> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://irisdocs.prescientlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Defining Your Niche

> Choose a focused market position without narrowing yourself so aggressively that you remove viable demand.

A niche is useful when it makes your relevance obvious. It becomes harmful when it is so narrow that you cannot build enough pipeline or learn across adjacent clients.

## Four useful ways to niche

**Industry:** accounting, insurance, recruitment, logistics, construction.

**Function:** finance operations, customer service, sales operations, procurement.

**Problem:** slow onboarding, manual reconciliation, proposal bottlenecks, poor case handling.

**Client profile:** 50–500 employee professional-services businesses, PE-backed operators, regional MSP customers.

You can combine two dimensions without locking yourself into one tiny category.

## A practical niche test

Score a candidate niche from 1–5 on:

* access to buyers;
* frequency of the problem;
* financial consequence;
* urgency;
* your credibility;
* ability to demonstrate proof;
* repeatability across clients;
* implementation opportunity after diagnosis.

Do not choose a niche because it sounds sophisticated. Choose one where you can repeatedly reach buyers with a recognisable problem.

## Good versus weak examples

**Weak:** “AI transformation for SMEs.”

**Better:** “AI and automation diagnostics for operations-heavy professional-services firms.”

**More specific:** “We help recruitment firms reduce manual work across candidate, client and back-office workflows.”

## When not to niche further

Stay broader when:

* you are still testing which problems convert;
* you have strong warm access across several adjacent sectors;
* the problem pattern is more important than the industry;
* your early case studies are not yet concentrated enough to justify a vertical claim.

<Tip>
  A useful first niche is often a hypothesis, not a permanent brand identity. Run it for long enough to gather real sales evidence before changing it every week.
</Tip>

## Exercise

Write down:

* three client types you can access;
* three recurring business problems you understand;
* the buyer for each problem;
* the measurable consequence;
* one reason you are credible.

Choose the intersection with the strongest commercial evidence.