Editorial standards
A useful business scenario makes its inputs inspectable. These standards govern how facts, modeled assumptions and editorial judgments are distinguished.
UpdatedDefine the business before the numbers
A page must state the operating format, geography, footprint or route, staffing and working-owner role. Comparisons must explain material differences in those scopes.
Low and high opening budgets describe realistic differences in project scope, equipment, premises or staffing. They do not represent statistical confidence intervals or guaranteed outcomes.
Use sources for what they actually support
Primary public statistics and official rules, original industry publications and vendor prices are permitted source types. When comparable evidence conflicts, primary sources take precedence over industry sources, which take precedence over vendor material.
A source record states its publisher, working URL, access date and precise use. A wage table can support a wage reference; it does not verify a complete business forecast. Sources with different scopes do not automatically contradict one another.
- Identify exact observations separately from author-selected amounts.
- Explain local assumptions and what still needs validation.
- Do not use competing financial-model sellers as financial evidence.
- Do not invent national averages, customer counts, reviews or success statistics.
Keep financial definitions consistent
Opening capital, annual expenses, per-unit prices and monthly operating costs have different units. The scenario must include working-owner labor where applicable and avoid counting the same cost twice.
Calculated revenue, EBITDA, margins and break-even outputs come from the common calculation layer. Operating break-even does not establish a cash requirement or the date when opening capital is recovered.
Separate editorial scoring from financial outputs
The Business Score compares five operating dimensions under a published rubric. Each component needs its own evidence basis, rationale, date and scope; a forecast margin alone cannot establish the assessment.
Missing or incompatible assessments remain unranked. No midpoint is inserted to make a ranking look complete.
Review content and the rendered result
The content record, calculations and linked pages must agree before a release is accepted. Review includes evidence references, units, internal links, English copy, usable layouts and the actual exported pages.
Demonstrations and unavailable services must be labeled. A confirmation preview is not a sent request; an illustrative worksheet is not a completed download. Changes to material assumptions require a substantive review, not just a refreshed date.