The copywriter Gary Halbert used to ask his students a question. If you were opening a hamburger stand and could have one advantage, what would it be?
Better meat? A great location? Lower prices?
His answer: a starving crowd.
That idea gave my first book its name, Feed a Starving Crowd. Find people who already want what you sell, want it badly and are actively looking for a solution, and everything else gets easier. Your ads convert. Your copy doesn't have to work as hard. People refer friends who have the same problem.
This tool scores your niche ideas on the signs I use to spot a starving crowd.
How do you use the Niche Finder?
- Describe each niche as a person with a problem. "Fitness" isn't a niche. "Pilates for new mums returning to exercise" is.
- Score each one from 1 to 5 on the five signs. Be harsh. If you're unsure, score it a 2.
- Read the ranking. The tool flags any niche that fails one sign badly, because a crowd that fails one sign is usually not the one.
- Optional: ask the AI to score them too. It uses the same signs, gives reasons and tells you where it disagrees with you. Your text is sent to an AI model to analyze and isn't stored by this site.
The five signs, and how the score works
The first four are the signs from my starving crowd guide. The fifth is the one I add for subscription businesses.
| Sign | The question to ask |
|---|---|
| 1. Pain you can hear | Do people describe this problem in their own words, unprompted? |
| 2. Money already moving | Are they already spending on a fix, even a bad one? |
| 3. Cheap to reach | Can you find them in one place for little money? |
| 4. Steady or growing demand | Is the hunger lasting, not a fad? |
| 5. Hunger comes back | Does the problem return every week, month or season? |
Niche score = Pain + Money + Reach + Demand + Repeat (each 1 to 5, out of 25)
A worked example: one physio clinic, two crowds
A physio wants to launch a monthly membership. Crowd A is "people with sore backs." Crowd B is "office workers in the CBD who sit all day and have recurring neck and back pain."
Crowd A scores pain 4, money 3, reach 1 (they're everywhere and nowhere), demand 4, repeat 3. That's 15 out of 25, and the tool flags it for failing reach.
Crowd B scores pain 5, money 4 (many already pay for massages and standing desks), reach 4 (office towers, LinkedIn, employer wellness programs), demand 4, repeat 5. That's 22 out of 25.
Same clinic. Same skills. Crowd B is the starving one.
How do you read your scores?
- 20 to 25: a starving crowd. Test it before you build anything.
- 15 to 19: promising. Fix the weakest sign, often by narrowing the crowd, then test.
- Under 15, or any sign at 1: keep looking. Widen one dimension, not all of them. Keep the problem specific and widen the location, or keep the person specific and widen the problem.
Watch for the traps I list in the guide: crowds that are hungry but broke, hungry for free (a good AI answer already solves it), hungry for a moment, or already well fed by ten strong competitors.
The score is a way to compare ideas, not proof. When I was choosing the title for Feed a Starving Crowd, I stopped guessing and spent $20 on Facebook ads for each of three titles. Sixty dollars settled a six-month debate.
What to do next
- Read how to find a niche market, including my three-star review method.
- Rehearse your offer on the synthetic customer panel, then test with real people.
- Launch fast and cheap with a waitlist or a pre-sale.
- Browse 101 subscription business ideas if you need more starting points.
- Get the whole method in Feed a Starving Crowd, free as an ebook.
Frequently asked questions
What is a starving crowd?
A starving crowd is a group of people who already want what you sell, want it badly and are actively looking for a solution. You don't have to convince them they have a problem. They're searching, asking friends, reading reviews and often already paying for something that doesn't quite work. The term comes from copywriter Gary Halbert, and it gave Feed a Starving Crowd its name.
How specific should a niche be?
Specific enough that you can name the person and the problem, and find them in one place. 'Office workers with recurring back pain in the CBD' works; 'people with sore backs' doesn't. A niche is too small if you can't reach enough paying customers to cover your costs, or if the people in it don't see themselves as a group with something in common.
Can I trust the AI scores?
Treat them as a second opinion, not a verdict. The AI scores your ideas against the same five signs and explains its reasons, which is useful for spotting blind spots. But it hasn't read your customers' reviews or seen your local market. Where it disagrees with you, go and check the evidence: complaints, search trends, competitors and twenty real conversations.
Why does 'hunger comes back' matter for subscriptions?
Because a subscription needs customers to stay hungry month after month. When you sell something once, you only need the crowd to be hungry once. If the hunger fades, subscribers cancel. That's what churn really is: a crowd that's been fed and no longer feels hungry. Problems that recur, like dirty cars, tax deadlines or a pet that needs grooming, suit subscriptions best.
Built on The Subscription Playbook
This tool turns frameworks from Robert Coorey's book into something you can use in minutes. Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and a Director at BPAG Accountants. More about Robert.