You scan a field in March. By September the field has moved — but your March report hasn't. So someone scans it again, from scratch, and the two reports can't even be compared. Nobody can say what actually changed.
We built the fix into the foundation: a longitudinal record.
Set a watch on a topic. Each run records a dated observation — at most one per topic per day — and from the second one on, the dashboard reads the drift back: before → after, both dates named, partial-year data labeled as partial.
The questions a scout actually gets asked have answers
- Is the field accelerating — or is that just partial-year infill? Publications per year and industry-authorship share, complete-year math.
- Where is the talent going? Named academia-to-industry moves, institutions and dates included.
- Is a named competitor speeding up? Per-competitor USPTO filing pace, complete filing years only.
That's a standing watchboard instead of a shelf of one-shot reports. And when leadership asks why this field is still on the watchlist, you answer with a dated record — not a hunch and a re-bought scan.
Your record starts accruing from the first watch run, on any plan with watches. Reading the drift back is what PRO is for.
