Why a "score" is the wrong frame
When founders hear "Idea Score" they think of a single 0-100 number — a verdict pulled from a black box. That framing collapses the work the underlying analysis actually does.
Idea Score is a structured commercial-viability lens, not a verdict. The number you see at the top of the report is the aggregation of distinct per-dimension signals — each one auditable, each one defendable, each one carrying a specific tier rank that maps to action.
The dimensions Idea Score actually surfaces
Demand
Does a real customer feel the problem with enough urgency to switch their workflow? Demand is graded on signal quality (organic search demand patterns, community discussion intensity, willingness-to-pay precedents) and signal recency (does the demand pattern compound, plateau, or decay?).
Wedge
What is the sharpest single thing your product does that the incumbent does not? Wedge clarity is the variable that separates ventures that scale on conviction from ventures that scale on capital. The rank surfaces whether the wedge is genuinely defensible or implied.
Distribution
Are there channels you can ride with the resources you actually have? Distribution scoring weighs paid-channel economics, organic-surface readiness, partner-channel openness, and the founding team's own distribution muscles. A weak distribution score is a weak commercial path — even when the wedge is strong.
Economics
Does the unit math work at sub-scale and at scale? The dimension surfaces gross-margin posture, customer-acquisition cost ceilings, payback period tolerances, and the contribution-margin shape you would have to defend in a Series A conversation.
Defensibility
What stops a faster competitor from copying the wedge in a quarter? Defensibility scoring looks for compounding moats — network effects, data feedback loops, switching costs, distribution lock-in — versus surface advantages a well-funded competitor can buy.
Founder Fit
Are you the operator who should be building this venture? Founder-fit is not flattery; it is a hard read on your distribution channels, your domain credibility, your customer relationships, and the energy you can sustain when the venture stalls.
What the tier vocabulary means
Every dimension resolves to a rank class in the Universal Magnitude Scale — Pinnacle, Superior, Elevated, Robust, Steady, Developing, Marginal, Deficient, Negligible. The vocabulary matters because numbers without anchors are noise. A dimension at Robust is a different conversation than a dimension at Marginal — the next action is different, the kill criteria are different, the path to lift is different.
How Idea Score evolves with new evidence
The score is not frozen. Adding customer-interview evidence, sharpening the wedge framing, surfacing a new distribution channel — each updates the relevant dimension and the overall verdict. The score moves with the work, so the conversation with your co-founder, your advisor, or your investor is always against the current state, not a stale snapshot.
Why the breakdown beats the number
The number alone tells you whether to keep going. The per-dimension breakdown tells you what to fix. The per-dimension explainers tell you why a dimension scored where it scored. The rank class tells you what tier of action it warrants. The Strategy Map, downstream, takes those signals and translates them into the distinct strategic paths the same idea could take — each one engineered to lift the dimensions that scored weak.
That chain — number → breakdown → explainer → rank → strategic-path implications — is the actual product. The score itself is the entry point.
What you walk out with
A scored idea you can defend in any conversation. A breakdown that surfaces exactly where the bet is strong and where it is vulnerable. A tier rank per dimension your team and your investors can read on the same lens. And the lineage to the next step — the Strategy Map analysis that translates the score into the distinct strategic paths worth comparing.