Pick Your App Niche in 1 Hour

📚 Indie App Playbook · Part 2 of 7 Series overview: Indie App Playbook

In Part 1 you proved the pain is real — at least 10 user quotes and 2–5% email capture. Now the question isn't "what else can I add?" — it's "what else can I cut?"

A mixed positioning makes everything downstream mixed: screenshots, ads, paywall. This hour cuts it clean.

🎯 What you'll ship

• One 15-second positioning sentence ("for [who], in [situation], get [result]")
• One main keyword + one main channel + one core reason to pay
• A feature cut list: what's in v1, what's v2, what's dead

⏱️ Time blocks

📋 Prerequisites

• Outputs from Part 1: Validate Your App Idea: user quotes + fake funnel data
• A blank page (Notion, Apple Notes, paper)

Step 1: Write the positioning line (0–10 min)

Template:

For [who], in [what situation], get [what result].

All three slots have to be concrete enough that you can picture a real person doing a real thing.

Bad vs good

Rewrite it 3 times

After v1, say it out loud, then ask:

1. Can I finish it in 15 seconds?
2. Does this audience actually exist and can I reach them?
3. Is the "result" something users already pay for?

Rewrite until you can say it without flinching.

Step 2: Kill candidates with 4-axis score (10–25 min)

If you have 2–3 candidates, score each on these 4 axes (1–5 per axis):

Rules:

• Any axis < 3 → kill it
• Total < 14 → not worth more than this hour
• Total ≥ 16 → strong direction, lock it now

Real example

Say you have 3 candidates:

1. AI fitness mirror (video form correction)
2. Newsletter headline assistant
3. Programmer nap timer

Fitness mirror is killed by "willingness to pay = 2" (amateur users won't pay). Nap timer wins.

Step 3: Split features (25–40 min)

Mindset: v1 only contains the minimum features that make users willing to pay. Everything else goes to v2 backlog or gets killed.

Three columns

List every feature you've imagined. Sort:

Cut rules

For ambiguous features, ask 3 questions:

1. Without it, can the user complete the core action? Yes → kill
2. Is it a reason to pay? Or also needed by free users? Free → keep but don't lock
3. Would skipping it delay launch by 1+ week? Yes → kill

Anti-example: typical "v1 too heavy"

❌ v1 includes: accounts, social sharing, multi-device sync, AI chat, subscriptions, one-time purchases, family plan, tip jar, template marketplace, Widget, Watch app, iPad layout, custom dark modes…

✅ Real v1: core action + 4-step onboarding + one paywall + 4 key events instrumented.

Step 4: Lock main keyword / channel / reason (40–50 min)

Main keyword

Pick exactly one — high search intent, not over-saturated.

• Utility apps: search App Store, see if top 10 is owned by big-co
• Content apps: check Google Trends for stable upward slope
• Example: nap timer → nap timer > power nap > sleep timer (Apple's built-in owns this one)

Main channel

Don't run 3 channels in parallel. Push one to stability first.

Main reason to pay

Why today? Not "maybe someday" — "I need this now".

Write it as one line on top of the paywall:

"Unlock to instantly get [specific benefit]. Without it, you'll [specific loss]."

Examples:

• ❌ "Unlock more features"
• ✅ "Unlock streak tracking. Miss a day and you start the counter from zero."

Step 5: 15-second elevator test (50–60 min)

Say everything above out loud to a real human (friend, partner, group chat).

The 15-second pitch

For [audience], in [situation], get [result].
Main keyword is [word], first users come from [channel],
they pay because [reason].

Reading the listener

📚 Further reading

• Full long-form: Indie App Playbook
• Previous: Validate Your App Idea

Series navigation

📚 Indie App Playbook · Part 2 of 7

• Part 1 — Validate Your App Idea in 1 Hour
• ✅ Part 2 · You are here — Pick Your App Niche in 1 Hour
• ⏭️ Next:

• 📚 Series overview: Indie App Playbook