Cap Check

ShipScore = the CENTS composite. C = control vs gatekeepers · E = barriers (high is good) · N = proven demand · T = income detached from hours · S = reach

At $9/mo (assumed category price), you need 9,260 subscribers for a $1M/yr pace.

Nearest tracked rivals on that curve:

• Grammarly / built-in style checkers (general market knowledge) — Capitalization and formatting rules are already free, bundled, and better trained in every writing tool and word processor.
• Kibu ($234k MRR, CENTS 7.8) — Shows the corpus's money sits in a substantive product, not a one-rule validator; it sets the bar you can't reach with a formatting check.
• Dili ($21.7M Series A) — Funded compliance-automation capital can absorb trivial validation features as a checkbox inside a broader diligence platform.

• Evidence is thin to absent: 2 of 5 tracked similar products with verified revenue stall under $2k MRR.
• Two closest analogues — ClearPolicy and AI Fact Checker App — both sit at $0k verified MRR.
• Zero Reddit demand signals found for these keywords, meaning no visible complaint volume or unmet-need chatter.
• Money in adjacent space is in heavyweight compliance workflows (real estate txn mgmt asking $1.7M at 2.4× profit), not text validators.

• Dili — $21.7M series a 2026-07

• Residential real estate transaction management with e-sign, compliance, commissions, and reporting. — ask $1.7M (×2.4 profit)
• End-to-end property inspection & work order software for efficient compliance, repairs & maintenance — ask $350k (×4.7 profit)
• AI-powered HR platform that strengthens compliance, reduces legal risk, and improves manager consist — ask $4k

• Capitalization checking is a feature, not a product — bundled free by Word, Docs, and Grammarly.
• Self-described 'test idea' with no defined buyer, industry, or compliance regime to anchor pricing.
• Price ceiling is a few dollars/month, so CAC will exceed LTV on paid channels.
• Two directly comparable products already validated $0 revenue in this exact lane.

• LLM API providers (OpenAI/Anthropic) — A single model-quality bump makes 'check my capitalization' a free prompt, erasing the product overnight.
• Microsoft/Google editor roadmap — One shipped style-enforcement setting inside Word or Docs removes the entire reason to install a third-party checker.
• Chrome Web Store / app-store distribution — If distributed as an extension, one policy or ranking change removes your only discovery channel.

• Cannot tell which vertical's style guide (AP, legal citation, pharma labeling) you'd target — that choice decides everything.
• No data on whether any compliance regime actually mandates capitalization checks with audit trails.
• Cannot assess the founder's existing distribution or embedded-API partnerships that might change unit economics.

Scores judge the market and business model — not your ability to execute. Verified MRR = independently tracked revenue; reviews/upvotes = platform-reported. Judged 2026-08-02.

Abandon generic capitalization; embed as an auditable style-and-format gate inside one regulated document pipeline (pharma promo review or legal filings) where a formatting error carries real financial penalty.

Cheapest next step: Spend two days cold-emailing 25 medical/legal review managers asking what they currently pay for document style enforcement; if fewer than three name a line item, drop it.

Business-model variations of this idea, engineered to beat 4.2 — different vertical, audience, model, or wedge. Same harsh scale.

App Radar scans TrustMRR, Product Hunt, AppSumo, the App Store, Reddit and X daily — momentum, beatable apps, funding heat.