DARES Business Model Scorecard
Score offers for leverage, durability, and scale
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 98%
DARES evaluates a business model against five desirable characteristics: digital, automated, recurring, evergreen, and scalable. A digital offer avoids manufacturing, shipping, and related physical constraints. Automation enables customers to receive value with limited manual intervention. Recurring payment creates repeat revenue rather than requiring a new acquisition for every transaction. Evergreen material remains useful without constant revision, while scalability allows revenue to grow faster than delivery costs or labor. The scorecard does not claim that only perfect DARES businesses are worthwhile; Rory explicitly notes that there is no universally correct way to make money. Instead, it makes operational trade-offs visible so an entrepreneur can choose the model that fits their goals and avoid pursuing every available model simultaneously.
Origin
Rory Vaden presented DARES on The Jasmine Star Show as Brand Builders Group's criteria for evaluating an attractive business model.
Core principles
- 01Digital delivery reduces physical overhead.
- 02Automation reduces dependence on manual fulfillment.
- 03Recurring revenue improves economic continuity.
- 04Evergreen value limits maintenance requirements.
- 05Scalability allows growth without proportional cost growth.
How to run it
- 1
Define the Candidate Model
Describe exactly what is sold, how customers pay, and how value is delivered. Keep the unit of analysis to one offer or revenue model.
Pro tip Map the complete journey from purchase through fulfillment.
Watch out Do not score an undefined bundle of unrelated offers.
- 2
Score the Five Attributes
Assess whether the model is digital, automated, recurring, evergreen, and scalable. Record evidence and constraints for every attribute.
Pro tip Use a simple yes, partial, or no rating.
Watch out Do not label a manual process automated merely because software is involved.
- 3
Identify the Weakest Constraint
Find the missing attribute that creates the greatest cost, fragility, or growth limit. Decide whether improving it would preserve the offer's core value.
Pro tip Prioritize the constraint with the largest economic effect.
Watch out Optimization can damage a business when personal or physical delivery is why customers buy.
- 4
Choose Deliberately
Compare the score with your resources, audience, and desired lifestyle. Select the model whose trade-offs best fit your situation.
Pro tip A lower-scoring model can still be correct when it offers faster revenue or stronger differentiation.
Watch out Do not pursue theoretical perfection instead of launching a viable offer.
In the wild
A founder considers a digital membership with automated onboarding, monthly billing, durable core lessons, and infrastructure that can support many customers. The model scores strongly across all five DARES attributes, although community support may remain partly manual.
→ The founder sees both the model's leverage and the human-support constraint that must be managed.
Common mistakes
Treating DARES as a Mandate
The scorecard reveals leverage, but it does not make nondigital or high-touch businesses inherently wrong.
Ignoring Hidden Manual Work
Support, sales, moderation, and updates can prevent a supposedly automated model from operating autonomously.
Is it for you?
Best for
Entrepreneurs comparing offers, products, or revenue models with different operating characteristics.
Not ideal for
Craft, hospitality, care, or bespoke businesses where physical and human delivery is the core value.
From the transcript
“digital, automated, recurring, evergreen and scalable.”
“There's only your answer, your right answer.”
From the episode
How to Get the Most Profitable Leads for Your Business with Rory Vaden
Rory Vaden