How the Ship-It Rating process Works
The steps you take to obtain a Rating are designed to be straightforward. Where appropriate, the assessment is a self-service process for the tech firm being rated. See also FAQ’s or Request Further Information.
For Founders wanting a Rating for their own technology firm
Essentially you can chose: the free (at the time of writing) Auto assessment; an Assisted assessment resulting in a Certified Rating; or an Examined assessment which is in-person, in-depth and results in either a Validated or Audited Rating. See here for more information on the levels of assessment.
Enter your user details and those of colleagues that may also need access. Your account will be set up for two-factor authentication for your security.
The basic Business Plan data may vary, but essentially it is data on the time scales and spend on your product development programs on which your revenue forecasts depend. There is detailed guidance available. This information must be provided and, for Assisted and Examined assessments, the Business Plan will need at least to be seen by the Assessor.
Usually the most senior people in your firm with product development responsibilities who can make judgements about the current and future state of developments and your approach.
Your Assessment questions and answers are all online under your secure account. When they are all complete the form is submitted and there will be some further checks.
See the next step for what you need to provide as answers – it depends on the level of Assessment.
You will need to answer all the relevant questions. Currently there are less than 50. For Assisted assessments an assessor will be involved to review the answers and request any key evidence. They do not normally need access to your data room.
For Auto assessment that’s it. The Putative Rating is awarded and registered. You can immediately use the appropriate icon and wording in your media and Pitch Deck. You can also log in to control your permissions – I.e. who will receive which Ship-It Rating data.
For Assisted assessments, book up your Verification Meeting online. There is usually only one meeting to check and adjust any responses. But you may need to come back with further information for the assessor. The Rating is issued up to 24 hours after that.
You won’t have to answer all questions, but it is usual to attempt all and add information when it is known. The Assessor will add to your responses unbiased by your own responses and will request and search for further information. It is usual for the Assessor to have access to your data room.
For Validated and Audited assessments more information will be required to check that all the required responses are in and are as accurate as possible. The rating calculation is still automatic and will still be verified by a member of SIRA.
You can immediately use the appropriate icon and wording in your media and Pitch Deck. You can also log in to control your permissions. I.e. who will have access to the Rating data – such as investors via data feeds or investors searching for opportunities.
For investors wanting a Rating for a target technology firm
Unlike credit ratings, these assessments can never rely on only public data. When rating “shipitworthiness” the target firm must assist with the assessment. You and SIRA will need their consent and cooperation to obtain the Ship-It Rating.
Essentially you can chose for your target firm to be assessed with one of:
- Examined Assessment which needs to be arranged in person and results in a Validated or Audited Rating
- Assisted Assessment, resulting in a Certified Rating (which is low cost) or even a free (at the time of writing) Putative Rating which the founder can take with minimal manual intervention
See here for more information on the levels of assessment.
Register for yourself and institution/fund and enter the user details of the founder. Your account will be verified automatically for two-factor authentication. The founder will be sent details on how to do the same.
The basic Business Plan data may vary, but essentially it is data on the time scales and spend on their product development programs on which their revenue forecasts depend. There is detailed guidance available. This information must be provided and for Assisted and Examined assessments the Business Plan will need at least to be seen by the Assessor.
Usually the most senior people in the target firm with product development responsibilities who can make judgements about current and future state.
The assessment questions and answers are all online under the target firm’s secure accounts. When they are all complete the form is submitted and there will be some further checks.
See the next step for what the founder will need to provide as answers – it depends on the level of Assessment.
Of the assessment questions, some answers will provisionally come from the target firm. The Assessor will complete the responses without being biased by the target firm’s initial responses. It is usual for the Assessor to have access to the data room and will request and search for further information to validate the answers.
For Validated and Audited assessments more information will be required to check that all the required responses are completed and are as accurate as possible. For consistency, the rating calculation is still automatically based on the responses. That calculation is also verified by a member of SIRA.
The founder will need to answer all the relevant questions. Currently there are less than 50. For Assisted assessments an Assessor will be involved to review the answers and request any key evidence, but they do not normally need access to the target firm’s data room.
Auto Assessments are complete at this point. The Putative Rating is awarded and registered. You can immediately lookup the Rating awarded online, see it in your data feed or see the appropriate icon in the target firm’s Pitch Deck or media. However, the depth of information released is under the control of the founder who can set permissions and stipulate who has access to what.
For Assisted assessments, the founder books up a Verification Meeting online. There is usually only one meeting to check and adjust any responses. However, they may need to come back with further information for the assessor. The Rating is issued up to 24 hours after that.
You can immediately lookup the Rating awarded online, see it in your data feed or see the appropriate icon in the target firm’s Pitch Deck. However, unless agreed otherwise, the founder can control the permissions of who will have access to which data.