Where Niche Scoring Breaks at Scale (Non-Technical)

Past the third or fourth scoring round, specific failure modes appear.

Score Inflation Drift

Each round gives most candidates 30+. Numbers stop discriminating. Re-anchor against round one. Same scale.

Interest Inflation Returns

You catch yourself scoring builder-fit by interest again. Catch each round. Builder-fit is audience and trust.

Outside Review Decay

Early rounds you got an outside opinion. Later rounds you skip it. Your bias does not go away. Keep the reviewer.

Spreadsheet Sprawl

Founders add columns each round. The complexity does not improve decisions. Hold the simple six-column sheet.

The Bigger Pattern

Niche scoring stays useful as long as it stays cheap. The moment it becomes a project, it has stopped working. Hold to fifteen minutes per round forever.