Intelligence That Tells You What to Do, Not Just What Happened
The gap between knowing and doing is where most business intelligence fails. DESTA closes that gap with every signal card.
The Last Mile Problem in Intelligence
Here is what a typical intelligence tool tells you: "Your competitor launched a new pricing tier targeting the mid-market segment." And then it stops. That is it. A fact, delivered to your inbox, with the implicit expectation that you will figure out what it means and what to do about it.
This is the last mile problem. The hardest part of intelligence is not gathering information. It is turning information into action. Every fact you receive that does not come with a recommendation forces you to make an additional decision: is this important? What does it mean for me? Should I act? How? When?
For a founder already battling decision fatigue, every unactionable signal is a tax on cognitive resources. A dashboard full of data without recommendations is just an expensive way to create more decisions.
Four Actions, Every Signal
Every signal card in your DESTA operating brief comes with one of four action recommendations. These are not suggestions. They are clear directives based on your context, priorities, and current decision mode.
DO
This requires your direct action today
The DO category is reserved for signals where you personally need to act, and the timing matters. Not everything important is a DO. Only the things where delay creates real cost and delegation is not appropriate.
DESTA is intentionally aggressive about keeping the DO list short. If your brief has more than two or three DO items on a given day, something unusual is happening. A long DO list is not a sign of a busy day. It is a sign that the system needs to re-evaluate what truly requires your direct involvement.
Example
"Your Series A lead investor just published a blog post that directly contradicts your market thesis. This will come up in your Thursday partner meeting. Read the post and prepare your counterpoint before Thursday. Estimated time: 30 minutes."
DELEGATE
Important, but someone else should handle it
DELEGATE recommendations come with a suggested owner when possible. Not just "this should be delegated" but "this should go to your VP of Sales because it affects pipeline deals in the mid-market segment."
This is where many founders struggle. The instinct to handle everything personally is strong, especially at early stages. DESTA's DELEGATE recommendations serve as a consistent nudge toward appropriate delegation. Over time, through outcome learning, the system learns which types of signals you tend to handle personally when you should delegate, and adjusts its recommendations accordingly.
Example
"A new industry regulation was proposed that could affect your data handling practices. This is not urgent (comment period is 90 days) but needs assessment. Delegate to your CTO or engineering lead. Suggested brief to forward: ‘Can you review this proposed regulation and estimate engineering impact by next Friday?’"
WATCH
Developing situation, no action needed yet
WATCH signals are developing situations that could escalate. The key difference from IGNORE: WATCH items have a plausible path to becoming a DO or DELEGATE. DESTA tracks these automatically and will promote them if conditions change.
This is the category that saves founders from the two failure modes of monitoring: over-reacting to early signals (wasting time on things that never materialize) and under-reacting to slow-building trends (missing the window to respond). DESTA watches so you do not have to.
Example
"A mid-tier competitor is hiring aggressively for enterprise sales roles (6 new postings this week). This suggests they may be pivoting upmarket. No action needed now, but if they announce enterprise pricing or land a Fortune 500 deal, this becomes relevant to your competitive positioning. Tracking."
IGNORE
Actively avoid spending time on this today
This is the most unusual and arguably most valuable category. IGNORE is not "we filtered this out." It is an active recommendation: "You will probably encounter this today. We are telling you, specifically, not to spend time on it."
The IGNORE category exists because founders have a well-documented tendency to get pulled into signals that feel urgent but are not important. A competitor's PR announcement. An industry pundit's hot take. A market dip that dominates the news cycle but does not actually affect your business. These are cognitive traps. They consume attention and create anxiety without producing better decisions.
DESTA's IGNORE is not passive. It is a considered judgment: given your current priorities, stage, and the decisions in front of you, this signal will not help you make a better decision today. If someone brings it up in a meeting, here is a one-line response. Beyond that, do not engage.
Example
"A major tech company announced they are ‘exploring’ your category. This will generate industry buzz today. AVOID TODAY. Large companies announce explorations frequently; fewer than 10% result in shipping products. If a board member or investor asks, your one-liner: ‘We are tracking it. Their announcement has no product details and no timeline. We will reassess if they ship.’"
How DESTA Decides What Goes Where
The categorization is not arbitrary. DESTA evaluates each signal against multiple dimensions:
Timing sensitivity: Does this have a deadline? Will the value of acting diminish if you wait?
Founder-specific: Does this require the founder specifically, or can someone else on the team handle it?
Decision impact: Does this signal change a decision you are currently making, or is it background information?
Confidence level: How reliable is this signal? A rumor from an anonymous source gets different treatment than a confirmed announcement.
Context fit: Given your current decision mode, priorities, and stage, how relevant is this right now? The same signal might be a DO during fundraising and an IGNORE during a product sprint.
Every recommendation is explainable. If you disagree with a categorization, the brief shows you why DESTA made that call. This transparency is central to how the quality gate system builds trust over time.
Delegation as a System, Not an Afterthought
Most founders know they should delegate more. The problem is not willingness. It is the overhead of delegation: figuring out who should handle it, crafting the brief, providing context, following up.
DESTA's DELEGATE recommendations reduce that overhead. Each one includes a suggested owner (based on your team structure), a brief you can forward directly, and the context your team member needs to act without coming back to you with questions.
This transforms delegation from a guilt-inducing aspiration into a daily practice that is built into your operating brief. Over time, as DESTA learns your team's capabilities through your feedback, the delegation suggestions get more precise. It learns that your VP of Sales handles competitive pricing changes well, but regulatory questions should go to your COO.
What Other Tools Give You vs. What DESTA Gives You
TYPICAL TOOL
DESTA
The difference is not the information. It is the last mile: what does this mean for me, and what should I do about it?
Information without action is just noise with better packaging. DESTA's action recommendations close the gap between knowing and doing, giving you a clear path forward with every signal that reaches your brief.
Learn how decision modes shape these recommendations, or see how outcome learning makes them sharper over time.