Tubegraph

Identifying trends and opportunities on Reddit

4 min read

From: gregisenberg

Using Reddit is presented as a highly effective method for finding validated startup ideas and for validating startup ideas generally [00:00:24]. This approach can lead to multi-million dollar businesses by identifying ideas that resonate with people [00:00:39].

Process for Finding Startup Ideas

The process involves a four-step approach using specific AI tools [00:00:05]:

The first step is to identify what’s trending within Reddit [00:01:46].

  • Tool: Gummy Search [00:01:31].
  • Feature: Use the “trending” section to view top subreddits [00:01:40].
  • Focus: Look for subreddits with 10,000 to 100,000 members, as these are often newer, trending communities that answer the “why now” question for building something [00:02:17].
  • Action: Scroll through the list, sorting by daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly growth [00:01:56]. Consider if you have an “unfair advantage” or connection to the niche [00:02:58]. Take notes on interesting communities [00:03:25]. It’s recommended to check Gummy Search every few weeks to find new niches [00:04:09].

Step 2: Identifying Problems and Solutions

Once an interesting subreddit is selected, the next step is to find problems and potential solutions within that community [00:04:51]. This helps in formulating a startup idea for which people would pay [00:05:03].

  • Tool: Gummy Search (Audience feature) [00:05:22].
  • Action:
    1. Create an Audience: Add the chosen subreddit (and similar ones) to an audience [00:05:57].
    2. Pain and Anger: Explore the “pain and anger” category to identify common problems and patterns within the community [00:06:53]. Gummy Search uses AI to summarize submissions and find common patterns [00:07:08]. This helps in generating ideas for products or content that address these issues (e.g., potty training challenges, dog eating habits) [00:08:18].
    3. Advice Requests: Check the “advice requests” category to see what products or solutions people are actively asking for [00:10:11]. These are “people screaming they want these products to exist” [00:10:36]. Pay attention to upvotes and comments [00:11:00].
    4. Solution Requests: Review the “solution requests” to understand the competitive landscape and what products people are already using to deal with their problems [00:12:40].
  • Output: Document all ideas, problems, and competitive insights in a one-pager or Google Doc [00:09:56].

Step 3: Researching Niche Creators

To further understand the community and potential marketing avenues, research creators in the chosen niche [00:13:34].

  • Tool: Perplexity.ai [00:13:38].
  • Action: Prompt Perplexity.ai to list popular or educational influencers (e.g., “25 most popular dog influencers on YouTube”) [00:13:51].
  • Platform: Go to YouTube channels of these creators. Sort their videos by “most popular” [00:15:15].
  • Action: Read the comments section of popular videos. This helps to understand what people want and are thinking about, putting you “in their shoes” [00:15:37]. Repeat this for 20-25 videos, noting what is learned [00:16:11].

Step 4: Wireframing and Naming the Idea

Based on the gathered insights, develop a tangible representation of the idea [00:16:19].

  • Action:
    1. Wireframe the Website: Sketch out or create a simple wireframe for the proposed website or service (e.g., using Framer) [00:17:05].
    2. Develop a Catchy Name: Come up with a name that is validated and resonates with the target audience [00:17:52]. Sometimes, a subreddit name itself can be used, or insights from the community can inspire a new category name (e.g., “design science” for a design agency that focuses on data and conversion) [00:17:59].

Creating Content People Will Love

Reddit can also be used to generate content ideas that will resonate with an audience [00:01:21].

  • Tool: Gummy Search [00:18:20].
  • Feature: Go to the “top content” section within the audience [00:18:31].
  • Action: Analyze the best-performing content to identify common patterns, effective formats (e.g., long stories, memes), and what the community cares about [00:18:43]. You can also directly ask Gummy Search questions about content preferences (e.g., “Do they love memes?“) [00:19:18].

By observing and writing down ideas from various communities on Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok, it’s possible to identify validated startup ideas and build successful businesses [00:20:21].

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