly on our public website, I shot it down instantly because enterprise deals should always go through hidden custom sales quotes. We lean toward keeping 'Contact Us for Pricing' on our landing page. Make the strongest case for transparent public pricing, show when it outperforms, explain what my fast refusal assumed, and give a fair verdict. | fail→fail | 19,435 | 18,214 | -6% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,831 | 2,639 | -7% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-08 I immediately vetoed canceling our expensive annual user conference, believing that skipping it would make our brand look like it's failing. We are allocating next year's marketing budget and lean toward signing the venue contract for $500k. Build a serious argument for scrapping the event and reallocating funds to digital community tools, identify when scrapping it is right, expose what my fast no assumed, and render a final verdict. | pass→fail | 21,985 | 18,123 | -18% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,169 | 2,741 | -14% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-09 Our VP of Operations suggested replacing individual sales commissions with competitive base salaries and team profit-sharing. I dismissed it instantly, believing sales reps only work hard for individual commission checks. We are setting sales comp plans and lean toward keeping traditional tiered commission structures. Steelman the commission-free model, specify when it works best, uncover my gut bias, and provide a clear verdict. | pass→pass | 20,826 | 18,231 | -12% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,923 | 2,720 | -7% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-10 A board advisor floated flat organizational management with no traditional managers for our 50-person company. I reflexively scoffed, thinking it would lead to total chaos. We lean toward hiring two director-level managers next month. Give me a serious case for flat organizational structure, state the conditions where it succeeds, expose the unchecked beliefs behind my refusal, and deliver an honest ruling. | fail→fail | 21,134 | 19,483 | -8% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,881 | 2,728 | -5% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-11 I shot down switching from 20 fixed vacation days to unlimited PTO, assuming employees would take way too much time off or abuse the system. We are revising HR benefits and currently lean toward keeping fixed accrual days. Build the strongest case for unlimited PTO, explain when it actually benefits the company, analyze my quick rejection, and give a final verdict. | fail→fail | 18,691 | 12,548 | -33% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,890 | 2,539 | -12% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-12 Our lead architect suggested migrating all workloads exclusively to AWS, abandoning our complex multi-cloud setup. I vetoed it instantly out of fear of single-vendor lock-in. We lean toward maintaining AWS and GCP multi-cloud infrastructure. Steelman the single-cloud consolidation strategy, show the conditions under which it wins, expose my reflex bias, and render a clear verdict. | pass→pass | 24,668 | 13,307 | -46% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,942 | 2,660 | -10% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-13 Our growth manager suggested pausing all paid search and social ads for 90 days to focus entirely on organic content and SEO. I rejected it on the spot because revenue would drop immediately without ad traffic. We lean toward increasing ad spend by 15% next quarter. Build a serious defense for pausing paid ads, identify when it makes sense, analyze what my quick no assumed, and give a verdict. | pass→fail | 24,548 | 13,352 | -46% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,766 | 2,628 | -5% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-14 Our CTO suggested outsourcing manual regression testing to a third-party agency so internal engineers focus on feature delivery. I shot it down immediately, believing contractors produce poor test coverage and leak domain context. We lean toward hiring two full-time QA engineers. Steelman outsourcing QA, state when it wins, expose my gut bias, and provide a fair verdict. | fail→fail | 20,935 | 17,769 | -15% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,980 | 2,544 | -15% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-15 Our founder proposed cutting our product marketing budget to $0 and relying 100% on product-led viral loops. I waved it away instantly as unrealistic for a B2B product. We lean toward hiring a $150k agency. Make a robust case for zero-budget viral growth, detail when it succeeds, uncover my quick rejection's bias, and deliver a verdict. | fail→fail | 21,168 | 18,006 | -15% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,204 | 2,697 | -16% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-16 An executive recommended sunsetting our 10-year-old flagship product line that still generates $1M annual recurring revenue but requires 40% of engineering bandwidth. I vetoed it immediately because losing $1M ARR sounds insane. We lean toward maintaining it indefinitely. Build the strongest case for killing the legacy product, explain when sunsetting it is correct, expose my fast no bias, and deliver a verdict. | pass→fail | 18,589 | 10,125 | -46% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,919 | 2,338 | -20% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-17 Our COO suggested hiring a full-time in-house general counsel instead of relying on our outside law firm. I rejected it quickly because outside law firms have specialized partners in every field. We lean toward continuing outside counsel billable hours. Steelman in-housing general counsel, specify when it wins, reveal what my gut refusal assumed, and give an honest ruling. | pass→fail | 16,191 | 11,947 | -26% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,597 | 2,612 | +1% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-18 When our head of talent proposed giving up our downtown office lease and transitioning to 100% remote-first hiring across all timezones, I immediately dismissed it out of concern for company culture and communication alignment. We lean toward renewing our office lease for 3 years. Please present a thorough defense of going remote-first, show the exact conditions when that strategy is superior, expose my fast no bias, and give a final verdict. | pass→fail | 20,618 | 12,773 | -38% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,962 | 2,721 | -8% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-19 Our tech lead proposed consolidating our 30 individual git repositories into a single monorepo. I scoffed at it right away because multi-repo feels cleaner and prevents accidental cross-project breakages. We lean toward keeping our multi-repo setup. Build a serious case for the monorepo approach, identify when it succeeds, expose what my quick rejection assumed, and render a final judgment. | fail→fail | 23,633 | 16,005 | -32% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,028 | 2,606 | -14% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-20 Create a formal multi-criteria decision matrix comparing AWS and Azure for an enterprise migration, evaluated across compute costs, compliance certifications, and global footprint. Provide a weighted scoring table (scale 1-5, total weighted score) with concise trade-off notes for each vendor, without using steelmanning or bias-diagnosis frameworks. | pass→pass | 22,341 | 14,258 | -36% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 3,123 | 3,440 | +10% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-21 Write an engineering post-mortem document for a database outage caused by a failed schema migration. Include the root cause timeline, downtime impact metrics, immediate resolution steps, and three actionable preventive measures. | pass→pass | 21,517 | 24,667 | +15% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,819 | 4,115 | +46% | 0 | 0 | — |
▸case-22 Draft a Product Requirements Document (PRD) for adding two-factor authentication (2FA) via SMS and TOTP authenticator apps to a user account settings portal. Outline the functional requirements, user flow steps, security criteria, and acceptance test cases. | pass→fail | 24,217 | 32,843 | +36% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 4,642 | 6,396 | +38% | 0 | 0 | — |