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Idea Stress-Test

Your idea against the record: the assumptions graded, the prior attempts found, the cheapest test named.

3 credits·deep dive·about 3–6 min·9 domains

What it answers

The question Idea Stress-Test is built for

Describe the idea. It gives an honest verdict and the read behind it, builds a ledger of the assumptions the idea rests on with each one graded, finds the prior attempts and what happened to them, reads the live field and the timing, makes the strongest case against the idea, states what would make it work, and names the cheapest test that would tell you.

Who reaches for it

Founders, product leads, grant writers and anyone about to spend a year on something.

What comes back

12 sections, on every run

These are the headings the result renders, read from the same promise the form makes before you spend a credit. A section that depends on what the record holds is rendered when it can be and never promised here.

01

The honest read

02

Verdict

03

The Stress-Test Read

04

The Assumptions Ledger

05

Prior Attempts

06

The Live Field

07

Timing Read

08

The best case against — steelmanned

09

What Would Make It Work

10

The Cheapest Test

11

Watch Signals

12

Open Questions

What you give it

2 boxes, 1 required

Your idea
required · up to 600 characters
Who's asking / resources / market
optional · up to 600 characters
Try it on: a subject you already hold an opinion about, so you can grade the result against what you know. Each one opens the form filled, in the General domain.
A Red Sea shipping-risk alert service for importersA newsletter decoding OFAC sanctions for compliance teamsAn OSINT training bootcamp for local journalists
What it will not do

The lines it holds

It does not tell you whether to proceed. The verdict is about the evidence, not the ambition; an assumption the record cannot grade is marked as such rather than waved through.

Every claim carries its grade

A claim the scan could not source is marked as such rather than dressed up. How the grades work →

Verified or grounded
Reported or attributed
Contested
Open question
Where it runs

Available in 9 domains

A domain may name it in its own words and price it on its own terms; each row is what that domain shows.

General3 creditsDefenseas Concept Stress-Test3 creditsFinanceas Thesis Stress-Test3 creditsEnergyas Project Stress-Test3 creditsHealthas Concept Stress-Test3 creditsPolicyas Proposal Stress-Test3 creditsTechnology3 creditsClimateas Venture Stress-Test3 creditsLearningas Research Idea Check3 credits
See one

Nothing published in this shape yet

No Idea Stress-Test has been published to the public library yet. Browse what has →

Roles that lean on it

3 role guides suggest it

Head of innovation / new ventureslead scanVC investor / principallead scanDigital health founderlead scan
Try it

Run Idea Stress-Test on something you already know

The fastest way to judge the result is to pick a subject you know cold and read it against what you know. The scan names its credit cost before it runs.

Start with Idea Stress-Test →Plans and credit packs
More in the catalog

Other research in analyze

Track RecordWhat someone said would happen against what actually happened, dated and scored.Why They Did ItWhy an actor really made a move, with each explanation graded against the record.Decision ReviewWas the call right, given what was knowable at the time, not what is known now.Literature ReviewWhat the studies actually show on a question, graded by how far they converge.Person ScanA public figure in their public role: background, position, record and network.CouncilYour own decision, read by the documented methods of two to four thinkers.The whole catalog →