A multidimensional innovation quotient framework for structured early stage venture evaluation in venture capital due diligence

This article introduces the venture-ready innovation quotient (VRIQ), a structured multidimensional framework designed to bridge the persistent gap between academic theory and venture capital (VC) due diligence practice. Grounded in foundational management and economic theories—the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities theory, signaling theory, and agency theory—the VRIQ operationalizes innovation assessment for early-stage ventures through a behaviorally anchored scoring rubric. Its principal contribution is a departure from linear checklists and single-composite-score models toward a diagnostic profile that characterizes a venture’s strengths, weaknesses, and risk configuration across three core dimensions: potential, execution, and impact. Preliminary psychometric evidence from a pilot study ( $$n = 35$$ ) yields an inter-rater reliability of ICC(2,k) = 0.85 and Cronbach’s α ≥ 0.79 across all dimensions. For practitioners, the VRIQ provides a structured due diligence and risk management instrument; for scholars, it advances a theoretically grounded and empirically testable research agenda.