How to read a pillar score the way an analyst would.
A short guide to actually using the four pillars — including the tradeoffs they surface and the bets they rule out.
Don't average
The most common mistake new users make is averaging the four pillar scores into one number. It's the instinct legacy tools have trained. Don't do it.
Pillars are designed to be read together, not reduced to a mean. A 90/40/70/60 is a completely different market than a 60/70/60/70, even though the average is the same.
Look for asymmetries
The best markets on EllieReid tend to show *asymmetric profiles*:
- *High Saturation + High Demand* — underserved, hungry market. Rare. Enter fast. - *High Disruptability + Moderate Saturation* — crowded but sleepy. A marketing-led thesis works here. - *High Feasibility + High Demand* — premium territory. Margin holds, volume is there. Typically the most competitive.
Mind the floor
A pillar score below 30 usually constitutes a veto, even if the other three are high. It's the "this is why we didn't" line on the brief. A market with Demand at 22 doesn't need you, no matter how weak the competitors are.
Weight for your playbook
The defaults we ship are reasonable for most trades. If you're in a disaster-sensitive trade (roofing, restoration), up-weight Feasibility — the risk discount lives there. If you're in a brand-led trade (solar, turf), up-weight Disruptability.
Every operator's playbook compresses into four numbers. Tune them once. Save them. Run every ZIP.
Adjacent issues
ALSO FROM THE DESKThe expansion question no spreadsheet can answer.
Why every service-business expansion eventually becomes a data problem — and why the data you need isn't in the places you're looking.
Why four pillars, and not one opportunity score.
Composite scores lie by averaging. Here's what we do instead — and why a 74 in our system isn't the same as a 74 in someone else's.
Inside the Advisor: four stages, one narrated brief.
The Advisor isn't a chatbot. It's a research pipeline with four explicit stages. Here's what each one does, and why we refused to skip any of them.