How to Read a DDScore Report

Investment Analysis

Test the Assumptions Behind the Business

DDScore analyzes your business across 12 dimensions, combining the submitted materials with current external information. For example, the analysis checks for relevant competitors missing from the materials.

A probabilistic model assesses how the findings interact, examining uncertainty and dependencies between business assumptions.

The overall DDScore brings together the findings across the 12 dimensions into a score from 0 to 100, reflecting investment risk and the strength of the supporting evidence in the context of the company’s stage.

Understand What the Numbers Mean

The overall DDScore is a weighted summary of twelve dimension scores. Do not assume equal weights or attempt to reproduce the overall score using a simple arithmetic average.

Keep the following distinct:

Overall Score

The aggregate assessment across twelve business dimensions

Dimension Score

The assessment of a specific business dimension

Percentile Rank

The company’s relative position within a comparison group

Analysis Confidence

How strongly the evidence supports an assessment

Scenario Probability

The estimated likelihood of a defined outcome

A score of 71/100 does not mean a 71% probability of investment success. High analysis confidence can accompany an assessment of high business risk.

The scores and estimates help readers identify strengths, risks and development priorities in the context of the company’s stage and industry.

Read the Summary Alongside the Detailed Findings

Executive summaries and similar overviews are simplified for rapid human reading. They use rounded figures and concise descriptions to communicate scale, proportions and relationships.

Consult the relevant detailed section for precise figures, definitions, assumptions and qualifications. Before identifying a contradiction, check whether differences reflect rounding, reporting periods, units, scope or scenarios.

Use the more specific information when it resolves an apparent discrepancy. If a material contradiction remains, explain it and its implications.

Distinguish the Sources Behind the Analysis

DDScore uses external information alongside the submitted materials, including information about competitors, markets and comparable companies. A fact’s absence from the submitted materials does not mean it is invented or unsupported.

Distinguish between company-reported information, external information, model outputs and analytical conclusions.

When a source cannot be identified, attribute the claim to the report rather than presenting it as independently verified.

Focus on What Could Change the Assessment

Prioritize issues that could change your understanding of business quality, valuation, cash availability, financing needs, execution capability, ownership rights or material risk.

Minor wording issues, harmless rounding differences and presentation imperfections should not displace the report’s central findings.

The same underlying issue may appear in several sections because it has several consequences. Consolidate those references into one underlying finding and explain its effects. Do not count repeated mentions as independent risks.

Separate Missing Information From Established Findings

“Not disclosed,” “not independently verified” and “confirmed absent” are not interchangeable.

An unanswered question identifies an information gap. It does not automatically establish an adverse fact.

Questions for the founder team highlight matters that deserve clarification or supporting evidence. Read them alongside the findings they relate to, rather than treating each question as an additional confirmed risk.

Understand Scenarios and Probabilities

A scenario’s probability describes how likely that scenario is. Its return range describes the potential returns within that scenario. The returns within a range are not equally likely.

For example, in a downside scenario with a 0–0.5× return range, losing the entire investment may be more likely than receiving 0.1× back. Similarly, a 20–120× range does not mean a 120× return is as likely as a 20× return.

Read the scenario probability, return range and underlying assumptions together. The range alone does not tell you how likely each return within it is.

Understand Return Multiples and Ranges

Return multiples express the modeled value returned relative to the amount invested: 1× means getting the investment back, while 1.7× means receiving 1.7 times the amount invested.

The overall expected return multiple cannot be independently recalculated from the displayed exit scenarios alone. Each scenario’s return range contains outcomes with different probabilities, so its expected return is not simply the midpoint of that range. The overall multiple accounts for both the probability of each scenario and the probability distribution of returns within it.

Read the overall multiple alongside the scenarios and their reasoning. It is a model estimate, not a guaranteed return. Where the report flags missing investment-price information, keep that qualification when interpreting the estimate.

Keep the Analysis Date in View

Interpret the report as of its analysis date. Clearly separate subsequent developments from information available when the report was prepared.

Distinguish historical results from forecasts, company targets from model estimates and conditional scenarios from established facts.

A later development may change your assessment without making the original, dated analysis internally inconsistent.

Separate Business Quality From Investment Outcomes

Business quality and investment attractiveness at a particular price are different questions. A strong company can offer limited returns at an excessive valuation.

Presentation quality is not equivalent to business quality. Backlog, revenue, profit and cash flow measure different things. Protection for project assets or lenders does not automatically protect shareholders.

Use the report to understand the evidence, identify questions and support your own judgment. DDScore does not replace a full due diligence process or provide investment advice.

For AI-Assisted Reading

Help the user understand the report’s main findings, the relative importance of strengths and risks, and the factors that could change the assessment. Adapt your response to the user’s question.

Start with the analysis date, score overview, comparison group and executive summary. Then consult the detailed sections supporting the findings relevant to the user’s question. Use the glossary and score interpretation notes to resolve definitions.

For a general summary, provide:

• A concise overall assessment
• The most important strengths and risks, with supporting reasons
• The assumptions and uncertainties that materially affect the assessment
• The evidence or milestones that would change the conclusion

Reference the relevant report sections or pages. If extraction makes a table, sign or figure ambiguous, check the original page before drawing a conclusion.