APE·X working AI, on display — no pitch deck

home / working demos / the skeptical reader

OF

The Skeptical Reader

Omar Farooq · CEO, Vertex Distribution — import & wholesale, 150 staff

Qandeel Foods wants to renew Vertex’s distribution agreement — fourteen pages, three-year exclusivity, and a minimum-purchase escalator that made Omar squint. His lawyer will do the legal pass; that’s not the gap. The gap is that Omar walks into negotiation meetings with a gut feeling instead of a written read.

The Skeptical Reader is a playbook installed on his own Claude subscription. He uploads the document, states his reading lens, and gets four passes: what it says, what deserves a skeptical look, what to ask the other side, and a one-page brief he can carry into the room.

fictional demo · real workflow runs on your own ChatGPT/Claude a skeptical first-read before the lawyer’s clock starts ~1 week setup

Before

Contract review meant a gut feeling and a highlighter — or waiting three days for the lawyer’s first pass.

After

A structured, skeptical first-read in twenty minutes, before the lawyer’s clock starts.

The deliverable

This tool is a conversation, not a scheduled report — the deliverable is the read itself. Here’s the shape of one.

Illustrative transcript — this conversation was written for this demo. The playbook’s prompts and four-pass method are the real product; sample outputs captured on the client’s own model tier are being added.
🔍
The Skeptical Reader
Claude Project · runs on Omar’s own subscription
📎 qandeel-distribution-agreement-2026.pdf · 14 pages

Read this skeptically. Lens: CEO of a mid-size distribution company reviewing an exclusivity agreement before a renewal negotiation.

Pass 1 — Anatomy (excerpt)

Fourteen pages, nine sections. The core commitments:

  • Term: 3 years, exclusive for Punjab and KP — “Distributor shall not carry Competing Products” (§2.3)
  • Minimum purchase: PKR 180M in year one, escalating 15% annually (§4.1)
  • Termination: principal may exit on 60 days’ notice; distributor needs 180 (§8.2)
  • Credit terms: 21 days, down from 30 in the current agreement (§5.4)

Pure description so far — no judgment until Pass 2. Continue?

Go.

Pass 2 — Skeptical read (excerpt)

  • The termination asymmetry does the quiet work. Qandeel can exit in 60 days; Vertex is locked for 180. Combined with the escalator, a bad year two is survivable for them and binding for you (§8.2 with §4.1).
  • The escalator has no partner. Minimums rise 15% a year, but the agreement commits Qandeel to no marketing spend, no new SKUs, and no territory protection beyond year one. Growth is your obligation, not a shared plan (§4.1 against §6).
  • “Marketing support” became discretionary. §6.2 now reads “may be provided at the Principal’s sole discretion”; the current agreement fixes it at 2% of purchases. One word removed roughly PKR 3.6M of committed support.

The pattern: each change moves risk from principal to distributor while the headline terms look unchanged.

Pass 3 — ten questions for the negotiation table, each with good-answer and concerning-answer hints — omitted here for length.

Pass 4 — The one-page brief

Qandeel renewal — skeptical first-read

TL;DR: A renewal that reads like a rollover but rebalances risk toward Vertex in three places: termination asymmetry, an unpartnered 15% escalator, and marketing support downgraded from committed to discretionary.

Worth testing: the 60/180-day exit terms; the missing 2% marketing commitment; the credit-term cut from 30 to 21 days.

Bottom line: Sign-able after negotiation, not as drafted. Open with the termination clause — it is the cheapest concession for them and the most protective for you.

How it runs

📄

Upload any document

Contract, MOU, vendor pitch, board paper — anything where an author is arguing a position.

🧭

State your lens

Who is reading and why. The same document reads differently for a CFO than a fundraiser — deliberately.

🔍

Four passes

Anatomy → skeptical read → questions to ask → one-page brief. Every claim anchored to a quoted clause.

🗂️

Walk in prepared

A written read you can carry into the meeting, share with colleagues, or file.

The essentials

This runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. No infrastructure, nothing extra to run. We set it up, train your team for half an hour, and hand over the keys.

Setup time
About a week, including team walkthrough
Honest note
A first-read tool, not legal advice — built to make your lawyer’s hour more valuable, not to replace it.

Next door: The Pitch Writer — donor-specific proposals that refuse to invent a number.

Want this for your business?

Every document that argues at you deserves a skeptical first-read. The green button opens a WhatsApp chat — ask for the playbook there, or grab it free below.

Get the playbook on WhatsApp This exact playbook is the giveaway: get it free and run it in your own Claude or ChatGPT today.