Is Niche Scoring Actually Worth It for Technical Founders?
Honest cost-benefit.
The Cost
Fifteen minutes plus an outside re-score. No money. The hardest part is being honest about builder-fit when capability is high.
The Benefit
Catches the engineering-driven niche picks that fail on customer-side criteria. Avoids the six-month build for an unreachable audience.
When the Math Strongly Favors
You are first-time technical founder. You have not sold anything before. You are excited about a technically interesting niche but have not researched reachability or existing spend.
When the Math Says No
Almost never. The cost is fifteen minutes. The downside of skipping is six months of misaimed engineering.
Honest Conclusion
Worth it by a wide margin. Run it.