Is a project any good? Score it from five angles

What this is

One of our published methods, written in plain language: what it can do, when to use it, what goes in and what comes out.

Why it matters

Most methods are published as papers or code. This one is written so you can decide whether it fits your problem before you invest time in it.

How to use it

Read the page top to bottom. If it matches your question, use the online tool - or subscribe and run it on your own data.

What you get

A clear answer on what the method does and does not do, plus a live curve from our own demand series. Free to read.

Free to readOnline tools from $5 per runSee it →

Demand curve read by this method — A live reading from our own demand series - the shape of the signal this method works on. 570 industries are tracked daily; this is one of them.

Our own data: the same five-dimension scoring runs across 391 cities and 75 industries (2026-10-08).
Data base: InfoGap own records - 391 Chinese cities x 8 dimensions, 213,208 city-industry rows, 40,499 POIs (central / lifechain, 2026-10-08).

InfoGap Algorithm Handbook · one algorithm per page · plain language · formal name: Five-Dimension Gold-Balance Business Assessment

1In one sentence: what it does

Scores a project once from each of five angles, then hands you the total, the grade, and the part that most needs fixing.

2When to use it

These three situations call for it:

A KTV site in Beijing is being handed over, the price is still negotiable, and you can't tell whether to take it.

What people usually do: work out the fit-out and the rent, and take it if they think they can keep their head above water.

With this: score all five angles once each, and see whether "the business itself is good" or "the site is just cheap".

Two projects are both doable — one looks busy, one looks steady.

What people usually do: pick the busy one.

With this: score both, lay the five results side by side — the busy one usually scores badly on "will it last".

You have already decided to do it, but you don't know where to put your effort.

What people usually do: feel that everything needs strengthening, and end up strengthening nothing.

With this: read the weak-spot notes it gives you, and fix the lowest one first.

3What goes in · what comes out

Input (this is the set used for the real run)

· Market size: 40 (out of 50)
· How crowded it is: 20 (out of 50 — the lower, the less crowded)
· How you get paid: 35 (out of 50)
· How hard it is to run: 30 (out of 50 — the higher, the harder)
· Will it last: 25 (out of 50)

What comes out

These numbers are what it produced on the spot, not a character changed:

Five items total: 150 / 250 (60%)
Grade: 🟡 Grade B — an average project; weak spots need fixing
Long-term value score: 46.2 (raw value -0.076)

Weak-spot notes it gives:
· Few competitors — first confirm whether you actually have a relative advantage
· The "will it last" item is on the low side; build the moat first
· ⚠️ Long-term value is negative: "how hard it is to run" plus "will it last" are already eating the money you make — reassess

How to read it: look at the grade first, then the three notes — what it gives you is not "do it / don't do it", it is "these three parts need fixing". The key line here is the last one: long-term value is negative. It means "the 60-point total looks acceptable, but hard to run plus not built to last will slowly eat the money you earn". So if you take this site, fix "will it last" first — don't start by haggling over the rent.

📈One picture: five angles, scored once each

A project has five angles; the shortest one is the part that most needs fixing.

4How to use it

There is no public calculator for this yet — the method above is the whole procedure; on this site the inputs have to be keyed in by hand.

Prepare a score for each of the five angles (0–50)
Read the total, the grade, and the weak-spot notes it gives

5Who it is for

People with a specific site or project in hand who are still hesitating; people choosing between two projects; people who have already started and need to decide which part to fix first.

6Common questions

Q: Where do the five scores come from?

A: You give them. The ledger does not hold these scores, so it will not go and check the market for you. This is also where it is easiest to fool yourself — score loosely and the conclusion looks good.

Q: Is a 60-point total good or bad?

A: On its grading, grade B means "average, weak spots need fixing". The ones really worth starting on are usually grade A.

Q: Why does "few competitors" count against you?

A: Because it reads "few competitors" as "this demand may never have been validated". Whether it is few people or nobody wants it, you have to confirm once more with the demand-verification algorithm.

7Related algorithms

three-d-profit · is this lane profitable by nature pure-compound-six · can money make more money four-dim-landing · can you actually pull it off ← Back to the Algorithm Handbook

✓Why this scenario exists (where the content comes from)

This scenario comes from the record of the "algorithms meet demand" round: the Beijing · KTV demand was run against several algorithms, and this one was judged useful, on the grounds that "five dimensions at 50 points each → total 150/250, long-term value score 46.2, grade B, with weak-spot advice given item by item. Can be dropped into the project-screening page as a whole."

The input and output above are what a re-run of that set of numbers gave: market size 40, competition 20, how you get paid 35, how hard it is 30, will it last 25 → 150/250.

Source: row 1 of the site's city × industry opportunity-gap table (Beijing KTV, score=120.22); the D1 entry in the matching ledger.