1. You answer six short steps
The questionnaire takes about five minutes and asks about:
- Industry — the business you want to open. You can name it in your own words; Neur resolves it to one of 108 seed industries, with AI assistance for unusual concepts.
- Operation — storefront, mobile, service-based or online.
- Location — the city or area you are considering.
- Background — experience, prior business ownership, partners, commitment level.
- Budget — how much you can invest.
- Customer — who you expect to serve.
2. Neur gathers the data
For the place and industry you chose, Neur pulls Census demographics, BLS employment trends (national and county level), and nearby competitors from Google Places. For online businesses it runs a search-market analysis instead of local competition. See Data sources.
3. Five pillars are scored
Each pillar is scored and then weighted. The weights depend on the industry, because location matters far more to a café than to a software company.
| Pillar | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Market | Population, income and industry employment trend for the area |
| Competition | Number of competitors within a trade radius, their ratings and review volume, saturation per resident |
| Location | Fit between the area's demographics and the customer this business needs |
| Financial | Your budget against the realistic startup cost range for the industry |
| Personal | Experience, timeline, partners and commitment |
Example weights (percent of the total score):
| Industry | Market | Competition | Location | Financial | Personal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 15 |
| Retail | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 15 |
| E-commerce | 25 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 25 |
| Technology | 30 | 15 | 5 | 20 | 30 |
| Professional Services | 20 | 15 | 5 | 20 | 40 |
| Fitness | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Childcare | 25 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Hospitality | 20 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 15 |
| Automotive | 25 | 20 | 20 | 25 | 10 |
The full table for all 20 industry categories is in the Methodology.
4. You get a verdict
| Score | Verdict |
|---|---|
| 80–100 | Strong Opportunity |
| 60–79 | Promising |
| 40–59 | Proceed with Caution |
| 20–39 | High Risk |
| 0–19 | Not Recommended Now |
The three strongest pillars are listed as "what's working" and the weakest as "needs attention", each with specific highlights drawn from the data.
5. The report
The dashboard and PDF contain: the feasibility score and pillars, local demographics with charts, the industry employment trend, the interactive market map with competitor cards, comparable cities, cost of living, startup cost and financial benchmarks with an operating-model picker, an action plan, a launch checklist and a lender snapshot. You can recalculate the score after changing inputs, and reports stay in your dashboard.