The scale
How each grade is worked out.
A score out of 100 is worth nothing if you cannot see what it is measured against. So the whole scale is on this page: what each grade means, the capital bands in dollars, the anchors the Score is calibrated to, and what the figures assume about you.
Then one real scorecard, in full, so you know exactly what $9 puts on the row.
The three grades
Every idea is graded A to E on the same three things.
Profit
A–EWhat the business can earn once it is running and full — the money the trade itself throws off, not what you might sell it for one day.
- A — the money is large relative to what it took to open.
- C — a living, and the margin is thin enough to feel every bad month.
- E — the revenue is real and almost all of it leaves again.
Difficulty
A–EHow hard it is to get open and to stay open: licences, staff, landlords, the things that can stop you that are not money.
- A — you could be trading in weeks, alone, with no permission from anyone.
- C — a licence, a lease or a hire stands between you and opening.
- E — regulated, staffed, and dependent on people who can say no.
Capital
A–EWhat it takes to open, in your city: fit-out, equipment, deposits, licences, opening stock and three months of working capital.
- The grade is not an opinion about the figure. It is the figure.
- The same money always earns the same letter, on every board.
Capital, exactly
The capital grade is arithmetic.
The top of your range falls in one of five fixed bands. Nothing interprets it, so $8,000 is never a B on one board and a C on another.
The range itself is the estimate. The letter is just where the range lands.
The Score
0–100, and it only means something next to another idea.
The Score composites the three grades: strong profit, low difficulty, and little capital for the return. It is not a mark out of ten for how much we liked it.
Two ideas whose figures differ never get the same score, so the ranking on your board is always decided.
80+ is rare. It needs low capital and demand that already exists.
Calibration, published
These four are the fixed points the engine is anchored to. Your idea is scored against them, not against a mood.
What the figures assume about you
The same idea pays two people differently.
What a business nets depends on who runs it. Rather than ask you twenty questions before a single figure appears, we grade one standard operator and tell you which operator that is.
Read the four below. Every one of them you break in your own favour moves your figures better than ours.
You run it, full-time
The figures assume the owner works in the business. Hire that work out and Profit falls.
You pay yourself
Your wage is a cost, not the profit. A business that only pays you is graded as one that only pays you.
You rent, you don’t buy
Premises and vehicles are leased. Owning the building changes Capital, not the trade.
You start from nothing
No customers, no licence, no relevant trade, no space you already own. Every one of those you do have moves the figures your way.
This is why every scored row carries a line called The assumption: the one thing that has to be true for the figures to hold. If it is not true for you, the row is telling you where it breaks.
A full scorecard
This is one $9 score, with nothing held back.
A real row from a real board, copied out unedited. Scored on 25 August 2026. Every idea you score comes back in exactly this shape.
Summer day camp for kids
Toronto, ON
Profit
Difficulty
Capital
Range
$85,000–$180,000
Breakdown
- Profit
- C
- Toronto day camps charge $400–$900 per child per week. 80 campers at $600 yields $48,000 weekly gross.
- Difficulty
- D
- Ontario requires licensed childcare compliance, criminal checks, NL first aid, and staff ratios of 1:8 for ages 6–12.
- Capital
- D
- Site rental deposit, insurance, equipment, staff training, and marketing consume most of the $85,000–$180,000 range.
Break-even
- Has to be true
- 62 campers per week at $600 average tuition
- Fixed costs a month
- $28,400
- The assumption
- Site lease secured at under $8,000 per month during the 10-week season.
Opening for less
All three together take $93,000 off: $180,000 becomes $87,000.
Lease Toronto District School Board gym space instead of buying land
−$45,000Costs you: Schedule is fixed by TDSB; no weekend or holiday flexibility
Run day camp only, eliminating overnight cabin construction or rental
−$30,000Costs you: Revenue per camper drops roughly 60% versus overnight programs
Hire Ontario-certified counsellors as seasonal staff, not full-time employees
−$18,000Costs you: Staff continuity is low; returning campers lose familiar counsellors
How you’d do it
What you need
- Ontario Ministry of Education day camp license or exemption confirmation
- General liability insurance minimum $5,000,000 per occurrence, standard in Toronto
- Secured outdoor or indoor site in Toronto, e.g. community centre partnership
- Certified staff: 1 NL first aider per 50 campers, criminal record checks for all
First 3 moves
- 1 Contact Toronto Parks and Recreation to negotiate a facility-use agreement for summer months.
- 2 File for Ontario day camp operator status and complete staff screening 90 days before opening.
- 3 Run a presale enrollment campaign targeting Toronto parent Facebook groups and school newsletters in February.
Hardest part
Filling 60+ spots before the season starts, with no track record and heavy local competition.
44/100 is a real result, and it is the useful kind. The board is for finding out which of your ideas is the 44.
Open
Now put your own ideas on the same scale.
Adding an idea and its capital range costs nothing. $9 scores up to 5 and ranks them against each other.
Open your board