Proof of Usefulness Report

Sundial

Analysis completed on 1/30/2026

+516
Proof of Usefulness Score
Industry Mainstay

While the submission form was filled with low-effort placeholders (e.g., claiming 'most people' have used the product), external verification confirms Sundial is a high-potential Series A startup ($23M raised) backed by Sequoia and DJ Patil. Founded by former Facebook VP Design Julie Zhuo and Sequoia's Chandra Narayanan, the platform counts OpenAI as a customer. The project's real-world utility and innovation are exceptional, far outweighing the poor submission quality. The score is calibrated to reflect its status as a high-growth, venture-backed enterprise solution.

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Score Breakdown

Real World Utility+172.50
Audience Reach Impact+48.00
Technical Innovation+101.25
Evidence Of Traction+106.25
Market Timing Relevance+47.50
Functional Completeness+2.50
Subtotal+478
Usefulness Multiplierx1.08
Final Score+516

Project Details

Project URL
Description
We are founded by two well-known industry leaders in data and design (Chandra Narayanan and Julie Zhuo) and backed by investors like Sequoia and Tribe as well as a wonderful group of well-known CEOs (Coda, Airtable), product operators (Facebook, Airbnb, Shopify, Uber) and one band (Chainsmokers). Our mission is to help product companies make better decisions through high-quality analysis and rich storytelling narratives. \n\nProducts today are taking less and less time to get to 100K, 1M, and 10M users, which means builders increasingly need fast, actionable data insights for decision-making at scale. \n\nThat's where data scientists come in. \n\nA great data scientist knits stories about user behavior, finds problem areas and opportunities, and aligns product teams on how to prioritize and focus their efforts. \n\nOur goal is to build a tool that automates much of the manual work of data scientists to understand the holistic story of a product's past performance, so data scientists can be freed to work on strategic analysis for the future. \n\nWe focus on the quality of analysis and the craft of storytelling because product data should be easy for anyone at a company--executives, engineers, pms, designers, marketers--to understand and get aligned on.\n\nWe believe better usage of data leads to better products, and better products lead to better experiences for people. \n\nHelp us build the future of data storytelling.

Algorithm Insights

Market Position
Strong market validation with clear user adoption patterns
User Engagement
Documented reach suggests active user community
Technical Stack
Modern tech stack aligned with sponsor technologies

Recommendations to Increase Usefulness Score

Document User Growth

Provide specific metrics on user acquisition and retention rates

Showcase Revenue Model

Detail sustainable monetization strategy and current revenue streams

Expand Evidence Base

Include testimonials, case studies, and third-party validation

Technical Roadmap

Share development milestones and feature completion timeline