How to Efficiently Score Startup Ideas 🚀 (Just Like The VCs)

Why Score Your Startup Ideas 🤔

As startup founders, indie hackers or problem solvers, we always have a lot of ideas on our mind. However, our resources are limited. Not only we have to make sure that we execute fast, but given how many great ideas pass through our minds on the daily, we have to effectively prioritize on which is worth doing and which to leave on the shelf.

To transform our iPhone note full of ideas into actionable plans, we must create a method where we can efficiently and objectively score our ideas. The most common and recommended method is creating an Idea Evaluation matrix. This is used by VCs all around to world to decide which idea is worth funding and it can be used also by you to decide which one of your ideas will most likely succeed.

Define Your Scoring Criteria 📊

Start by identifying categories that are by which you will be assessing your ideas. This could be market potential, competition, scalability, feasibility etc. Select these criteria to based on your industry, personal values, and business objectives.

For example, if you're an indie hacker, you might prioritize factors like time-to-market, profitability and passion towards the project.

It is generally recommended to have 5-10 criteria not to overcomplicate the scoring process. Though, I run with 11. 😊

Here is the full list I use:

1. Severity
2. Frequency
3. Willingness to Pay
4. Market Size
5. Existing Alternatives
6. Competitive Advantage
7. Feasibility
8. Scalability
9. Revenue Potential
10. Passion Alignment
11. Timing

Define The Weights ⚖️

Once you've set the criteria, the next step is to assign weights to each of them. Weights determine the relative importance of each factor in your scoring system. For example, if you deem market size more important than the presence of competition, you might give market size a higher weight.

Yet again, consider popular recommendations vs. your own or your team's priority. It is important to assign more weight to the criterion you deem important when selecting ideas.

As inspiration, I'll again share my weights for the criteria I use:

1. Severity - 20
2. Frequency - 15
3. Willingness to Pay - 12
4. Market Size - 15
5. Existing Alternatives - 10
6. Competitive Advantage - 13
7. Feasibility - 10
8. Scalability - 8
9. Revenue Potential - 15
10. Passion Alignment - 5
11. Timing - 7

Score Your Ideas 📝

Now that you've established your criteria and their weights, it's time to score your ideas. Try to spend at least 5-10 minutes with each idea. ⚡

Tips for Scoring

• Be honest and objective when scoring. It's easy to get attached to an idea, but it’s important to base your scores on data (if you have any) and practical evaluation.
• After the first round of scoring, consider revisiting the more promising ideas and score them again, focusing on greater precision and detail. This iterative process will help you refine your scores and will lead to better-informed decisions.
• If an idea doesn’t score well in certain areas, consider what could be adjusted to improve its standing or if it should be dropped or deprioritised.

Using Scorch to Simplify the Process 🔥

If the thought of creating a spreadsheet to evaluate your ideas feels inefficient or daunting, I recommend using this free tool to simplify the process.

With Scorch, you can easily add and evaluate your ideas, gaining a quick overview to see which stands out as the best overall, aligns with your passion or is likely to have the biggest impact! I’ve also included AI-powered evaluations to help you score faster!

You're All Set! 🎉

There you have it! You now have everything you need to create your own Idea Evaluation Matrix to help clear the mental clutter of your wonderful mind. 😊

Thank you for reading! Happy Hacking!