The scoring formula (transparent + practical)

Most “idea validation” advice is either fluffy (“follow your passion”) or overly financial (“build a full forecast”). This calculator sits in the middle: it forces you to make a few concrete judgments and then turns them into a score that helps you pick the next best experiment.

Each slider is rated 1–10. Higher is better for eight dimensions. The only exception is Competition intensity, where a higher number means stronger incumbents and more crowded keywords. For the score, competition is inverted so that lower competition improves your score.

• Problem pain: 18%
• Willingness to pay: 16%
• Market depth: 12%
• Retention potential: 12%
• Acquisition clarity: 12%
• Differentiation: 12%
• Competition (inverted): 8%
• Founder fit: 6%
• Speed to MVP: 4%

We compute a weighted average in the 1–10 range, then scale it to 0–100:

IdeaScore = round( ((WeightedAverage − 1) / 9) × 100 )

The math is simple on purpose: early decisions hinge on pain, payment, reach, and retention. Use the score to surface what to validate next.

What “good” looks like (and what to do next)

Treat the score as prioritization. It doesn’t predict revenue — it highlights clarity and risk. A 55 can still work with a channel advantage; an 85 can still fail if you build the wrong thing.

• 80–100 (Strong): Start building a lean MVP while validating pricing and channel assumptions in parallel.
• 65–79 (Promising): Run discovery + a thin MVP. Focus on the lowest two sliders as your “risk killers”.
• 50–64 (Workable but risky): Don’t build big. Prove willingness to pay and acquisition first.
• 0–49 (High risk): Either narrow the niche, change the wedge, or switch to a different problem.

The “Risk Radar” below your score lists the dimensions that are likely to block growth. If your lowest slider is Acquisition clarity, the right move might be content, partnerships, or embedding into existing workflows — not adding more features. If your lowest slider is Willingness to pay, you probably need a clearer ROI story, a better buyer (who owns the budget), or a pricing model that matches value.

How to rate each slider (quick heuristics)

If you’re struggling to pick a number, use these heuristics. The goal is not “accuracy” — it’s to expose where you’re guessing.

10 means the customer is actively searching, complaining, or spending money to solve it right now. 5 means it’s annoying but not urgent. 1 means it’s “nice to have” and easy to ignore. Pain is highest when the problem is frequent, expensive, time‑consuming, or creates risk (lost revenue, compliance issues, churn, embarrassment).

Market depth is “enough buyers for your target price”. A niche can be great if the price is high, and a big market can be weak if pricing is forced low. Rate higher if you can name multiple segments and clear entry points.

This is the most misunderstood slider. People do not pay for “features”; they pay for outcomes: saved time, reduced risk, more sales, fewer mistakes, better reporting, or status. Rate higher if (1) the buyer has a budget, (2) the ROI story is obvious, and (3) you can anchor price to an existing line item (software spend, contractor spend, payroll hours, churn dollars).

Competition is not automatically bad. It proves demand. It becomes dangerous when incumbents have distribution, switching costs, or a feature set you can’t match. Rate competition as high (8–10) if keywords are saturated and the top products have strong brands with deep integrations. Rate it as lower if you have a wedge (a new segment, workflow, or channel) that incumbents ignore.

Differentiation is a credible reason you win: a new workflow, a faster path to value, a superior experience for a specific persona, or a unique dataset. “We use AI” is not differentiation unless it enables something competitors cannot do reliably. Rate higher if your differentiation is explainable in one sentence and demonstrable in a prototype.

This is “Can you get the first 100 users without magic?” Rate higher when you already have a channel: SEO, outbound, partnerships, or an audience. Most SaaS dies here because distribution is unclear.

Recurring revenue requires recurring value. You retain users when the product becomes a habit (daily/weekly workflow), a system of record (data lives there), or a reporting layer (executives look at it monthly). Rate higher if your product naturally gets used repeatedly or becomes harder to leave over time.

Founder fit is your unfair advantage: domain knowledge, credibility, or access to buyers. Rate higher if you can reach customers today.

A fast MVP is not about “shipping quickly”; it’s about proving value quickly. If you can deliver a “wow” result in a week or two, you can iterate with users and reduce risk. Rate higher if you can launch a thin slice (one job‑to‑be‑done) without big integrations.

3 example ideas (and why the scores differ)

These examples show how different profiles can still be viable — and what you should validate first.

Pain: 8 (renewals drive revenue), WTP: 8 (ROI clear), Market: 6 (niche but valuable), Competition: 5 (some tools), Differentiation: 6 (workflow focus), Acquisition: 6 (LinkedIn + outbound), Retention: 7 (monthly usage), Founder fit: 7, Speed: 6 → likely scores in the 70s. Next step: pricing interviews with RevOps leaders + a landing page with two tiers.

Pain: 9 (risk), WTP: 9 (budget exists), Market: 5 (smaller), Competition: 6, Differentiation: 7 (vertical focus), Acquisition: 4 (hard to reach), Retention: 8, Founder fit: 6, Speed: 4 → could still be 70+ but blocked by acquisition. Next step: partnerships with MSPs / consultants and a clear “done‑for‑you” onboarding.

Notice the pattern: the “next best move” is almost always tied to the lowest two sliders. That’s why the Risk Radar exists — it points you to the fastest way to improve the idea.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this score “accurate”?

  It’s as accurate as your assumptions. The point is to reveal what you know versus what you’re guessing. If you’re unsure, choose mid‑range values and let the action plan tell you what to validate.

• What’s the best score to start building?

  If you’re at 65+ and you have a clear next experiment, you can start a thin MVP. Below that, you should usually validate willingness to pay and acquisition before building deeper features.

• Why is competition inverted?

  High competition increases your cost of attention and raises switching barriers. It’s not fatal — but you need a wedge. In the formula, lower competition improves the score.

• B2B vs B2C: should I score differently?

  Yes. For B2B, willingness to pay and retention often matter more; for B2C, acquisition and virality matter more. This calculator lightly adjusts recommendations based on your customer type (not the raw math).

• Can a low score still succeed?

  Absolutely — especially if you have a unique distribution advantage (audience, community, partnerships) or you can narrow the niche. Use low scores as a prompt to refine the wedge, not as a stop sign.

• What’s the fastest way to increase my score?

  Increase Pain by choosing a sharper niche, increase WTP by targeting buyers with budgets, and increase Acquisition clarity by committing to one channel you can execute.

Good decisions beat good ideas

The best founders use tools like this to reduce uncertainty. They don’t wait for certainty. Run small experiments, collect evidence, and update your score as you learn. Your goal is to earn the right to build more — not to build everything immediately.

• Score the idea, then identify the lowest two sliders.
• Run one experiment that improves one slider (interviews, pricing test, channel proof).
• Re‑score after you have evidence (not vibes).

Turn your score into a challenge

Screenshot your Risk Radar and post: “Roast my SaaS idea: Score __/100. What am I missing?” Use replies as discovery data.

• “I scored my SaaS idea at __/100. Biggest risk: __. Who’s the best buyer for this?”
• “If you’ve solved __, what did you try first? What actually worked?”
• “What would you pay per month for a tool that __?”