Business plan: ShowScore 0.1.1 beta
Status: Beta · demand unproven. Post-show math only. Nothing is uploaded. Every number below is a hypothesis unless marked MEASURED. See ECONOMICS.md for the model and RESEARCH.md for the evidence. Kill tests are in §7 — run them before spending anything.
1. Buyer
Independent US craft-fair, farmers-market and pop-up vendors who work 5–30 shows a year and decide each season which shows to rebook. No team, no bookkeeper. The buyer currently decides by gut: "the booth fee felt high" or "I sold a lot but I was exhausted." Nobody runs the numbers after the tent comes down.
2. Offer
Done-for-you post-show scorecards, one season plan per vendor:
- Every worked show is scored (profit, ROI, profit/hour against the vendor's
own target): score 0–100, grade A–F, rebook verdict (Rebook / Maybe / Skip).
- Shows are ranked side by side so the vendor sees which fairs earned their fee again.
- The vendor keeps: a CSV export, a printable scorecard, and a plain-text
rebook list to carry into next season's applications.
- No account, no upload; works offline in a browser.
Price hypothesis (UNPROVEN): $79 one-time setup per vendor (show import + season plan), $19/month optional show tracking. Test with three free pilots first — see START-HERE.md step 4.
3. Comparison
| Alternative | What it costs the vendor | What ShowScore does differently |
|---|---|---|
| vendortools.app break-even / pricing calculators | Free, but pre-show only ("know before you go") | Post-show reconciliation: what actually happened |
| shipyie.com profit calculator | Free, but one-show break-even | Multi-show comparison + rebook verdict |
| Etsy paid workbooks (~$27, e.g. TheVendorLocker, Girliepop planners) | One-time, planner + pricing tabs | After-the-fact verdicts with grades; no spreadsheet |
| FairKeep Pro event tracker | Requires an account + store sync | Browser-local, no account, no upload |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column →
The wedge is not the calculator — it is the after: which shows earned a rebooking. Nobody owns post-show vendor math with no account today.
4. Fulfillment
Per vendor (operator = the kit buyer):
- Setup (1–1.5 h first time): copy
OPEN-ME-ShowScore.htmlfor the
vendor, clear the sample, enter the vendor's shows and their target $/hr (BRAND.md for labels; AI-OPERATOR.md §1 for the field list).
- Score: run the scoring; check the flagged issues (blank shows,
missing revenue, negative profit) and ask the vendor for the missing numbers before finalizing.
- Deliver: hand over the printable scorecard and the rebook list
("Download printable scorecard", "Download rebook list").
- Season rhythm (the $19/mo experiment): after each worked show, score it
and re-rank the season; at season end, send the final rebook list — see AI-OPERATOR.md §4.
Tooling cost: $0/month (static HTML, free tiers only). The cost is the operator's labor — value at $50/h for planning.
5. Unit economics (hypothesis)
From ECONOMICS.md, 10-vendor sketch: month-1 revenue $980 (10 × $79 + 10 × $19) against ~20 h labor (~$1,000 at $50/h) — roughly break-even. The ongoing $19/mo does not carry itself unless scoring takes under ~15 min per show. Read it plainly: setup-led hypothesis. If pilots won't pay $79, lower the price or re-scope before claiming anything.
6. Acquisition
FIRST-TEN-CUSTOMERS.md: craft-fair organizers and vendor-group admins (highest trust), fair-season wrap-up moments, market-day vendor rows (helpful-first, never spam), Etsy workbook reviewers (already pay ~$27 for show economics). First three vendors are free pilots; their payment is honest feedback and one referral each.
7. Kill tests
Stop or re-scope if any of these fail:
- Visitors won't score more than one show. The wedge is wrong; nobody
wants post-show math, and no outreach will fix it.
- 10 conversations → 0 pilots. The message or the buyer is wrong; try a
different vendor segment before pushing harder.
- 3 pilots → 0 conversions after the free season. Price or offer is wrong.
- The rebook list never changes a real rebooking decision. The output is
entertainment, not a tool.
8. What this plan does not claim
No revenue, no customers, no conversion rate, no trademark, no existing company. This is a plan to test, not a business that exists. Post-show math only — it does not find fairs, set prices, track inventory, or replace tax records.