How it works — every step, every price, in the open.
No black box, no surprise bill. Here's exactly how Niche Finder turns your country and your budget into a validated, buildable plan — and exactly what each step costs, shown on screen before you spend a single credit.
STEP 01Discover
Enter your country (mandatory — every result is grounded in verified World Bank indicators for it: population, GDP per capita, urbanisation, internet and mobile penetration, unemployment) plus optional skills, interests, and capital. The Search Canvas returns ranked niche opportunities, each capped at the £10k class so it stays realistically fundable. Each search consumes 125 ACU.
STEP 02Score
Every opportunity carries a score out of 10 — green (8–10), amber (5–7), red (0–4) — built from the same three weighted pillars, scored against fixed thresholds so the standard is identical for every idea:
- Market Readiness (MRS) — 35%: is demand real and current?
- Competitive Gap (CGS) — 30%: is there room to win?
- Prospect of Success (PSS) — 35%: can you execute it here, now, under £10k?
The overall score maps to a decision: STRONG GO ≥ 7.5, CONDITIONAL GO 6.0–7.4, NO GO below 6.0. Breakthrough Discovery mode adds a fourth pillar — Breakthrough Potential (BPS) — and only labels an opportunity a breakthrough when both BPS and PSS clear 7.5.
STEP 03Build
Unlock a full opportunity (150 ACU) to open its Deep-Dive workspace, then execute engines in the Build Hub: market validation, 3-year cashflow forecast, risk heatmap, business plan, investor pitch deck, and the Excel + PDF export pack. Each output is investor-grade, branded, and versioned in your repository. All prices shown are bracket-1 (≤ £10k) figures — every action on the platform, from unlock and validation to documents and exports, scales with your capital bracket, not just search.
ECONOMICSPriced so a wrong idea costs you £5 — not £5,000
That's the whole point of the pricing. Finding out an idea is weak should cost you a few pounds and an afternoon, not six months and your savings. So it's pay-as-you-go: £1 = 100 ACU, you spend credits only on the actions you choose, and the price of each is on screen before you commit. No subscription required.
New accounts get 100 welcome ACUs — enough for up to five Quick Previews (20 ACU each): a fast, honest first read on an idea before you spend anything. A full search, unlock, and the build engines run on paid ACUs from the packages below; a Quick Preview is the one full-generation action welcome credits can fund — they're otherwise read-only.
| Package | Price | ACU |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | £5 | 500 |
| Builder | £10 | 1,100 (100 bonus) |
| Founder | £20 | 2,400 (400 bonus) |
| Investor | £50 | 6,500 (1,500 bonus) |
Capital-bracket pricing. ACU prices are set for the standard ≤ £10k venture class. Ventures above £10k enter higher brackets, and every £10k bracket doubles the ACU price — reflecting the greater depth and stakes of larger plans:
| Capital bracket | ACU multiplier (every action) | Search / Unlock / Business plan |
|---|---|---|
| £0 – £10,000 | ×1 | 125 / 150 / 500 ACU |
| £10,001 – £20,000 | ×2 | 250 / 300 / 1,000 ACU |
| £20,001 – £30,000 | ×4 | 500 / 600 / 2,000 ACU |
| …each further £10k | ×8, ×16 … | 1,000 / 1,200 / 4,000 ACU … |
The Search Canvas shows your bracket live as you move the capital slider, and every price on screen updates before you commit. Unlocked projects carry their bracket into the Build Hub.
Every price is shown up front, before you commit — no hidden fees, no surprises. You choose your package; unused paid ACUs stay in your wallet.
Pay your way. Top up by card via Stripe, or by mobile money via KODA (Orange Money, M-Pesa) — charged in your local currency at the live exchange rate, shown before you confirm.
Grow together. The Growth Partner programme rewards real referrals: when someone you invite makes a paid purchase, you earn a commission in ACU. No reward for sign-ups alone — only genuine paid usage.