Frame your startup idea, get an honest assessment, hear from your inner circle, improve it, and go round again. AI and the people you trust take you from a rough idea to your MVP, pitch deck and business plan.
Ainna is AI for founders: it evaluates your startup, business or app idea with an honest grade, then takes it to the right MVP, a pitch deck and a business plan, with feedback from your inner circle, before you build or vibe code.
Why Ainna
Ainna is designed forambitious founders.
Whether you have a business idea, an app idea or no idea yet, Ainna empowers you to understand the problem and frame high-potential products. You get an honest grade, a sized market, a competitor map, customer personas and feedback from your inner circle.
See it for real
One idea, from rough to ready to pitch.
A real session in Ainna: an idea framed, graded C+ and then B−, proved with the market, the competition and the customers, and pitched. 75 seconds.
0:00How strong is your startup idea?
0:09Start rough: framed with you
0:19Graded, then sharpened: C+ to B−
0:38Prove it: market, competition, customers
0:55Pitch it
01 · The problem
Start with a problem worth your year.
Write it in your own words, or pick a problem worth solving from the Problem Radar. Ainna reads it back sharper: who lives with it, what hurts, why now.
You leave withA problem you can explain in one breath.
One idea, framed the way a seasoned founder would.
Brainstorm startup ideas around the problem, promote the one, and frame it with the Strategist: the problem, the customer, the market, the business model. It suggests; you decide.
You leave withYour startup idea, framed on one page.
03 · The grade
Evaluate your startup idea. Then raise its grade.
Is your business idea any good? The Judge scores it across ten dimensions, shows the reasoning behind every score and names the weak spots, with what would strengthen each one. Criticism you can build on, not flattery.
You leave withA grade, its reasons, and the way to raise it.
04 · The market
A market you can size, and defend.
Your TAM, SAM and SOM, from everyone the problem touches down to the beachhead market you can win first, with the source behind every number.
You leave withTAM, SAM, SOM and a beachhead, sourced.
05 · The rivals
Know who is already there.
Does your app idea already exist? Ainna finds every competitor and places each one by threat and by relevance to your customers, so you see the gap you can own.
You leave withA competitor map, and the opening in it.
06 · The customers
Meet the people you are building for.
Customer personas for every stakeholder: users, buyers, decision makers and influencers, with what each one needs, what they object to and how they would react to your idea.
You leave withPersonas for every stakeholder.
07 · Your inner circle
Bring in your inner circle.
Get honest feedback from real people. Share your idea by private link with a co-founder, a mentor, domain experts or potential customers. Their feedback flows into one place, and Ainna turns it into intelligence: a sharper framing and the features worth adding.
You leave withFeedback that shapes the product.
08 · The feedback
Confidence where they agree. Inspiration where they don't.
Ainna sets your inner circle's views beside the Judge's. Where they agree, you move with confidence. Where they differ, you find angles you had not seen. You get both.
You leave withWhat to trust, and what to explore.
09 · Improve
Change it. Watch the grade move.
Answer the critique, reframe, add what your inner circle asked for, pivot if you must. Each version is graded again, and every change is logged with its reason.
You leave withA stronger idea, and the record of how it got there.
10 · The pitch
Ready to present. Ready to pitch.
A pitch deck, a business plan and an MVP definition, all written from the same graded idea, so they tell one story. Present the deck, or hand the MVP to your developer or vibe-coding tool.
The best startups begin with a problem real people have, and Problem Radar is a running list of problems worth solving. Ainna reads public reporting every day, picks out the problems a startup could take on and frames each the same way: who lives with it, what it costs, why now. Ainna's innovation team checks and edits every entry before it goes up, and each one shows its sources (28 so far). Pick one and it is yours to work on, even if you have no business idea yet. Read how Problem Radar works. What you bring yourself stays private and never appears here.
Finance
Invisible small-firm creditSmall firms can't prove a trading history lenders accept
Small firms are assessed on documents they were never required to produce. Audited accounts, filed returns and collateral registries are what credit models expect; a profitable shop with a phone, a supplier relationship and ten years of trading has none of them. The lender cannot see the business, so the business does not exist to the lender, and the money goes to whoever already had the paperwork.
For whom
Owner-managed and informal firms · community and development lenders · the suppliers already extending them credit informally
Grid connection backlogEnergy developers are blocked by paperwork, not engineering
The constraint on the energy transition moved from manufacturing to administration, and no tooling followed it. Projects sit in interconnection queues longer than they took to design, studies are redone by hand each time the queue ahead reshuffles, and developers cannot see where they stand or what would move them. Most of the capacity that enters the queue is eventually withdrawn, often after years of waiting.
For whom
Independent power producers · utility interconnection teams · the financiers whose models assume a connection date
Digital identity exclusionPeople without ID lose the services that moved online
Benefits, banking, health records and school places are moving to interfaces that begin by asking you to prove who you are online. Hundreds of millions of people cannot prove who they are at all, and billions more have no digital means of doing it, so each service added to the digital channel quietly removes itself from the people who most need it, while the statistics record improved efficiency.
For whom
People without foundational or digital ID · agencies moving services online · the frontline staff handling every exception by hand
Doctors uncertain which antibiotics still work where they practiseResistance data rarely reaches the clinics where antibiotics are prescribed
When a patient has an infection, the doctor, nurse or pharmacist has to choose an antibiotic that will work, and which ones still work depends on the place: resistance differs between countries and regions, and it is growing. The surest way to know is a laboratory test, but much prescribing happens in clinics without a laboratory nearby, and a test takes days. So the decision is based on guidance and national advice that may not match local patterns. What happens next is rarely recorded, so a failed treatment does not inform the next prescriber, and the maps of resistance that guide treatment are drawn from the minority of cases that reach a laboratory, often missing the places where resistance is worst.
For whom
Patients with common infections · doctors, nurses and pharmacists prescribing without a laboratory · hospitals and health ministries setting treatment guidelines
Withdrawn home insuranceHomeowners lose insurance their mortgage still requires
Insurers are withdrawing from places where people still live and still owe money. The mortgage requires cover; the cover depends on a risk model that has stopped holding. Homeowners find out at renewal, with weeks to replace a policy that may not exist at any price, and often no accepted way to show an insurer the work they have done to make the building safer, because that evidence is rarely collected in a form an underwriter will accept.
For whom
Homeowners in high-risk areas · mortgage lenders and brokers · local authorities watching values move
A familiar voice or face no longer proves who's callingAI fakes now pass the voice and face checks people rely on
For generations a voice on the phone or a face on a video call was good enough proof of who was there. Banks built call-centre checks on it, companies approve payments on it, and families trust it when a relative asks for help. AI now copies voices and faces cheaply and well enough to pass, so the signal most people rely on has stopped being proof. Scammers pose as banks, officials and relatives, and victims move money believing the person is real. Checks that ask a person to judge whether a call is genuine keep failing, because that judgement is exactly what the fakes defeat. What is missing is a way to prove a real person is present that does not depend on how they look or sound.
For whom
People targeted by impersonation scams · families asked for money by someone posing as a relative · banks and payment firms checking customers by phone or video · companies that approve payments on calls
Unusable instant paymentsEuropean merchants can't take instant payments across borders
Europe already has a way to move money between bank accounts in seconds, at any hour: instant payments. Merchants can rarely take them, and almost never from a customer in another country. Each country's card scheme works at home and stops at the border, and the software that would let a till or an online checkout accept an instant payment has been slow to arrive. So money can move, but a shop cannot be paid that way. Meanwhile the international card networks keep their hold because every shopper and every merchant already uses them, which makes any alternative hard to adopt even when the plumbing beneath it is ready.
For whom
European merchants · shoppers · payment service providers
Websites can't tell which AI agents act on themWebsite owners can't identify the AI agents acting on their sites
Organisations that run websites and online services need to know who is using them, so they can serve people, share data safely and hold someone to account when something goes wrong. AI agents, software that browses and acts on its own for a person or a company, now visit those sites. Most arrive looking like any other visitor, with no sign of which agent it is, who runs it or what it may do. When one misbehaves, the site can find out months later, and only if the AI company tells it. Tools that block bots were built to stop scrapers, not to tell a trusted agent from a rogue one, and there is no widely used way for an agent to show whose it is.
For whom
Organisations running websites and online services · public bodies that publish data online · people whose data sits behind those sites
Misinformation Spreads at ScaleMisinformation can now spread at scale, but we lack the infrastructure to trace, verify and stop it
False and misleading information can now be created, replicated, manipulated and distributed across interconnected websites, social platforms and other channels at remarkable speed and scale. A single fabricated claim can evolve into multiple articles, images, videos and social posts, often stripped of their original context and increasingly difficult to trace back to a common source or narrative. Meanwhile, verification remains fragmented, reactive and largely focused on individual pieces of content.
For whom
Social-media users and news consumers · journalists and fact-checkers · publishers and platforms · organisations responsible for public information and trust
Stale AI approvalsMedical AI keeps changing; its safety checks haven't kept up
Before a hospital or clinic can use an AI tool, the tool is tested and approved. That happens once. Afterwards, the rules mostly wait for someone to report that something went wrong. But an AI tool does not stay the way it was tested. It gets updated. It behaves differently with real patients than it did in the test. And it can work well in one place and less well in another. So a single test, done once before the tool went into use, cannot tell you whether it is still safe where you are treated today. What is missing is a way to keep testing it while it is in use, to update it carefully, and to help hospitals and clinics see for themselves how it is doing.
For whom
Healthcare provider governance teams · Healthcare professionals using AI · Patients receiving AI-supported care
Pick one and it becomes yours. Choose any problem and Ainna opens it in your private workspace, ready to unpack. Nothing you do with it is published. Already working in a market of your own? The Team plan adds a Market Radar tuned to the sectors you choose.
Problems worth solving, in your inbox.
A short list of problems worth solving, only when there is something good. No sales emails. Unsubscribe any time.
Pricing · stealth mode
Buy a season. Leave no trace.
7 days free, no card. Then choose how you want to work: month by month, or one fixed season in stealth mode. Either way your business idea stays private, is never used to train AI, and is yours to take with you.
ProFor founders shaping one startup idea at a time, solo or with a co-founder
$99 / month15 fully framed Opportunities a month, unlimited re-assessment: the score moves when the evidence does
Re-assessment never metered: every verdict keeps its history, so you see what moved the score
Documents: Pitch Deck, Idea Social Carousel and Problem Social Carousel and 9 more
What is Ainna, and how does it help a startup founder?
Ainna is AI for founders: it evaluates your startup idea honestly and helps you decide what to build before you build it. Bring a startup idea, an app idea or just a problem you keep noticing. Ainna frames the problem behind it, researches the customers, the market and the competition, develops alternative concepts with you, and has the Judge grade each one on ten dimensions with the reasoning shown. Then it brings in the people you trust for feedback and turns the concept that survives into the documents a startup needs: an MVP definition, a product backlog, a pitch deck, a business plan and a go-to-market plan.
It is built by Innovation Mode Limited in Dublin, on The Innovation Mode methodology (Springer Nature), and it works for solo founders, co-founders and small founding teams. Running innovation inside a company? See Ainna Enterprise.
I have an app idea. Where do I start?
Start with the problem, not the app. Write down who has the problem, what they do about it today and what it costs them. If you cannot answer those three, no amount of building will help. Start now, describe it in your workspace, and Ainna will ask you exactly these questions, then fill in what you do not know yet: who your first customers are, how big the market is and who is already serving it.
From there the order is: explore a few versions of the idea, get them graded, ask real people, define the smallest product that proves it, and only then build. Most first-time founders do it the other way round and meet the problem after the product.
How do I know if my business idea is good?
An idea is good when it solves a real problem for people you can reach, in a way you can deliver, with enough demand to matter. The Judge checks each of those. It scores your concept on ten dimensions across two lenses, one for the problem and one for the solution, gives you a single letter, shows the reasoning behind every score and names the dimension holding the grade back.
Then your inner circle weighs in. Mentors, domain experts and potential customers score the same concept without seeing the Judge's grade first. When the Judge and your reviewers agree, you have your answer. When they disagree, you have found the question to settle before you spend money. For the full method, read our guide to startup idea validation.
Can AI evaluate my startup idea honestly?
Yes, if the AI is built to disagree with you. Ask a general chatbot about your idea and the odds are it will congratulate you. The Judge is a separate evaluator with one job: it scores your startup or business idea on ten dimensions, gives it a single letter grade, shows the reasoning behind every score and names what is holding the grade back. It can give you a D, and it tells you what would raise it.
A grade is an assessment, not proof. It shows where the idea is weak and what to test first; only real customers can confirm the demand. That is why your inner circle weighs in next, and why the grade moves as the idea improves.
What should an MVP include, and how does Ainna help me define mine?
An MVP should include only what is needed to prove that your main customer has the problem and will use your way of solving it. Everything else waits. In practice that means one type of user, one job they can finish from start to end, and a way to see whether they came back.
Ainna turns your graded concept into an MVP definition: the goal, what is in scope, what is out, the must-haves against the nice-to-haves, and the requirements for each. Every call is recorded in your Decision Log with the reason for it, so when someone asks why a feature was left out, you have the answer. An MVP is not a prototype: a prototype shows how something could work, while an MVP is the first version real customers use.
Should I use Ainna before Lovable, Bolt, Replit or Claude Code?
Yes: Ainna is the step before you build or vibe code. AI app builders are very good at building what you describe, and their plan modes help you organise the build: the screens, the data, the tasks. They do not tell you whether the product should exist, who it is for or what the first version should leave out. That is Ainna's job.
When your MVP is defined, Ainna writes the MVP definition, a PRD and the product backlog in plain language. Paste them into Lovable, Bolt, Replit or Claude Code, or hand them to a developer, and you start building from a clear brief instead of a one-line prompt. You prompt less, rebuild less and know what done looks like.
Is ChatGPT good for business ideas? How is Ainna different?
A general assistant answers the question you ask. Ainna runs the whole method, and is built to disagree with you when the idea deserves it. In a 2026 study in Science, researchers at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon found that 11 leading AI models affirmed users' actions 49% more often than people did (Cheng et al., 2026). You can prompt a chatbot to be harsh, but you still have to know what to ask, check its numbers and remember what you decided last week.
Ainna asks the questions for you, sizes the market with a stated method, maps real competitors, grades the concept against a published framework, brings in human reviewers, and keeps everything in one place: the research, the grades, the decisions and the documents.
Where can I get honest feedback on my startup idea from real people?
From your inner circle, by private link. Share any concept with a mentor, a domain expert, an accountant, an investor you know or the customers you are building for. They need no account and about five minutes. Each one scores the concept on the same dimensions as the Judge, without seeing its grade, and adds comments.
When you want more voices, open the concept to a wider audience and collect structured reactions from people outside your circle. Ainna puts every review next to the Judge's and shows you where they agree and where they split, without averaging the difference away.
Does Ainna write my pitch deck and business plan?
Yes, from the work you have already done, so there is no template to fill in. The pitch deck tells the story investors and accelerators expect: the problem, the customer, the market, the product, the competition, the model and the ask. The business plan covers the business model, the revenue model, the go-to-market and the roadmap. Both come as editable PowerPoint and Word files that can carry your logo.
Investors spend under three minutes on an average pitch deck, according to DocSend's deck metrics, so the argument has to be sound before the slides are polished. Because Ainna writes the deck from a graded concept, it rests on research you can defend in the room.
Does it help with go-to-market and getting my first customers?
Yes. Ainna plans what happens after the MVP is defined. You get a go-to-market plan: who to reach first, through which channels, with what message and at what price. You also get a short list of experiments to run before you commit, each with the assumption it tests, how to run it, what result counts as a pass and how much effort it takes.
The aim is evidence from real customers as early as possible. The US National Science Foundation expects the teams in its I-Corps programme to complete at least 100 customer interviews in seven weeks. Most first-time founders manage a handful. The plan tells you whom to talk to and what to ask.
What are the Decision Log and the Pivot Tracker?
They are the memory of your startup. The Decision Log records every significant choice about the product: which features made the MVP, which were cut, which customer you chose first, and the reason each time. The Pivot Tracker records every change of direction: what you believed, what you learned, what you changed and when.
Both fill in as you work. They matter more than they sound. Six months in, when an investor asks why you dropped the marketplace idea or a new hire asks why there is no mobile app, you show the answer instead of rebuilding it from memory.
Can my co-founder and founding team work with me?
Yes. Ainna is built for founding teams as much as for solo founders. Invite your co-founder and early team into one workspace. You brainstorm on the same board, comment on each other's concepts, review the grades together and agree the MVP scope in one place. Everyone sees the same problem, the same evidence and the same decisions.
It helps most where co-founders usually struggle: agreeing on direction. When two people favour different ideas, the Judge grades both on the same ten dimensions and your reviewers weigh in, so the choice is made on evidence. The Decision Log keeps what you agreed.
Should I share my business idea with AI? Is it safe in Ainna?
Your idea stays yours, stays private, and is never used to train AI models. Nothing you bring is published, shared with other users or sold. Only you, the teammates you invite and the reviewers you choose can see it, and reviewers see a codename, not your company. Your account is hosted in EU data centres under GDPR.
Some AI tools may use what you type to improve their models unless you switch that off, so check the data settings of any tool before you paste a business idea into it. With Ainna there is nothing to switch off. You can export your work at any time, and delete means delete: a single idea, or the whole workspace.
What is stealth mode, and what happens to my work when it ends?
Stealth mode is a way to buy Ainna for one fixed season instead of subscribing. You pay once for 3 months, with no renewal. During that time you have everything in Pro: the research, the Judge, your reviewers, the documents, the Decision Log and the Pivot Tracker. Your reviewers see a codename, and nothing ties the work to your name in public.
At the end you export everything in one go: every document as an editable file, with your decisions, pivots and research. Then you choose: keep the workspace, or hard-delete it. A hard delete removes your ideas, documents and history from Ainna for good. It suits founders who are still employed, work in a sensitive market, or simply want to do the thinking in private and then go build.
How much does Ainna cost, and can I try it for free?
You can try Ainna free for 7 days, with no credit card. The trial runs on your own idea, not on sample data, and includes a real grade from the Judge with its reasoning. After that there are two ways to continue as a founder: Pro at $99 a month, which you can cancel at any time, or a stealth season of 3 months for a single payment of $297.
Team adds seats for co-founders and a founding team. Annual billing saves up to 20%. There are no hidden fees, and grading again an idea you have already started never uses up your allowance.
I am not technical. Can I still use Ainna, and do I need a technical co-founder?
You do not need to be technical to use Ainna, and you do not need a technical co-founder to reach a clear MVP. Ainna works in plain language: you describe the problem and the customer, and it handles the research, the structure and the documents. Nothing in it requires code.
Whether you need a technical co-founder depends on the product. More than a third of new startups now have a single founder: 36.3% in the first half of 2025, up from 23.7% in 2019, according to Carta's solo founders report. Either way, the MVP definition and the product backlog Ainna produces are what a developer, an agency or an AI app builder needs to begin.
I want to start a business but have no ideas. Where do I start?
Start from a problem worth solving, not an idea. Problem Radar is Ainna's public list of problems worth solving, found in daily reporting and framed the same way each time: who lives with it, what it costs and why now. Pick one you understand or care about, and Ainna opens it in your private workspace for you to explore.
Many strong startups began this way: a founder who knew a problem well and had no product in mind. You can also browse the full Index by domain.
Your turn
Your problem.Your pitch.
Bring a business idea, an app idea or a problem you care about, or pick one from the Radar.
