For founders, operators & AI leads

Did this AI pilot earn production —or is it time to kill it?

Leadership is forcing the call: scale the pilot or cut it. Score each running pilot on six signals from your own marks and get one honest verdict — SCALE, EXTEND PILOT, or KILL — with a gate that won't let an unmeasured or money-losing pilot pass on polish alone.

Get the Verdict — $79one-time · instant download · yours to keep
Five deliverables · runnable
Runnable scoring engine
Python
Workbook that reproduces it
.xlsx
Scale-or-kill facilitator playbook
.docx
Proof-out & kill runbook
.docx
6-pilot worked sample
.csv
Works alongside
Agent Use-Case Fit Gate · Quiet-Failure Monitor · Reliability Harness
01.The Problem

Most AI pilots stall in purgatory — and get cut for the wrong reasons.

40%+

of agentic-AI projects are forecast to be canceled by 2027 — over cost, unclear value, or weak controls. The cancellation wave starts now.

“agent-washed”

the year's tell: a chatbot or RPA rebranded as an “agent.” It looks like progress and delivers chatbot results, so the whole program gets blamed.

vague ROI

the single most common reason a pilot gets cut: it was never measured against the target it launched to hit, so no one can prove it worked.

The honest decision isn't “is the AI cool” — it's “has this pilot earned the cost of scaling.” This grades exactly that, and refuses to let a polished-but-unproven pilot read as a win.

02.See It Work

Score a pilot and watch the gate do its job.

Score one pilot

Mark each signal. The verdict updates live - same math as the workbook.

Measured outcome vs. the targetGatew24

Was it measured against the goal it launched to hit?

Cost per outcome vs. valueGatew22

Does delivered value exceed the all-in run cost?

Integration depth (in-workflow)w16

Embedded where people work, or a bolt-on?

Exception handling at scalew14

Holds up beyond the clean demo path?

Named owner on the numberw12

One person accountable for the metric?

Genuine autonomy (not agent-washed)w12

Plans, executes, and adapts - or just responds?

Verdict
KILL
Score
76/100

Scores in the SCALE band, but a gate signal is at 0 - so the verdict is forced to KILL. A pilot you never measured, or one that costs more than it returns, can't scale on polish elsewhere.

Fix first: Measured outcome vs. the target

Your marks only · no benchmark · grades the pilot, not people

03.The Runnable Engine

One command, every pilot, an auditable verdict.

The zero-dependency Python engine reads your pilot list and prints the same verdict the workbook and the demo produce. Two pilots below score in a passing band and still read KILL — one was never measured, one costs more than it returns.

AI Pilot Proof-of-Value & Scale-or-Kill Verdict
====================================================
Refund triage agent         76/100  KILL           [GATE -> KILL]
    fix first: Measured outcome vs. the pre-set target
Sales-email drafter         65/100  KILL           [GATE -> KILL]
    fix first: Cost per outcome vs. value delivered
Invoice-coding assistant    94/100  SCALE
    fix first: Genuine autonomy (not agent-washed)
Support-KB summarizer       50/100  EXTEND PILOT
    fix first: Measured outcome vs. the pre-set target
Contract-review bot         56/100  EXTEND PILOT
    fix first: Genuine autonomy (not agent-washed)
Onboarding email agent     100/100  SCALE
----------------------------------------------------
Portfolio: KILL-FIRST
2 of 6 pilot(s) read KILL.
04.The Standard

Six signals, weighted to 100 — two of them gates.

Measured outcome vs. the targetGate
24
Cost per outcome vs. valueGate
22
Integration depth (in-workflow)
16
Exception handling at scale
14
Named owner on the number
12
Genuine autonomy (not agent-washed)
12
The gate does distinct work

Measured outcome = 0 OR cost-vs-value = 0 forces KILL regardless of score. Either alone is fatal — and the gate only worsens a verdict, never lifts one.

The score is the score

round-half-up weighted total, no industry multiplier, no AI scoring. A pilot earns SCALE on its own marks, not on a flattering average.

It releases when you fix it

Lift a triggered signal off 0 and the gate releases — the verdict goes back to whatever the score earned. The fix is always named.

05.What This Is — And Isn't

A scale-or-kill decision aid, not a dashboard.

What it is
  • A deterministic verdict from your own marks on a running pilot.
  • The post-pilot companion to the pre-build Agent Use-Case Fit Gate.
  • A portfolio rollup that names the worst pilot to act on first.
  • Offline — engine, workbook, and demo agree to the number.
What it isn't
  • Not connected to your agent, logs, or billing — nothing is read live.
  • Not an AI that grades you; your marks drive the verdict.
  • Not a guarantee of any outcome, and it scores no person.
  • Not a benchmark — no industry multiplier is baked in.

Not financial, investment, or legal advice. This is a planning decision aid that grades a pilot's proof of value from your own marks. It applies no industry multiplier, connects to nothing, and scores no person — the scale-or-kill decision and its consequences are yours.

06.Who It's For

Anyone being asked to defend an AI pilot.

Founders deciding whether to fund a pilot into production
Operators and AI leads running a slate of pilots at once
RevOps / sales leaders proving an AI tool earns its seat cost
Consultants running a scale-or-kill review for a client
Finance partners who want the cost-vs-value line made explicit
Anyone tired of “the demo looked great” standing in for proof
08.Common Questions

The honest answers.

That gate is the pre-build decision: should you build this agent at all, before you spend. This is the post-pilot decision: the thing is built and running, and leadership wants proof it works or it gets cut. One scores a proposal; this scores a running pilot's earned value and returns SCALE, EXTEND PILOT, or KILL.

Stop guessing.
Get the verdict.

One purchase, lifetime access, 12 months of updates. $79, once.

Not financial, investment, or legal advice. This is a planning decision aid that grades a pilot's proof of value from your own marks. It applies no industry multiplier, connects to nothing, and scores no person — the scale-or-kill decision and its consequences are yours.

Sold by RedHub AI LLC · Secured by Stripe · redhub.ai