Want to casually rank a set of startups? Use the TPPPT scale.

• Team
• Pitch
• Product/Prototype
• social Proof
• Traction

This originated from some discussion with Naval Ravikant of AngelList fame. The acronym is mine, but the core ideas are his.

Team

The primary question is: Does the founding team have at least one technical co-founder?

Other bonus questions:

• How long have they worked with each other or even known each other?
• How well do they work together?
• Business chops? Design chops? Are they in a market where either of these are important?

In addition to the overall team makeup and dynamics, the individual team members should impress. A good cofounder typically has a history of producing things: open source code, charity events, web apps, anything. Paul Graham’s Relentlessly Resourceful is the most impressive two word description I’ve come across. I’d add that good cofounders are also always learning/improving, and their daily habits and hobbies should reflect that.

Pitch

The primary question is: Do they have one and is it short?

Minimal bonus points if it’s a good pitch. In practice, a team without a short, communicative pitch is a red warning flag. You need to have a 6 word pitch because that’s how investors will talk about you during their gossip sessions. You likely also need a paragraph pitch and a pitch deck.

Scribd had one of the best pitches I’ve ever heard. “YouTube for Documents” It’s accurate, obviously a gap (at the time), and instantly understandable.

Product/Prototype

The primary question is: Do they have one?

Other bonus questions:

• Is it a big idea or niche? This will affect the kind of funding/investment you can attract. Too niche may completely derail you.
• If not, why not? The general consensus is that prototypes are so cheap to make and test out that there is no good excuse here.
  

A quick product also means that the startup is focusing on unnecessary distractions like scaling.

Social Proof

The primary question is: Do they have any?

Social doesn’t mean do they have a Facebook page. The Silicon Valley definition of Social Proof is having well-known investors or advisors. The unpopular kids may rage at this one, but in the real world, your network is an asset. Having people invested/advising in you who invested/advised twitter is a huge deal. It may not be fair, but the Silicon Valley Echo Chamber is real. Angel List, like the App Store has a significant “rich get richer” effect. Good Social Proof means that you get in on that easier.

Traction

The primary question is: Can you show growth metrics?

The most important. Can you show traction? Traction is growth in usage over time. Traction isn’t saying I have X number of users, where is X is your traffic peak after hitting the front page of Hacker News.

If it’s early, and you only have a prototype, then the question is how are you testing your ideas? What are your metrics?

Usage

Using the TPPPT scale is easy. Traction and Team are the most important. Social proof is the least important, as the most vulnerable to change. A naïve scale where you rank a startup from 1 to 5 works surprisingly well.

A weighted scale is likely unnecessary except for the more rigorous analysis. If I did use a weighted scale, Traction, Team and Product should weight heavier than Pitch and Social Proof.

And then what?

In the end, there are many, many variables, including luck that determined the success or failure of a given startup. The characteristics summarized by TPPPT are only correlated with successful startups. It is designed to be an indicator or heuristic, not a guarantee.