// Growth Readiness Scorecard

Most projects don't have a growth problem.
They have a measurement problem.

Eight questions, about five minutes. You'll get your score, your weakest dimension, and the full read-out on what each one means and what to do about it. No email, no gate, nothing held back.

I've spent ten years inside projects like yours. For each question I've put what I usually see, so you can tell whether you're behind, ahead, or exactly where everyone else is.

One ruleScore what's true today, not what's on the roadmap.
// The benchmark

What I usually see

Across ten years of projects, most of the ones I look at land between 6 and 10 out of 24. Not because founders are bad, but because the whole sector was built to reward narrative and nobody built the measurement layer underneath it.

Here is the typical score on each dimension, what each total means, and the questions people ask before they start. You can read all of it without answering anything.

What I usually see, by dimension. Estimated from ten years of engagements, not survey data.
DimensionWhat I usually seeWhat that usually looks like
Positioningabout 2 / 6You’re competing on noise. Everything downstream costs more than it should, because you’re paying to persuade people who were never going to buy. Fix this first. Acquisition spend on weak positioning is a tax you pay forever.
Acquisitionabout 2 / 6You’re renting growth, not building it. Good months are luck you can’t bank. The fix isn’t more channels. It’s finding the one that already works and making it deliberate.
Retention & economics1–2 / 6The expensive one. Weak retention makes every other number lie to you. CAC looks survivable, growth looks real, then the cohort empties. Nothing scales until this holds.
Measurement & proofabout 2 / 6You’re flying blind and calling it instinct. Everything else on this page is unanswerable until this is fixed. If this is your lowest, start here regardless of the rest. If you’re raising in the next six months, it’s urgent. Investors stopped buying decks. They’re buying retention curves.
Total6–10 / 24Where most of the projects I look at land.

What your total means

Scored 0 to 24. The band matters more than the number: it tells you what to fix first.

The four bands, and what each one is telling you.
ScoreBandWhat it means
0–7Running on hypeGrowth is happening to you, not because of you. You might have real numbers, but you can’t tell which of your decisions produced them, so you can’t repeat any of it. The risk isn’t slow growth. It’s spending your next raise at the same speed, on the same guesses.
8–13LeakingThere’s real signal in here. Something’s working. You just can’t hold it or repeat it reliably, so growth costs more than it should and stalls without warning. This is the most common band, and the most fixable.
14–19FunctionalThe machine works. It isn’t compounding. You know what’s happening, you can mostly repeat it, but one constraint is holding the ceiling down, normally a single dimension lagging while the rest are fine.
20–24CompoundingYou don’t need me. You know your numbers, you can repeat your wins, and your story holds in both rooms. If you scored here honestly, the only useful advice is: don’t let it rot when you scale the team.

Questions before you start

What does the growth scorecard measure?
Four dimensions: positioning, acquisition, retention and economics, and measurement and proof. Two questions each, scored 0 to 3, twenty-four points in total.
How long does it take, and is anything gated?
About five minutes, eight questions, and nothing is gated. You see your score, your weakest dimension and the full read-out without handing over an email or anything else.
What is a typical score?
Most projects land between 6 and 10 out of 24. A low score is the norm, not a red flag: the sector was built to reward narrative and almost nobody built the measurement layer underneath. The useful part is knowing which dimension is dragging.
Is it really free?
Yes, and nothing is held back. The first twenty minutes of any conversation that follows are free too. The only thing you would pay for later is the two-week Growth Diagnostic, if you decide you want it.
What do I get at the end?
Your score out of 24, your band, your weakest dimension, and a written read-out on what each one means and the first move to make. Send the result over and I will have read it before we speak.