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startup concept

Tempo Fund

Selection software that finds fast-rising chess kids for scholarship granting organizations

Software for Scholarship Granting Organizations that builds objective, nondiscriminatory selection pipelines from chess rating trajectories, tournament attendance and one-tap coach nominations, weighted with income eligibility the family confirms once.

1

similar startups, last 2 years (5 all-time)

yes

8 matching federal grants and programs

Direction supported by government programs and grants

Test it before you build it

$800 · 4 weeks · 20 prospects

For $800 and 4 weeks, prove that SGO directors facing the January 2027 federal credit will pay $2,500 for a chess merit selection pipeline instead of defaulting to a free income lottery.

Riskiest assumption · An SGO director preparing for the January 1, 2027 federal credit will pay for a merit selection track built on chess results rather than default to the income-only lottery that is simpler and free to defend.

1Focus group: who and where

Executive director or scholarship program director of a state-approved SGO in Texas or Florida, 2-50 staff, currently awarding by income lottery, who must publish objective selection criteria before the federal credit becomes claimable on January 1, 2027 and has one quarter left to build a pipeline that survives an IRS look

where to find 20 · The Florida Department of Education's published list of approved Scholarship Funding Organizations and the equivalent approved-SGO lists in the other opted-in states (a directory); the American Federation for Children and EdChoice state networks, whose member organizations are exactly these SGOs (a community); ExcelinEd's annual National Summit on Education this fall, where SGO leadership gathers (an event); for the supply side, the Texas Chess Association and Florida Chess Association scholastic programs (a channel)

2Sell first, build later

A working selection pipeline for one merit cohort of 25 chess students - objective criteria from rating trajectories, tournament attendance and coach nominations, weighted with your income-eligibility rule, with a full audit export - configured and live by December 15, 2026, before the credit window opens.

the ask · $2,500 for the design-partner pilot, credited against a $9,000 per year subscription if you continue

a real yes · A real yes is a signed one-page scope with $1,250 paid and a December configuration date on the calendar; compliments, an unpaid trial, or a promise to revisit after January 1 are a no.

3Small experiments

The first one attacks the riskiest assumption; each ends with a number that says whether to run the next.

  1. 1. Merit track buyer calls

    $250 · 14 days

    Pull 20 SGO director contacts from the state approved lists and book 20-minute calls with the email script below. Ask two questions cold: is a merit track beyond the income lottery on your 2027 plan, and what documentation do you expect the IRS objective-criteria language to require. Log every answer; end each call by offering a pilot scoping session.

    keep going if · 8 of 20 directors say a merit track is planned or under board discussion, and 5 of 20 book a pilot scoping session

  2. 2. Paid pilot one-pager

    $350 · 21 days

    Write a one-page scope: selection pipeline for one 25-student chess merit cohort using rating trajectories, tournament attendance and coach nominations, with income-eligibility weighting and an audit export, live by December 15, 2026, for $2,500. Send it after every scoping session with an invoice for the first half. The founder runs this personally.

    keep going if · 3 of the scoping sessions convert to a signed scope with $1,250 paid

  3. 3. Coach nomination supply check

    $200 · 10 days

    Email 15 scholastic organizers and coaches through the Texas Chess Association and Florida Chess Association asking one question: would you nominate 3-5 fast-improving students from low-income families for funded coaching if it took one tap and the SGO paid the program directly. Collect named commitments, not opinions.

    keep going if · 10 of 15 coaches commit in writing to nominate at least 3 students

4Collect a deposit up front

Tesla took $1,000 refundable reservations for the Model 3 and $100 for the Cybertruck before building either: the deposit is the measurement, not the revenue.

$1,250

per prospect, refundable

how · A paid design-partner pilot invoiced 50% up front against a signed one-page scope; SGOs are nonprofits answerable to boards and auditors, so a countersigned scope plus an invoice paid by check or ACH is the credible instrument, not a self-serve checkout. The executive director signs the scope; the founder countersigns and sends the invoice the same day. set up: Stripe Invoicing ↗

what it reserves · One of three December 2026 pilot slots, meaning the SGO's merit cohort pipeline is configured before the January 1, 2027 credit date

refund · Refunded in full if the pipeline is not live by December 15, 2026, or if the SGO cancels in writing before configuration begins.

target · 3 paid pilots ($1,250 each moved) from 20 director conversations within 30 days

before taking money · The federal credit and state SGO programs are tax-regulated, so sell workflow and audit tooling only, and let counsel review before claiming the software makes any SGO's selection process IRS-compliant.

Go: build it if

3 SGOs sign the $2,500 scope and pay $1,250 within 30 days, and 10 of 15 coaches commit to nominating - build the pipeline for the December cohorts.

Kill: stop if

Fewer than 5 of 20 directors have any merit track planned, or 0 paid scopes after 20 conversations and 5 scoping sessions - the stated risk is real, SGOs will defend income-only lotteries, and there is no buyer.

5 Scripts to run itoutreach message, landing copy, deposit terms · click to open

outreach message

You have one quarter left to lock the selection criteria the federal credit rules will make you defend after January 1. I am building Tempo Fund: a merit track for chess students that uses rating trajectories, tournament attendance and coach nominations - objective criteria with a full audit trail, sitting alongside your income screen. I will configure a 25-student pilot cohort for you before the credit window opens. Do you have 20 minutes this week to walk me through your 2027 selection plan?

landing page

Objective merit selection for SGOs, ready before the 2027 credit window. $2,500 design-partner pilot: one 25-student chess merit cohort with audit export, live December 15. Book a scoping call and reserve one of three December pilot slots.

deposit terms

$1,250 is due at signing and reserves one of three December 2026 pilot slots; the remaining $1,250 is due when your cohort pipeline goes live. You receive a full refund if the pipeline is not live by December 15, 2026, or if you cancel in writing before configuration begins.

Would you run this test?

One tap. The yes-share feeds the Demand pillar of this idea's score; nobody sees who answered.

Budgets are out-of-pocket estimates for a team of one to three, US market. Size the deposit to the deal, and check the terms before taking money in a regulated line.

Scorecard

Ranked against every idea in the catalog: trend, demand and 100x potential from the corpus, competition relative to the other ideas. A generated concept has no judges or swipes yet, so its pillars use the data signals only.

77

Idea Score, 0-100 · raw 48.0 x 1.61

Warm

competition: more crowded than 32% of ideas · headwind x0.84

+2.9

government priorities, secondary (10 matching grants)

Trend

39

Is the wave forming now? 2025-26 entrants vs 2023-24, rounds since 2025, the sector's live-batch direction, the 2026 trend analyst.

  • Entrants 2025-26 vs 2023-24 (similar companies)74
  • Rounds announced 2025+ in the sector44
  • Sector direction (live batch)0

Demand

51

Does anyone want it? YC's current RFS, companies already paid for something similar, the operator judge, founders' yes-rate in decks, readers who would run the test.

  • YC asks for it (current RFS: idea / sector)60
  • Someone already pays (similar companies, recent / all-time)42

100x potential

78

Can it return a fund? The venture judge (double weight), market-size and moat axes, neighbours still alive, the technologist judge.

  • Neighbours still alive78

Score = 100 x cbrt(Trend x Demand x 100x) x (1 - 0.5 x crowding) + government bonus (max 5), calibrated so the 95th-percentile idea scores 90 (order never changes). A geometric mean: a weak pillar cannot be papered over. Percentiles are among the 382 ideas in the catalog; the terms matched were selection, finds, fast-rising, chess, kids, scholarship, granting, organizations.

The concept in full

What
Software for Scholarship Granting Organizations that builds objective, nondiscriminatory selection pipelines from chess rating trajectories, tournament attendance and one-tap coach nominations, weighted with income eligibility the family confirms once. The SGO funds coaching and tournament fees paid directly to the chess program, and the audit trail documents the objective criteria the federal credit rules require. The kid sees their own rating curve and a next-milestone target; no public ranking of named minors, donors see aggregate cohort movement.
Grounded in (2025-2026 signals)
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (July 4, 2025) created a federal credit of up to $1,700 for gifts to Scholarship Granting Organizations, claimable from January 1, 2027, and on June 8, 2026 the IRS reported 27 states had elected to participate (IR-2026-76), Texas, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and Tennessee among them.
What it rides
Federal scholarship tax credit from 2027, 27 states in. SGOs in those states must stand up defensible merit-plus-need selection before donor dollars arrive, and Tempo Fund is that selection layer.
Why now
Credits become claimable January 1, 2027 and 27 states were in as of June 8, 2026, so SGOs have roughly one quarter left to build selection pipelines that survive an IRS look at objective criteria.
Wedge: first customer and entry point
Two or three SGOs in Texas or Florida that want a merit track beyond income lotteries: pilot with state scholastic chess feder.
Closest real companies, as the generator saw them
First Gen X (techstars TS 2025) does scholarship discovery for students who search and apply; Tempo Fund is nomination and results driven, reaching families who never apply. Cerebro Sports (PnP 2025) proves results-data scouting works but sells to coaches, not funders.
Main risk
SGOs may default to income-only lotteries because they are simpler to defend, leaving no buyer for merit tooling.

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Public money in this direction

US federal grants and open opportunities matched to the concept's terms.

Other concepts in this collection

Fictional concept generated 2026-08-27 by claude-fable-5 from the collection's brief and MarkosWeb data. Treat it as a research prompt, not a plan.