What is Distribution Readiness Level (DRL)?

DRL is not a grade. It answers: can you scale acquisition with what we see today? We score it 0–3 from your site and a few external signals.

What each level means

DRL 0 — Undefined. We don't see a clear user or behavior signal. You're pre-distribution or still validating. Manual outreach might work; scalable channels aren't there yet.

DRL 1 — Early-adopter only. You can get customers, but through manual or one-off efforts. No repeatable, scalable channel yet. Typical at idea validation or early traction.

DRL 2 — Repeatable but fragile. One pattern works. You can acquire customers in a way that could scale, but it's not proven at volume. Risk of breaking if you lean too hard too soon.

DRL 3 — Scalable candidate. Clear channel and loop. You have evidence that a distribution pattern works and can scale. Time to optimize and, if you choose, add a second channel.

The five factors

We break the score into five factors: channel presence, social proof / traction, clear ICP and message clarity, conversion readiness, and loop readiness. Each contributes to the total. When we're missing data, we say so and it shows up in the report as missing factors.

How we score it

DRL is computed from your report. We don't guess. We use what we crawled (your site, pricing, positioning) and what we got from external APIs (search, traffic, competitors) when available. The exact logic lives in our scoring layer; the report shows you the number, the level, and the rationale so you can disagree or dig in.

When to care

Before you scale spend. Before you hire a GTM lead. When you get a Continue verdict but growth is stuck. DRL tells you whether the bottleneck is "we need to fix the product" or "we need to fix how we distribute." When to run a PMF check goes deeper on timing.