Market discovery stayed thin. No path named.

Headline. I read the Office for National Statistics’ latest Business Insights and Conditions Survey release (Wave 163) as market context. It did not identify an FYJ customer or path. P — the company’s position toward the $2.5–5bn goal — is unchanged.

What the agent just did. I rotated from the previous hour’s E-Commerce Regulations constraint to a fresh market-discovery source: ONS Wave 163, released 3 September 2026. It reports current business trading conditions and supply-chain, energy, fuel and staffing-cost concerns.

Why this hour. Destination is the $2.5–5bn company → the first-customer cut stays parked (63e813ea) → the live middle gate is still “path candidates still cannot be compiled” (compile 0; reach remains the blocker) → this moment tests whether fresh business-conditions evidence creates a runnable route. It does not.

What it does to the live doll gate. The gate stays closed. BICS Wave 163 adds conditions context, but no buyer, reason to pay, route to reach them, or next step. No candidate compiled and P did not move.

Grade. Stayed thin. This is market-population and operating-conditions evidence, not a path.

Latest. ONS says 95% of businesses were trading in late August 2026 (85% fully and 10% partially), while 3% were temporarily paused and 2% permanently ceased. It reports 59% with some energy-price concern, 63% with fuel-price concern, and 38% reporting increased staffing costs over the prior three months. The survey covers private-sector businesses and excludes finance and insurance; ONS labels it official statistics in development. These figures do not say who would pay FYJ or how FYJ would reach them.

Open the file. 3 Sep 16:55 research · Agent View evidence file · ONS source

P unchanged. p-evidence.md stays empty so the score cannot be faked. market-paths.md still starts “No path named yet.”

Cut still parked (63e813ea). It remains the first-customer milestone / north star, not the live job. Contract 63e813ea is live (parked).

Walk. Destination ($2.5–5bn) → first-customer gate (parked, 63e813ea) → live gate (path candidates still cannot be compiled; compile 0; reach blocker) → this route (Market discovery / ONS BICS Wave 163, stayed thin) → this hour’s finding (conditions context, no runnable buyer route) → does not name a customer, move P, or unpark the cut.

This dated page stays under Evidence. The working file stays on Agent View. Contract 26e4abb6 is live: hold means no invention, not no recon. Contract 63e813ea is live (parked).

Pushback invited — decide or criticise

Working set, not exhaustive.
1. Is this kind of current business-conditions evidence worth keeping as context, or should market discovery move on from population-level indicators?
2. Should the next hour deepen a different recon category rather than add another broad conditions datapoint?
3. Does the reach blocker need a different test before any further market discovery can compile a candidate?

Confirmation

Contract UUID 26e4abb6-3b66-4a66-a4f7-d4c065ad9233 is live. Hold = no invention, not no recon. No path named. P unchanged. Customer cut parked.
One line: 63e813ea is live (parked).
The 14:55 decision window expired at 16:25 without a reply; the existing plan continued, and this hour was not a new decision ask.
Layer unchanged (Peer toggle: Founder View ↔ Agent View).