Idea scout

Idea Scout

Find and rigorously score a net-new idea before building, so you don't pour effort into something nobody wants. This is a reasoning protocol, not a tool: it needs no network, no files, and no secrets — only disciplined thinking.

When to use

"What should I build next?", "Is this idea worth it?", "Score this idea", "Will this sell?", or any moment you are tempted to start building on a hunch.

The protocol

1. Frame the buyer and the pain. Name one specific buyer and the recurring, expensive, already-funded pain they feel. Vague audiences ("everyone") fail this step. Write the pain as a sentence the buyer would say out loud.

2. Demand evidence, not vibes. List concrete signals the demand is real: existing paid alternatives, search/community volume, repeated complaints, money already changing hands. An idea with zero external evidence scores low no matter how clever it feels.

3. Score on a rubric with anti-inflation ceilings. Rate each dimension 1–6 and cap optimism:

   • Pain intensity, Buyer reachability, Willingness to pay, Differentiation, Build feasibility, Competition headroom, Durability, Distribution fit.
   • A dimension only scores high with stated evidence. No evidence → ≤ 3.

4. Blind-scout convergence. Generate two or three independent takes on the same space without letting them see each other, then keep only ideas that more than one scout surfaces. Convergence beats a single confident guess.

5. Mandatory pre-mortem. Assume it failed a year from now. Write the three most likely reasons. If the top reason is fatal and unfixable, stop here.

6. Define the cheapest possible test. State the smallest artifact or signal that would validate or kill the idea this week (a landing page, a waitlist target, five real conversations). Name a pass/fail number before running it.

Output

A one-page verdict: buyer + pain, evidence list, rubric table with total, the pre-mortem's top risk, and the cheap test with its pass/fail bar. End with a clear BUILD / DON'T BUILD / TEST FIRST call. Hand a BUILD verdict to build-brain/build-product.

Honesty rule

If the evidence is thin, say so and recommend TEST FIRST. A scout that always says "build it" is worthless. Your value is the no.