Adjacency Expansion Readiness Scorecard

A Diagnostic Assessment for Strategic Adjacency Moves

Introduction & Purpose

Purpose: This scorecard assesses whether your organization has the operational, cultural, and financial capacity to successfully expand into a new adjacency layer without weakening your core business. Use it before committing resources to any adjacency initiative.

When to Use: After identifying potential adjacencies, before finalizing strategy, during annual planning cycles, or when evaluating acquisition opportunities.

Time Required: 45-60 minutes for individual assessment, 2 hours for leadership team workshop

Who Should Complete: CEO, Product Leadership, Engineering Leadership, CFO/Finance, Head of Operations. For the most accurate results, have each leader score independently, then compare.

How to Use This Scorecard

Scoring System:

• Each dimension is scored on a 1-5 scale (1 = Not Ready, 5 = Fully Ready)
• Be brutally honest—inflated scores lead to failed expansions
• Document evidence for each score in the ‘Notes’ column
• Total your scores across all dimensions at the end

Interpreting Results:

• 85-100 points: Green Light—Ready to expand
• 65-84 points: Yellow Light—Address gaps before proceeding
• Below 65 points: Red Light—Strengthen core before expanding
• Any single dimension scoring 1-2 is a critical blocker requiring immediate attention