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SME Ninja

Diagnose. Develop. Commercialise.

Answer questions about your technology, market, team and finances, see where you stand and why, then work through modules and tools that produce real company outputs.

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The SME Ninja company diagnostic, section 1 of 6, “Opportunity and customer”, with a question about how clearly the problem is defined and answer options from “Not yet written down” to “Problem quantified and confirmed”.

How it works

  1. Diagnose

    Answer questions about your technology, market, team and finances, and mark what you do not yet know. The diagnostic covers 18 capability dimensions in 30 questions, takes about 20 minutes and saves as you go.

  2. Understand

    See an indicated stage, your strengths and gaps in a capability profile, and the reasoning behind every recommendation.

  3. Build

    Work through recommended modules and the toolkit, producing real company outputs: analyses, business cases and plans you can use in bids, investor packs and data rooms.

  4. Commercialise

    Turn the work into action: an action plan, data rooms for investors and partners, consortium bids and support from your advisers.

  5. Reassess

    Repeat the diagnostic every six months to show how your capability has grown: evidence for your team, advisers and funders.

Inside SME Ninja

See each step

The diagnostic

Six sections, one question at a time or a whole section at once, with “Why we ask this” on every question.

The SME Ninja company diagnostic, section 1 of 6, “Opportunity and customer”, with a question about how clearly the problem is defined and answer options from “Not yet written down” to “Problem quantified and confirmed”.

Results and pathway

Your indicated stage, confidence, strengths and gaps, and recommended modules with the reasoning shown.

SME Ninja results for an illustrative company: “Example Innovations Ltd is at Explore”, stage 1 of 7 with moderate confidence, its strengths and a place to build, and a stage trail from Explore to Scale.

Module library

Modules filtered by capability area, stage and format, with the ones recommended for your company marked.

The SME Ninja module library: 17 published modules as cards, with filters for capability area, development stage and format.

Toolkit

Tools for every stage, from exploring an idea to scaling up, organised so the ones that help most come first.

The SME Ninja toolkit, with tools grouped by stage from Explore to Scale and Finance, and the number of tools in each.

From first idea to growth

The diagnostic indicates a stage on this route, mapped to the Technology Readiness Levels funders use.

  • Explore (TRL 1–2)

    Investigating an opportunity, need or scientific principle.

  • Define (TRL 2–3)

    Framing the problem, the user and the concept.

  • Validate (TRL 3–5)

    Testing the concept with users and in controlled conditions.

  • Demonstrate (TRL 5–7)

    Proving performance in a relevant or operational setting.

  • Launch (TRL 7–8)

    Entering the market with first paying customers.

  • Grow (TRL 8–9)

    Building repeatable sales and organisational capacity.

  • Scale (TRL 9)

    Expanding capacity, markets and geographies.

Questions about the diagnostic

Is this a score?

No. SME Ninja indicates a stage and says how confident that indication is, based on your answers and the evidence you can provide. Wording such as “current evidence suggests” is deliberate: it is a starting point for a conversation, not a grade.

Who can see our answers?

Your company’s workspace is private to your company. Advisers see only what you choose to share with them.

Does the AI write our answers?

No. Where it is switched on for your company, SME Ninja’s AI explains, checks and challenges, using only your company’s data and published content. It never changes scores, stages or recommendations.

Start your company diagnostic

About 20 minutes. Saves as you go. Confidential to your company.

Go to sme.ninja