I built a SaaS validation engine with 63K Reddit problems — here's what I learned
Hey IH!
5 weeks ago I posted "Day 1 of building in public." Then I went quiet.
I didn't quit. I was heads-down building.
Today I'm shipping: nichesaas.io
The Problem
Most founders fail because they:
- Build something no one asked for
- Build something that already exists
- Enter a saturated market
I wanted ONE tool to check all three before writing code.
What I Built
NicheSaaS — a SaaS validation engine:
- 63,000 Reddit problems analyzed
- 1,500 products mapped
- 91 market clusters identified
Ask it anything:
- "What problems do freelancers have?"
- "What invoicing tools exist?"
- "What gaps are in HR tech?"
It searches everything and finds opportunities.
What Makes It Different
🔍 Find problems → Real pain points from Reddit
🏢 See solutions → What already exists
📊 Spot gaps → AI-powered opportunity scores
Every result links to the source. No hallucinations.
My Story
This is my first indie product. No VC. No team. Just me shipping between a 9-5.
Built it because I needed it. Now it's free for everyone.
Try It
Would love your feedback. Drop a niche in the comments and I'll run an analysis for you.
Ship fast, fail faster 🚀
Really cool that you included invoicing in the product map. I actually built a tool in the invoicing/bookkeeping space and can confirm that Reddit is where the real pain points surface — people don't complain about transaction categorization on Twitter, they write paragraphs about it on r/smallbusiness and r/Bookkeeping.
One thing I've noticed that might be hard to capture automatically: the most actionable problems on Reddit aren't the ones with the most upvotes. They're the ones where the OP describes a specific workflow in painful detail and gets 3-4 replies saying 'same.' Those mid-engagement threads are where the real signal lives.
Curious about your opportunity scoring — how do you weight 'existing solutions' vs 'complaint volume'? Because in bookkeeping, there are hundreds of tools but people still complain constantly. The gap isn't 'no tool exists,' it's 'existing tools are too complex for the actual use case.'