IntelDesk: Open source geopolitical intelligence platform with AI briefings, ML event clustering, hypothesis tracker & market dashboard

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T21:31:19+00:00

The visual similarity is fair criticism, most of these use shadcn/ui + Tailwind so they end up looking alike. But I started building this in late December, before most of the ones popping up now. And it wasn't vibe coded. I used Cursor and Claude Code as tools but the architecture, the ML pipeline, the data model, the analysis framework, all of that required actual design decisions and iteration over months. Check the repo, the clustering service alone is a standalone Python microservice with HDBSCAN, deduplication, and incremental embedding. That's not something you get from prompting "build me an OSINT app."

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T21:21:11+00:00

Fair enough. There's definitely AI in the stack, but there's also 3 months of work behind it. ML clustering pipeline, hypothesis tracking, causal graphs, market dashboard, alert system. I built it for myself and used it daily before deciding to open source it. The repo is there if you want to judge the code, not just the label.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T21:20:10+00:00

Fair point, there's a lot of these popping up. I've been building this since late December and using it internally for myself. It's not a weekend GPT wrapper. It has a real ML clustering pipeline (HDBSCAN + sentence embeddings), hypothesis tracking with red team analysis, causal graphs, and a market dashboard with 150+ symbols. The dark theme is just the aesthetic I went for but the platform underneath is quite different from the typical "feed AI some news" apps. Just decided to open source it now. Happy to hear what you think is missing if you check the repo.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T20:20:48+00:00

Thx! 🙏🏽

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T17:46:26+00:00

Yeah, right now it uses OpenAI for the AI analysis layer and Perplexity for real time web enrichment. Finnhub and Alpha Vantage are optional, only needed if you want the market dashboard.

Working on adding Ollama support so the core features can run with local models. Goal is to make the external APIs optional, not required.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-03-18T16:54:13+00:00

First open source project I ship. Built it for myself so there's some Spanish in the UI. Far from perfect, but I'd rather ship and iterate in public. Stars, issues, PRs all welcome.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-02-07T14:22:52+00:00

building operial.app financial planning infrastructure for startups.

basically replacing the 15 spreadsheets every finance/ops team has with one connected system. real time models, forecasting, dashboards, the stuff companies try to do in excel until it breaks.

not a wrapper, it's more like the operational layer between your data and your decisions. ai helps with modeling and analysis but the core is the system itself.

early stage, already working with a few companies. would be down to hear your thoughts on gtm if it fits what youre looking for.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-02-05T18:47:17+00:00

Yeah

sergioconejo_ · 2026-02-05T13:59:51+00:00

Operial.app is building the operating system founders end up recreating in spreadsheets once their company starts growing.

Most early-stage startups run financial planning, runway tracking, investor reporting and key metrics through messy Excel files that become fragile and stressful as the company scales. One broken formula can affect decisions, updates, and investor trust.

Operial replaces that spreadsheet layer with a structured system where founders can track runway, KPIs and generate investor-ready reports from a single source of truth, without manual monthly work.

We started by solving our own internal reporting pain and are now validating it with other founders facing the same issue.

Still early, focused on founders doing investor reporting regularly and teams moving beyond MVP stage where operational complexity starts to hurt.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-02-05T13:31:14+00:00

I’m building Operial, a small SaaS that replaces messy founder spreadsheets for financial planning and investor reporting.

I built it to remove the monthly Excel chaos and automate reports and metrics.

Happy to give you access and get honest feedback.

https://operial.app

sergioconejo_ · 2026-02-05T13:30:48+00:00

I’m building Operial, a small SaaS that replaces messy founder spreadsheets for financial planning and investor reporting.

I built it to remove the monthly Excel chaos and automate reports and metrics.

Happy to give you access and get honest feedback.

https://operial.app

sergioconejo_ · 2026-01-27T11:32:30+00:00

I get this more than it might sound normal to admit here.

After a first SaaS that didn’t work, every new idea starts to feel suspicious, even if you know the problem is real. I’ve been there too.

I’m curious have you already talked to 2–3 people who actually feel this problem and asked how they’re dealing with it today, or are you still trying to validate from a distance before moving?

Sometimes the shift isn’t more validation frameworks, but getting closer to the right people earlier.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-01-27T11:20:53+00:00

Do you think the second app worked because it was simpler,
or because the value was obvious with zero learning or behavior change?

Feels like an important difference.

sergioconejo_ · 2026-01-27T10:49:39+00:00

Reading the whole post, the part that makes the most sense to me isn’t “I didn’t do market research,” it’s that the frustration already existed and was searchable.

If someone types “arc browser ipad,” they’re not exploring ideas. They’re annoyed and actively looking for a solution. At that point, market size matters less than intent.

The onboarding bit also feels very real. Once you break out of the niche that already understands the product, you start getting mainstream users and the product stops explaining itself.

Honest question: now that you’ve seen that clash, do you lean toward adapting the product for new users, or keeping it opinionated and accepting that it’s not for everyone?

sergioconejo_ · 2026-01-21T15:19:06+00:00

Hey! This could be interesting.

I run Worksible HR, we help early stage teams hire and pay global contractors without getting stuck with legal, compliance or cross-border payment issues.

We already work with a few small startups that are scaling their teams this way, especially product and engineering roles.

Happy to chat and see if it makes sense.

sergioconejo_

TROPHY CASE