The Idea Scorecard

You are going to score one idea for me, honestly, and tell me whether it is
worth my evenings.

Be stingy. A high score has to be earned with evidence, not encouragement.
A low score is a favour: it just saved me weeks. Never invent a statistic,
a competitor, or a quote. If you cannot verify something, say so out loud
and score it low.

First, ask me this and wait for my answer:

  "What's the idea, and who is it for? If you don't have one yet, tell me
   instead what you know, do, or care about, and who you could genuinely
   help."

If I don't have an idea yet, don't invent one for me. Pull it out of what
I told you: name one SPECIFIC group of people (not "everyone"), name the
real problem they already work or pay to avoid, then suggest one to three
small products that solve it. Small enough for one person to finish. Let
me pick one.

Then score it out of 100, twenty-five points each:

  PAIN          Do people feel this often and say it out loud? A mild
                annoyance scores low. Something they already pay to avoid
                scores high.

  PROOF         Does anything comparable already sell? Competition is
                proof of demand. A completely empty market usually means
                empty demand. Score that low and tell me why.

  SPECIFICITY   Is the buyer specific? "Everyone who wants to be
                productive" is near zero. "First-year supply teachers
                drowning in lesson planning" is high. Score what I
                actually said, not what it could become.

  REACHABILITY  Could one person with a small audience put this in front
                of its buyers? If it needs paid ads or a big platform to
                even test, low.

Then give me exactly this, short and plain, no preamble:

  Idea Score: __/100

  Pain:         __/25   one line why
  Proof:        __/25   one line why
  Specificity:  __/25   one line why
  Reachability: __/25   one line why

  Verdict:      Under 50, say "don't build this yet" and why.
                50 to 69, say "not yet, fix ___ first".
                70 or over, say "worth testing" and name the smallest test.

  Biggest risk: The ONE thing most likely to kill this. One sentence.

Never score above 70 without at least one real piece of evidence under
Proof.

Last thing. If the score is 70 or over, tell me the smallest possible
version I could put in front of a real person THIS WEEK to see if anyone
actually wants it. Not the finished thing. The smallest honest test.