Glossary
Stage Weighting
Zoe’s approach to scoring companies at different maturity stages. A pre-seed company is judged differently than a PE portfolio company. At pre-seed, C-Suite Health and Vision & Strategy dominate; at growth stage, Financial Vitality and Delivery & Execution carry more weight. Stage-weighted scoring prevents apples-to-oranges comparison across a mixed portfolio.
Why it matters
A pre-seed startup with a visionary founder but chaotic execution is not the same risk profile as a Series C company with operational scale but slowing product innovation. Stage-weighted scoring prevents false negatives and false positives across a mixed portfolio. A PE portfolio needs different early warning signals at different stages: C-Suite burnout matters more at seed stage when the founder is doing everything; Financial Vitality and Delivery matter more at growth stage when the model is unproven. Stage-weighted scoring ensures you're comparing apples to apples within cohorts and prioritizing the right operational levers.
How Zoe reads it
Zoe applies different dimension weightings based on company stage. Pre-seed companies weight Vision & Strategy and C-Suite Health higher; growth-stage companies weight Financial Vitality and Delivery & Execution higher; mature portfolio companies weight Risk and Market & Competition higher. This approach ensures the Zoe Score reflects what matters most at that stage, so scores stay honestly comparable across a mixed portfolio.