The Great Seedscout Score

You’ve joined Seedscout and are ready to send your first intro requests, but you’re not sure what that number called a “Seedscout Score” on a user’s profile means. You’re probably also wondering “how do I know who I have a better chance of connecting with?” Thankfully, that’s where this post will come in handy and will cover everything you need to know about a Seedscout Score and how to best leverage it on the platform.

Every user starts at 0.00 when they sign up for Seedscout. That’s awesome news because it’s a great indicator of who the newest member on the platform is and that they are waiting to receive their first intro request. Once that first intro request hits a users inbox, what happens to their Seedscout score? It changes slightly… it goes from 0.00 to 0.01. The hundredths place represents the number of intro requests a user has received. So if a user has received 6 intro requests, their Seedscout score would reflect 0.06. The tenths place also represents intro requests received, so if another user has gotten 15 intro requests their score would go up to 0.15. A better way to think about it is that everything on the right side of the decimal is the count of intro requests received. Now we will cover what the numbers on the left side of the decimal means.

You’ll notice many users will start to have a score with numbers out front, for example, 2.08. The numbers out front demonstrate a user has replied or interacted with an intro request sent their way. They could have replied with “Accept Intro Request”, “Pass On Intro Request”, or “Follow-Up In 6 Months.” These three responses all warrant 1 point. Therefore, in our example of 2.08, the user has received 8 intro requests, but has only responded to 2 of them. They could have passed twice, accepted twice, passed once and accepted once, or another variation. Just another quick example, a score of 7.07 means 7 intros requests were received and all 7 were responded to. Note, the only way to not earn points is by not interacting with intro requests.

There are Seedscout scores that have reached numbers in the double or triple digits. Such as a score of 75.36. How does a user receive such a score if they've only received 36 intro requests? There is one more way for users to earn major points to increase their score, and that’s an investor deploying capital into another user's company. When a user invests in a startup, they earn 10 points for that accomplishment. Let’s break that down with a score of 75.36. The user has gotten 36 intro requests, they could have invested in 6, which gets them to a score of 60.00, and then passed/accepted on 15 users to increase their score to 75.36. That also means they didn’t respond to every intro request.

Should you only be going for users with high Seedscout scores? Is there such a thing as a bad Seedscout Score?

Yes and no. Ultimately, the score allows you to track who stays engaged within the ecosystem or perhaps who has slowed down. A higher score definitely does indicate that a user is of higher quality and that there is a better chance of meeting them, however, not all scores on the lower end mean they aren’t a great person to reach out to either. There are good and not so good low scores. For example, we wouldn't consider someone with a Seedscout Score of 3.15 to be a poor use of an intro request, they could just be more selective and don’t respond often. However, if a user has a score of 1.26 that might not be the best use of your intro request, they’ve had 26 opportunities put in front of them, but only capitalized on one. It’s fine if you want to still shoot your shot, but you have a lower chance of getting a response.

You should look at your own Seedscout Score as an important piece of your experience, it unlocks opportunities and it reflects your seriousness and effort. Interacting with every intro request, even if it means passing, will help further you on your path of expanding your network. Happy connecting!