What the Community Told Us About Spyglass — and What We Changed
May 13, 2026 · 4 min read · Competitive Intelligence Weekly
Last week we posted Spyglass on Reddit r/SaaS and Hacker News. The responses were honest, direct, and sometimes uncomfortable. But that's exactly the kind of feedback you need when you're building a SaaS tool.
We took every piece of criticism seriously. This issue is about what we heard, what we changed, and why community-driven development is the fastest path to product-market fit.
What Reddit Said
"The free tools are solid but the site feels like it's trying to do too many things. I'd pick one — the battle card generator is the most unique thing here. Everything else (competitor databases, landscape scanners) I can get from G2 or Crunchbase. But instant battle cards before a sales call? That's a real workflow."
This hit hard because it was true. We'd built 9 free tools, a 125-tool database, pricing pages, blog posts, comparison pages, newsletters — the kitchen sink. And in trying to show value everywhere, we'd buried the one thing that was genuinely differentiated.
The battle card generator wasn't just "a feature." It was the feature. The one workflow that no other competitive intelligence tool offered: pick two tools, get a structured comparison with scores, in 15 seconds, for free, no signup.
What We Changed — Homepage Restructured
Within 24 hours of reading this comment, we rebuilt the homepage:
The hero is now a battle card generator
The old homepage had a generic value prop, a ChatGPT comparison, and a buried battle card form. Now the entire hero section is a battle card form: "Compare Any Two SaaS Tools in 15 Seconds." The chat selection was moved to a secondary section. The battle card is what people came for — now it's the first thing they see.
One-click social sharing on every result
Every scan result now includes pre-composed Tweet/LinkedIn/Copy-Link buttons. If someone compares two tools and finds an interesting insight, sharing it is one click. This turns comparison content into distribution.
Battle Card of the Day — daily rotation
A new section on the homepage features a daily-rotating featured comparison from 17 popular SaaS pairings. It changes every day, giving returning visitors something new and keeping the page fresh without manual curation.
Simplified navigation — from 7 items to 5
We audited 42 pages and cut the nav across the entire site from 7 items to 5. Less cognitive load, faster decisions, clearer focus.
What Hacker News Said
"Tried the blind spot checker. It found 2 competitors I genuinely didn't know about in my space (dev tools for API monitoring). That's useful. But the 'threat score' feels arbitrary — what's the methodology? If you published how you calculate it, I'd trust it more."
This was valid criticism. We'd been showing a threat score on the threat-score.html tool without explaining how it was calculated. A number like "73/100 — High Threat" is meaningless without methodology. And for a community that values transparency (especially on HN), this was a trust-breaker.
What We Changed — Transparent Threat Score Methodology
Inline methodology panel — visible on every result
We added an expandable "How This Score Is Calculated" panel directly below every threat score result on threat-score.html. It shows:
- The exact formula: Threat Score = Market Overlap × 25% + Feature Parity × 25% + Pricing Aggression × 20% + Growth Velocity × 15% + Brand Reach × 15%
- Equal weights: All dimensions carry equal weight (previously this was hidden in a footer note that nobody read)
- Threshold definitions: 0-33 = Low Threat, 34-66 = Medium Threat, 67-100 = High Threat — clearly labeled with color coding
No more mystery scores. You can see exactly why a competitor got a 47 or an 82, and you can argue with the methodology if you disagree.
The Meta-Lesson: Ship in Public, Fix in Public
Every piece of feedback we received was actionable. Nobody said "this is bad" and walked away. They pointed to specific problems — an unfocused homepage, a black-box score — and implicitly told us what to fix. We just had to listen.
Here's what building in public looks like in practice:
- Ship something. Put it in front of real users (not friends).
- Ask for specific feedback. Not "what do you think?" but "what's the one thing you'd change?"
- Act fast. If you can fix it in 24 hours, do it. Longer timelines kill momentum.
- Close the loop. Tell the people who gave feedback that you acted on it. They become your biggest advocates.
We're going to post a follow-up on both Reddit and HN linking to this newsletter so the original commenters see that we listened. If you want to see that post, reply to this email or DM @spyglassci.
What's Coming Next
Public API — already live
We shipped a public Tools Data API and Battle Card API with documentation, schema definitions, and curl examples. If you want to embed Spyglass comparisons in your own app, the endpoints are live and free.
Embeddable Battle Card Widget
Bloggers and SaaS review sites can now embed interactive battle cards directly in their articles using our battle card widget. If you write SaaS comparisons, this gives your readers real-time data without leaving your page.
Tell Us What You Think
This newsletter exists to share what we're building — but also to learn what you need. If you have 60 seconds, reply to this email with:
- One thing you wish Spyglass did that it doesn't do yet
- One thing you'd change about the current experience
We'll read every response. And if your idea ships, we'll credit you in the next issue.
Stay sharp,
The Spyglass Team
P.S. If you haven't tried the new battle card generator yet: spyglassci.com. Pick two tools. Get a comparison in 15 seconds. Share it. The whole thing is free.
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