From manually searching Reddit to automating it — how I built LeadsFromURL as a solo founder
Every morning I'd open Reddit, search things like "looking for a tool that," "anyone recommend," "alternative to" — and manually scroll through dozens of subreddits trying to find people who needed what I was building.
It worked. When you reply to someone who's actively asking for a solution, the conversion rate is insane compared to cold outreach or ads. But it took 2-3 hours a day. Every day.
So I automated it. That became LeadsFromURL.
How it works
You paste your website URL. The AI reads your site, figures out who your ideal buyer is, and scans Reddit for posts where someone is describing a problem you solve.
Each result gets a match score. You get a suggested reply written in the tone of that community. You review it, edit it, and post it yourself — nothing gets sent without you seeing it first.
What I got right
Intent signals matter more than keywords. I built 14 signal patterns — "I need," "switching from," "budget ready," "frustrated with" — and score posts on buying intent, not just topic match. This killed 90% of the noise.
Karma is a hidden wall nobody talks about. If your Reddit account is new, most subreddits silently remove your comments. You never even know. I added karma-building tools so people can build real reputation before they start engaging leads.
Daily auto-sync keeps it hands-off. People told me they wanted it to "just show up in my dashboard every morning." So it refreshes automatically and you only look at the filtered results.
What I got wrong
V1 had way too much noise. Early versions matched on keywords alone. Someone posting about "the best pizza in Brooklyn" would match if you sold pizza ovens. I had to add an AI confidence layer on top of the regex signals to actually understand context. Anything below 72% confidence gets dropped.
I underpriced at launch. Started at $5/mo thinking volume would make up for it. It didn't. Moved to $9.90/mo for the base plan with a 7-day free trial and conversions actually went UP. People assumed $5 meant it was a toy.
Scope creep nearly killed me. I kept wanting to add Twitter, LinkedIn, forums. Stayed focused on Reddit only and that was the right call — one platform done well beats three done badly.
Current pricing
Standard: $9.90/mo (1 search, 35 results/day)
Growth: $19.90/mo (5 searches, 150 results/day)
Pro: $49.90/mo (10 searches, team seats)
Ultimate: $99.90/mo (50 searches, hourly sync)
All plans include AI reply suggestions and the karma builder.
Stack
Next.js, Supabase, Stripe, Vercel, Resend for emails. Chrome extension for the Reddit tools. The whole thing is a one-person operation.
What's next
Honestly not sure. Thinking about expanding to other platforms but also wondering if going deeper on Reddit is the better play. Would love to hear from other founders:
How do you currently find people who need your product? (Genuinely curious — I might be solving a problem that only I had)
Would you pay for this if it covered Twitter/LinkedIn too, or is Reddit enough?
What's your take on the ethics of replying to Reddit threads as a business? I've thought about this a lot and landed on: if someone is literally asking for a recommendation, answering them is helpful, not spammy. But I know not everyone agrees.
Site is at leadsfromurl.com if you want to try it. Happy to answer anything.
