Frequently Asked Questions
Short answers to the questions readers ask most — how the scores are made, how often they change, what the gates and ranges mean, and what the scores are not.
What is the Blitz Index?
The Blitz Index is BlitzLab's 100-point ruler for judging a company's blitzscaling strategy: how concentrated capital seizes a category, and whether the moat lasts. Every covered company is judged against the same ruler each quarter, and every scorecard is public — the score, the grade, the item-by-item breakdown, the reasoning, and the score history.
How is a score made?
Two gates come first, and both must pass before any scoring begins. Gate 1 asks whether the business is real — product-market-fit evidence, or, for a mature company, sustained growth or a second growth curve. Gate 2 asks whether there is room — a ten-year market ceiling at least ten times current revenue. A company that fails either gate is not scored; instead, BlitzLab publishes a judgment file explaining exactly why.
A company that passes both gates is scored on four sections: A, Speed, worth 25 points; B, Moat, worth 60; C, Creative destruction, worth 15; and D, BlitzFailing demerits, worth up to minus 30. The total is A plus B plus C, minus D. Grades follow the total: S at 90 and above, A at 80 and above, B from 60 to 79, C from 40 to 59, and D below 40.
What data do the scores rest on?
Published filings and reported data, with SEC filings first. Companies' own reported numbers are checked against press-reported figures when filings are thin. Every figure is labeled confirmed, estimated, press-reported, or unconfirmed, so the reader can see how strong the evidence behind each number is. Figures that cannot be verified are left out.
How often are scores updated?
Scores are revisited after each quarterly earnings report, and sooner when earnings change the evidence. Past scores are never silently rewritten: the scorecard's history shows every earlier score, and any arithmetic correction carries a public correction note. The home page states the date of the latest review so the reader can see how current the scores are.
What happens when a company is rescored?
The new score replaces the old one as the current score, and the old score moves into the history. Nothing is erased. If the rescore moves a company across the 65 success line, into or out of a grade, or by a large amount in one quarter, that change is visible in the history and, where the evidence warrants it, explained in the research series. A rescore is a new judgment on new evidence, not a revision of the old judgment.
What does "gate failed" mean?
It means the company was measured and failed one of the two gates, so it carries no score. It is not the same as "not yet scored," which means the company has not been measured yet. Gate-failed companies are listed with their judgment files — for example, a company can fail Gate 1 because its product revenue is not yet real, or fail Gate 2 because its reachable market is too small for its size. The gate, not a score, is the verdict.
What do score ranges mean for unlisted companies?
Unlisted companies file less than listed ones, so BlitzLab scores them as ranges — for example 51 to 68 — with lower confidence shown separately. The range means the available evidence supports a band, not a single point. The score is not adjusted for low confidence; instead, the confidence is displayed alongside the range so the reader can weigh it. Unlisted companies are always identified as unlisted on their pages.
What is the 65 line?
The success line. It was set by a twenty-company blind backtest: the first draft's line of 80 was lowered to 65 after measurement, and the model has been frozen at version 1.0 since. Clearing 65 means the company's blitzscaling position, as judged, clears the bar the backtest set. It is a statement about strategy position, not about future results and not about the share price.
What is BlitzFailing watch?
A flag for fragile foundations. When a company's total demerits reach minus 15 or more, it is flagged for BlitzFailing watch. The flag means the debt, revenue-quality, governance, or regulatory and social-cost items need attention. It is a warning, not a verdict: a flagged company can still have a strong moat and real speed, and the scorecard shows which demerit items drove the flag.
How does ARK Lens work?
ARK Lens applies the same Blitz Index to the holdings of ARK Invest's funds. Holdings come from ARK's daily public disclosure files, and each published fund page shows its holdings with their scores, its scored coverage, and its weighted average score. A fund's page is published only once its scored coverage qualifies — a fund whose scored coverage is below 50% is excluded until it qualifies. The overlap view shows the holdings that appear in more than one published fund, keyed by ticker. BlitzLab is not affiliated with ARK Invest, and the fund pages are not endorsed by them.
What are Score Calls?
Score Calls are BlitzLab's way of grading itself in public. Before a company's earnings, BlitzLab publishes item-level predictions for its next rescore — the section items and the total score, each with a direction and a condition. These predictions are about business scores, never stock prices. After earnings, the rescore is published and the call is graded. Published calls are immutable: each carries a hash and an archive snapshot, and misses are shown with the same prominence as hits.
How do I compare two companies?
Use the Compare tool, which puts two companies' score breakdowns side by side — totals, grades, and section scores — so the difference in shape is visible, not just the difference in total. A shared link can reproduce the same comparison. The tool compares strategy positions only; it contains no price or return information.
Why did a score change?
Because the evidence changed. The usual cause is a quarterly earnings report: new revenue, margins, guidance, or balance-sheet facts move the section items. The scorecard's history shows when the change happened, and the research series explains the reasoning for significant moves. If a score changed without an earnings report, the scorecard note or the research article for that company states the reason.
Is this investment advice?
No. BlitzLab is a research project, published for education and research purposes only. It publishes no buy, sell, or hold recommendations, no price targets, no earnings or share-price forecasts, and no implied returns. Its own validation work rejected the hypotheses that its scores predict stock returns. The published conclusion is that the score measures business quality, and entry price governs returns. Any decision about a security is the reader's own.
Where should a new reader start?
Start with the company index, open a scorecard, and read the section breakdown before the total. Then read the beginner's guide on the Learn page, which walks through the model in plain language. For the formal rules, the Methodology page states the gates, weights, and evidence standards in full, and the Research index collects every article, including the validation work that tested the model's limits.
BlitzLab scores businesses against a scholar's standard — not investment advice. No price targets, no buy/sell recommendations.