Start with audience gravity
A microniche app only works when the audience already has gravity. You are looking for people who gather, compare notes, spend money, and have rituals around the problem. The app idea is downstream from that audience behavior.
- They have language outsiders do not use.
- They already buy tools, apps, subscriptions, templates, gear, coaching, or digital goods.
- They cluster in searchable places: App Store reviews, Reddit, Discord, TikTok, YouTube comments, forums, newsletters, or creator audiences.
Score the idea before you name it
Give every candidate a 1-5 score across obsession, willingness to pay, first-channel clarity, App Store fit, and two-week MVP simplicity. Kill ideas that require heroic distribution, broad behavior change, or a giant feature set before the user feels value.
- A score below 16 is a curiosity, not a build candidate.
- A score from 17-21 is worth validating if one dimension is unusually strong.
- A score above 22 is a serious candidate for the next module.
Keep the weirdness
The safest-looking idea is often the weakest one. If you can describe the app in language that sounds like every productivity app on the App Store, it is probably too broad. The best candidates feel almost too specific until you inspect how much the audience already cares.
Score one idea now
- Who is the smallest audience that would immediately recognize this app is for them?
- Where can you find 100 examples of this audience talking about the problem?
- What have they already paid for that proves the app is not solving a free-only problem?
- What is the one feature that would make a stranger in the niche say, 'finally'?
- Which scorecard dimension is weakest, and what evidence would change your mind?
Keep the course path open.
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