I built a small tool to find relevant Reddit threads. Is this useful for founders?
I’ve been trying to find the first users for a small SaaS project.
One thing that surprised me is how hard it is to find good Reddit threads to comment on.
Not because there are no discussions, but because most of them are either old, too broad, or not really related to the problem.
So I built a small internal tool for myself.
It searches a list of subreddits with keywords I care about and shows me:
the thread title
subreddit
age
number of comments
score
post text
link to the thread
whether I already commented there
It does not post anything automatically. I don’t want a spam tool. I just wanted a faster way to find conversations that are actually relevant.
I don’t have a landing page for it. It’s just something I made while trying to distribute my own product.
Do other founders here search Reddit manually for this kind of thing?
Or is this one of those problems that feels annoying, but not useful enough to become a real tool?
Useful. The deeper problem we ran into is that the right thread matters less than recurring presence. First 5 humans in 2 subs beats first 50 Threads anywhere.
the "most threads are old, too broad, or not really related" pain is real — that's exactly where people burn hours. quick q more about you than the tool: when you were hunting for your first users, what made you stop searching manually and decide to build something instead? trying to map when people flip from "i'll just do this by hand" to "i'm building a tool for it." (and yeah — if it surfaces genuinely on-topic threads, i'd want to see it.)
Yeah, that was basically the reason I started building it.
I was trying to find people talking about cron jobs, background tasks, failed scripts, backups, etc., but manual Reddit search was pretty painful. A lot of results were either old, too broad, or not really related to the problem.
After a while I realized I was spending more time searching than actually talking to people, so I made a small tool to help surface newer and more relevant threads.
It is still rough, but the goal is not to automate commenting. I just want a better way to find real conversations where the problem already exists.
I can share a few examples once I clean it up a bit.
That "I was spending more time searching than actually talking to people" line really stuck with me — it's exactly the kind of moment I'm trying to map (when the meta-work quietly eats the real work). Would genuinely love to hear more about how you decide what's worth building vs. pushing through manually. I'm doing a few short 15-20 min chats with founders at this stage — no pitch, just your thinking, and I share back the patterns across everyone. If you're up for it: https://calendly.com/dusiktok/30min (small $25 thank-you too). And yes — would still love to see those examples when you clean it up 🙏
This resonates. One thing I keep noticing is that the strongest proof of a real problem usually shows up in conversation before it shows up in analytics. When people can describe their workaround in painful detail on a call, that is often a much stronger signal than polite survey feedback.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m trying to understand.
When I search manually, the useful threads are not always the ones with the most upvotes or the best keywords. They are often the ones where someone explains a painful workaround in detail.
That is what made me think the tool might be more useful as a signal discovery tool, not just a Reddit search tool.
I’m still not sure if this is worth turning into a real product, but this framing helps.
This is useful, but I’d be careful not to frame it as just a “Reddit thread finder.”
The stronger problem is signal discovery. Founders do not need more places to post. They need to find the few live conversations where their product can enter naturally, get seen by the right people, and not look like spam. That is much more valuable than keyword search across subreddits.
If you turn this into a real product, I’d pressure-test the naming early. A descriptive name around Reddit/search may make it feel like a small utility, even if the product becomes a broader GTM signal tool for founders.
Something like Exirra .com would fit that bigger direction better because it feels closer to intelligence, signal, and discovery rather than just “find Reddit threads.” That matters before the landing page is built, because the first name will decide whether people read this as a tiny side tool or a serious founder distribution layer.
Thanks, this is a useful way to think about it.
You’re right that “Reddit thread finder” sounds too small and too mechanical. The real problem I’m feeling is closer to signal discovery: finding live conversations where the problem already exists, and where joining the discussion would not feel forced.
I built the tool only because manual searching was wasting a lot of time, but the value is probably not the search itself. It is filtering out old, broad, or irrelevant threads and finding the few conversations worth paying attention to.
I’ll think more about the naming before building anything public. I don’t want it to look like a posting or spam tool.
Thanks for the framing — it helps.
One practical thought.
Since you are still before building the public landing page, this is probably the right moment to pressure-test the category and naming properly.
The big decision is whether this should be framed as a Reddit search tool, a founder distribution tool, or a broader signal discovery layer. That decision will shape the name, landing page, pricing, and who takes it seriously.
I do focused naming/positioning audits for early products: current name risk, category frame, domain/name ceiling, and what stronger direction I’d take before users, launch assets, or public memory build around the first version.
Not a long consulting thing. Just a sharp written breakdown you can use before committing to the landing page.
I’m doing a few of these at $99 while refining the format. If useful, connect here and I can put together a clear outside read for the product:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-y-0163b0278/
Exactly. The product gets much more interesting when it is framed as signal discovery, not Reddit search.
The naming matters because the wrong frame will attract the wrong expectations. If it sounds like a Reddit posting/search utility, people will compare it to cheap keyword tools. If it sounds like a signal layer for founder distribution, it can sit in a much more valuable category.
That is why Exirra.com came to mind. It gives you room to build around intelligence, discovery, and high-signal GTM without being tied to Reddit as the wedge.
I would not overthink the name if this stays a small internal tool. But if you are seriously considering making it public, I’d pressure-test the name before the landing page and first users lock in the category.
If Exirra feels like a real candidate, happy to discuss privately instead of cluttering the thread.