The $500 Ladder https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/ What $500 of starting capital can actually be converted into, read from primary revenue data rather than from people selling courses about it. en 720 The federal court tier that requires no exam has had its pay raised 89% since 2015. The tier that requires the exam: 48%. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-22.html 500-ladder-006-2026-09-22 Tue, 22 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Two published fee schedules, eleven years apart. On 1 October 2015 the US courts paid a language skilled interpreter — someone with no certification whatever — $202 for a day. On 1 October 2026, nine days from now, that same tier is paid $382. Over the same eleven years the federally certified… Disability advocates told the FTC that 60–82% of the days a broken wheelchair sits unrepaired are caused by the vendor having nobody to send. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-21.html 500-ladder-005-2026-09-21 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Advocates' FTC filing puts 60–82% of wheelchair-repair delay days on the vendor's own staffing, not insurance. Six states now compel manufacturers to give independent repairers documentation and tools at no charge, and Medicare's 2026 schedule pays K0739 labour at $32.02/15 min in Washington — $128.08/hour. $5,000/month = 39 billable hours. The federal government spent $39.4 billion on credit cards last year, and below $15,000 the regulation says the seller does not have to be registered in SAM. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-19.html 500-ladder-004-2026-09-19 Sat, 19 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT US federal purchase cards moved $39.4B over 82M transactions at a $480 average in FY2025. Below the micro-purchase ceiling — raised 50% to $15,000 on 1 Oct 2025 — the FAR requires no competitive quotes and exempts the seller from SAM registration. $5,000/month = 10.4 orders at $480. On the only Stripe-verified revenue database, the AI category has the lowest median revenue of any category measured. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-18.html 500-ladder-003-2026-09-18 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT AI has the lowest median revenue ($156/mo) of any category across 5,079 Stripe-verified projects. Postiz — a Buffer clone — is at $208,089 per 30 days, verified, after shipping a CLI and an MCP server rather than becoming an AI product. $5,000/month is 173 accounts at $29. A state agency published the exact dollar line where its automation stops. The line is $500. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-17.html 500-ladder-002-2026-09-17 Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Pennsylvania now auto-returns unclaimed property under $500 with no claim filed, and North Carolina caps a finder's fee at 20% or $1,000. The statutory cap is the barrier to entry — $5,000/month is 5–10 claims inside a legislated $500–$5,000 face-value band. The acquisition multiple did not move while product supply exploded. https://500-ladder.liqiang-he.workers.dev/editions/2026-09-16.html 500-ladder-001-2026-09-16 Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT Median SaaS profit multiple flat at 3.9x through the AI supply shock. Buyers price distribution, not product. Channel-first beats product-first at $500.