Founder Readiness Score
An honest readiness assessment across the five dimensions that shape founder outcomes in Asia. Twenty questions calibrated for the Asian context. Five minutes. Specific actions for whichever dimension you score weakest on.
Score yourself across the five dimensions
Twenty questions across five dimensions: capital, network, expertise, lifestyle, resilience. Each question has five answers worth one to five points. Pick the answer that’s most accurate, not the one that’s most flattering — the calculator’s value depends on honest scoring. Your responses stay on this page; nothing is sent anywhere.
Your readiness profile
Your overall score, your dimensional breakdown, and the dimension that most needs attention. Founder Readiness is structurally distinct from product, market, or capital — it’s the founder-side readiness that determines whether you can absorb the demands of building.
Answer the twenty questions above to generate your readiness profile. The results appear here as you respond.
What this means for next steps
Your readiness score is one input. Understanding which founder profile you most resemble is the second. Choosing the right Asian market for your venture is the third. Together, these three calibrations shape whether the venture decision is the right one and whether the timing is now.
Next steps appear after you complete your readiness scoring.
How readiness is scored
The Five-Dimension Readiness Audit is a Sigma Mentoring framework developed across twenty-eight years of mentorship. It’s used as the foundational diagnostic in Module 1 of the Founders of Asia programme and as a standalone tool here.
The five dimensions
- Capital — personal runway in months, family financial obligations, prior liquidity, failure-absorption buffer
- Network — the Five-Call Test, decision-maker access, mentor relationships, investor relationships
- Expertise — sector operating years, domain credibility, founder vs operator experience, cross-functional capability
- Lifestyle — family financial alignment, geographic flexibility, time commitment, partner alignment
- Resilience — prior structural setback experience, personal support structure, financial-shock absorption, identity diversification
Why the Asian context shifts the calibration
Conventional Western readiness frameworks (Lean Startup, YC essays, MBA-curriculum frameworks) are calibrated for assumptions — network density, capital availability, cultural permission to fail, family situation — that shift in Asian contexts.
The Sigma calibration accounts for: family as a system rather than a unit; relationships as the unit of access in many Asian markets; multilingual capability as differential rather than baseline; the relationship-mediated nature of capital and customer access.
What scoring weak on a dimension means
Scoring weakly does not mean you should not start a venture. It means a specific dimension needs attention before, during, or alongside the venture launch. Many successful Asian founders launch with low scores on one or two dimensions and address them in parallel.
The discipline this calculator surfaces is concreteness — naming the dimension that needs work and identifying specific actions that would materially shift it within 30, 60, and 90 days.
How this fits into the front-of-funnel triangle
This calculator is one of three Sigma front-of-funnel diagnostics. Together they answer:
- Country Opportunity Score — where should I build?
- Founder Readiness Score — am I ready? (this calculator)
- Founder Profile Identifier — what kind of founder am I?
The Founders of Asia programme is built around all three calibrations.
