methodology
How App Opportunity Lab scores small app ideas.
Every idea is judged for solo-founder feasibility, distribution, willingness to pay, AI differentiation, recurring revenue, risk, and moat. High score means better opportunity for a solo builder.
The 14 dimensions
The scorecard starts with 14 dimensions. The overall score weights the first 12; founder fit and moat are shown separately so they can be judged qualitatively.
| Dimension | What a high score means |
|---|---|
| Solo vibe-code feasibility | A solo founder using AI tools could ship a credible MVP quickly. |
| Market white space | There is room for a niche, better, or AI-enhanced competitor. |
| Low build cost | The product is cheap to build and operate. |
| User acquisition ease | Users are reachable through SEO, short demos, communities, or search. |
| Profit potential | The buyer has willingness to pay or high lifetime value. |
| Marketing ease | The value can be explained in one screenshot or short demo. |
| AI differentiation | AI makes the workflow meaningfully better, not just buzzier. |
| Recurring revenue | The job repeats enough to support subscription or repeat purchase. |
| Retention | The product has a weekly, monthly, seasonal, or deadline-driven habit. |
| Legal/platform risk | The MVP avoids regulated advice, risky scraping, or platform fragility. |
| Data dependency safety | The product does not depend on one fragile data source. |
| MVP speed | A useful first version is days or weeks away, not quarters. |
| Founder fit | The opportunity fits a solo builder with apps, AI, UX, and distribution taste. |
| Moat potential | The product can build durability through workflow, brand, SEO, data, or community. |
The seven brief sections
Each brief uses the same seven sections so builders can compare ideas without relearning the format.
- Pain: who has the problem and when it hurts.
- Alternatives: what they use today.
- MVP: the smallest paid version worth shipping.
- Pricing: comparable products and rough willingness-to-pay math.
- Acquisition: first places to find users without paid ads.
- Validation: a 48-hour test before writing much code.
- Not-build: the honest case against the idea.
Why revenue proxy matters
An app idea is not good because it sounds big. It is good when there is evidence that a buyer already spends money, time, attention, or trust around the workflow. Revenue-proxy scoring asks: what nearby behavior proves this might become paid use?