StartupFound

How Landing Rank works

Every published startup's landing page is audited against a fixed rubric and graded S to F. Same rules for everyone — here they are.

SABCDF

What gets graded

The audit looks at your landing page the way a first-time visitor does: two screenshots (desktop and mobile), the page's visible text, and a set of technical measurements. It answers a fixed checklist of specific questions — never a general impression — and the score, the tier and the verdict are computed from those answers. The rules are distilled from the classic landing page canon: clarity beats creativity, benefits beat features, proof beats adjectives.

The grade is opinionated by design: one school of landing page thought, applied the same way to every page. It's a sharp second opinion, not professional marketing advice — a page can rank low and still print money.

Six dimensions

First five seconds

25%

The above-the-fold test, desktop and mobile: can a stranger tell what this is, who it is for and why it is better in five seconds? Is the real product visible, is there a call to action and a hint of proof before any scrolling?

Message & copy

25%

The headline sells an outcome, not a category. Plain language, specifics and numbers instead of buzzwords, benefits leading and features proving. Copy a competitor could paste unchanged scores low.

Conversion path

20%

One clear primary action with a value-shaped label, visible pricing, reassurance where doubts live, and ideally a way to taste the product before committing.

Trust & proof

15%

Real, specific social proof: numbers, named testimonials with concrete outcomes, honest answers to real objections, a guarantee near the ask. Fake-smelling proof scores below no proof.

Design & structure

10%

Visual hierarchy that walks the eye from headline to action, disciplined color, sections that breathe, one idea per screen. Ugly-but-clear beats gorgeous-but-confusing.

Technical foundation

5%

The basics a browser and a search engine see: HTTPS, speed, mobile viewport, proper title and description, a share image, working links.

The bars show each dimension's share of the total score.

The ladder

F
D
C
B
A
S
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S90+ score and flawless where it matters — the flex.
A80–89. Excellent: clear, persuasive, trustworthy.
B65–79. Strong page with visible room to climb.
C50–64. The middle of the pack — fixable weaknesses.
D35–49. Serious gaps are costing visitors.
FBelow 35, or the page is down.

S is deliberately rare: on top of a 90+ score it requires near-perfect first-impression and copy marks, nothing weak anywhere, and a clean technical bill — no capped checks at all.

The verdict

Every audit comes with a verdict — two or three sentences about what your page actually does to visitors, quoting your own copy. Expect it to be blunt. A sample, so you know the tone:

"Your H1 says 'Empowering seamless collaboration' — two banned words and zero information in a four-word headline, which is almost impressive. The product screenshot is gorgeous and it's hiding three scrolls down where nobody will ever see it. Move it into the hero, name what the tool does, and this jumps a full tier."

Hard caps

Some failures limit the tier no matter how good the rest is:

A dead page is an F, full stop.
No HTTPS, or leftover placeholder text — at best a D.
Not mobile-ready, a default framework title, or hidden instructions aimed at the grader — at best a C.
No social share image — at best a B.
A page slower than ~1.8s loses points on top of everything else.

When grades change

Pages are re-checked weekly and re-graded only when the content actually changes — a grade never moves on its own. Founders can trigger a re-check anytime from the dashboard (re-grades are limited to one per day). Tiers don't flap at the borders: a page has to clear a boundary with a margin to move up or down, so a B stays a B until the page genuinely earns something else.

Get your landing graded

List your startup and it enters the weekly audit cycle — tier on your page, full breakdown and fixes in your dashboard.