Olune

The Build-or-Kill Scorecard

Score your idea on seven dimensions and get a straight verdict: build it, look closer, or kill it. The same rubric Olune uses, free in your inbox.

No spam. Unsubscribe in one click.

The seven dimensions

Score each one from 1 to 5, then add them up out of 35.

  1. 1. Pain

    How badly does this hurt the buyer?

    1 = Mild annoyance they have learned to live with. 5 = Hair on fire, they are actively looking for a fix.

  2. 2. Zone fit

    Is this in a zone you can actually win in?

    1 = Unfamiliar space with no unfair advantage. 5 = You have real domain insight, access, or skill here.

  3. 3. Reach

    Can you reach enough of these buyers affordably?

    1 = Scattered, hard to find, expensive to acquire. 5 = They cluster somewhere you can reach cheaply.

  4. 4. Willingness to pay

    Will they actually pay, and pay soon?

    1 = Nice-to-have, expects it free, slow to commit. 5 = Already paying for a worse fix, budget exists.

  5. 5. Advantage

    What stops a competitor from copying you?

    1 = Anyone could ship this in a weekend. 5 = A real wedge: workflow, data, trust, or distribution.

  6. 6. Buildability

    Can you build a useful v1 with what you have?

    1 = Huge scope, heavy infra, long road to value. 5 = A lean v1 delivers real value fast.

  7. 7. Competition

    Is there an open lane, or a wall of incumbents?

    1 = Crowded category owned by trusted incumbents. 5 = An underserved gap nobody has taken seriously.

Read your score

  • 25-35Build it. Strong signal. The pain, the buyer, and a defensible wedge are all there. Go.
  • 18-24Look closer. A real opening with a real wall. Find the wedge before you commit, or keep it small.
  • 7-17Kill it. Weak pain, no moat, or no money. Save the months and move to the next idea.

Plus: the 5-day Build-or-Kill Sprint

Sign up and you also get one short email a day for five days, walking you through how to validate an idea for real, not just score it on a hunch.

  • Day 1: Find the pain in communities, before you fall in love with the idea.
  • Day 2: Size the market fast, without a 40-tab spreadsheet.
  • Day 3: Talk to five buyers the right way, so they cannot just be polite.
  • Day 4: Smoke-test demand with a one-page landing test.
  • Day 5: Score it on real evidence and make the build-or-kill call.

Questions

Is the scorecard really free?

Yes. You get the full seven-dimension scorecard in your inbox, plus a free five-day email course. No payment, no trial.

What is the catch?

You give us your email and we send you the scorecard and the sprint. If you find it useful, you might try Olune for a full verdict on a specific idea. If not, unsubscribe in one click.

What is the 5-day Build-or-Kill Sprint?

One short email a day for five days. Each one walks you through a real validation step: finding the pain, sizing the market, customer conversations, a demand test, and the final decision.

How is this different from running my idea through Olune?

The scorecard is the manual, do-it-yourself version of the rubric. Olune does the legwork for you: it pulls live Reddit signals, competitor maps, and keyword volume and returns a build-or-kill verdict in about 8 minutes.

Want the verdict done for you?

Run a specific idea through Olune and skip the manual work. Live Reddit signals, competitor maps, keyword volume, and a build-or-kill verdict in about 8 minutes.

Test your idea →