Idea score calculator — is your startup idea actually worth building?

About this calculator

Five yes/no/maybe questions across Market, Buyer, Pain, Differentiation, and Willingness to Pay. Returns a 0-100 score plus a one-line verdict so you know whether to commit a weekend to it or move on. A 60-second triage when you have multiple ideas and need to pick one — not a substitute for the full validation work once you've picked.

Your idea, 5 honest questions

1. Market

Are you certain there are at least 10,000 buyers in your reachable market?

2. Buyer

Can you name a specific person (job title + daily situation) who feels this pain?

3. Pain

Have 3+ buyers told you they already spend money or hours trying to solve this?

4. Differentiation

Is there 1+ thing about your approach that incumbents can't or won't copy in 6 months?

5. Willingness-to-pay

Have 3+ buyers joined a waitlist or pre-paid, beyond just saying "interesting"?

Your idea score

Score (0-100)

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0 of 5 answered

Answer all 5 questions to see your idea score.

How this is calculated

Each of the 5 questions scores 20 (Yes), 10 (Maybe), or 0 (Not yet). The total is the Idea Score, 0-100.

The 5 dimensions are the ones that show up in every post-mortem of failed pre-PMF startups:

Market — is there a real buyer pool?
Buyer — can you name a specific persona?
Pain — are buyers already paying to solve this?
Differentiation — can incumbents copy you?
Willingness-to-pay — has anyone committed to pay?

Source mapping: CB Insights "Top Reasons Startups Fail" survey of 110 failed-startup founders. 42% died from no market need (Market + Pain), 17% from being out-competed (Differentiation), 14% from no demand (Buyer + WTP). The 5 dimensions cover the failure modes; the score predicts which dimensions you've validated.

What this doesn't tell you

Whether you can actually build it. A 100-score idea with no team to execute is still zero. The score validates the idea, not the team.
Whether the timing is right. Some ideas score 80 today and 30 in 2 years (market shift); others score 30 today and 80 in 2 years. Score + timing both matter.
The strength of evidence behind each Yes. "Yes" with a paid waitlist of 50 buyers is different from "Yes" with 3 verbal "interesting"s. The calc treats them the same — use the per-dimension playbook to know which.

Use this with

Framework

The Mom Test

The Mom Test is Rob Fitzpatrick's framework for customer interviews that generate real signal. Not praise. Three rules, applied step-by-step, with examples.

Spoke

Idea Validation

Most founders confuse idea validation with idea-receiving-encouragement. The two have nothing in common. Here's what real validation looks like, and the four methods that actually produce it.

Question

How do I know if my business idea is good?

Run six honest tests. (1) Is there a defined buyer with budget? (2) Is the pain frequent and intense, not annoying? (3) Will buyers commit money or time? (4) Do you have a defensible angle (one of the 7 Powers)? (5) Does the unit economics math work at a price they'd pay? (6) Is the timing present-tense, not 'someday'? Pass four of six and keep going. Fail four and walk away. The rest is theatre.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between this and an MVP test?

An MVP test costs you 2-6 weeks of build time. This costs you 60 seconds. The Idea Score is the pre-MVP gate — if you can't honestly score yes/maybe on at least 3 of the 5 dimensions today, your MVP will fail and you'll have learned the same thing 2 months later. The score doesn't replace validation; it tells you whether you're ready to start validating.

Why these 5 dimensions specifically?

Because they are the 5 dimensions that show up in every post-mortem of a failed pre-PMF startup. CB Insights surveyed founders of 110 failed startups: 42% died from no market need (Market + Pain dimensions), 17% from getting outcompeted (Differentiation), 14% from no buyer demand (Buyer + WTP). All five dimensions are covered by these five questions.

What's the difference between Yes, Maybe, and Not yet?

Yes = you have concrete evidence (named buyers, paid waitlist, observable behavior). Maybe = you have a strong intuition or analog from another market. Not yet = you have neither. Most first-time founders score themselves Yes on everything. Most experienced founders score themselves Maybe on everything. The honest answer is usually Not yet on at least 2 dimensions — that's where validation work should focus.

Why is the per-dimension breakdown gated?

Because the score alone is a useful sanity check (free). The per-dimension breakdown — which dimensions are strong, which are weak, and what to do about each — is the playbook. We give the playbook to people who sign up. If you want it without signing up, run validation on the weakest dimension first; the answer in this calc tells you which one that is.

Ready to make your next product a success?

9 decisions between your idea and a product worth building.