I'm trying to assess the competition and come up with a niche. There are two VAs in my area--a small capital city--with state government, a growing hi-tech sector, and several non-profit associations in addition to a few larger companies.

I would like to offer VA marketing services--press releases, e-newsletters, event announcements and planning--as well as grant research and writing to hi-tech startups and non-profit organizations. The other two VAs in my area do offer some overlapping services but not grant writing and research. I also do HTML coding, which can come in handy for the electronic communications pieces. I'm also trained in journalism and can write articles.

How can I figure out if my local market can handle another VA? How do I go about assessing market share? I'm also looking for stats about hi-tech startups in New York State but haven't found a good source for numbers.
A leader of the NYS Incubator Association suggested I look at the S&P databases, but I don't see a category for technology start-ups.

Does anyone have any ideas about how I can assess the market?