How to find people asking for your product on Reddit
Short answer: search Reddit for the problem your product solves, not your product name, sort by New, and filter to the last week. Posts that say "is there a tool", "alternative to" or "how do I" are people asking for what you built. Want those posts in your inbox every morning with a reply drafted? First10 does the searching for you.
Get your free weekly digest See a sample
1. Write down the problem in your users' words
List 5–10 phrases a stranger would type before they knew your product existed. For a screenshot tool that might be "annotate screenshots", "share a screen recording" or "Loom alternative". Avoid your own jargon. If nobody would say it out loud, nobody searches for it.
2. Use Reddit search with intent phrases
Combine each problem phrase with an intent phrase, then sort by New and set the time filter to Past week. These patterns work well:
"is there a tool" invoice
"alternative to" Notion
"how do I" track habits
"looking for an app" meal planning
"recommend" CRM freelancerTo search one community, add subreddit:SaaS (or the subreddit you want) to the query. You can also bookmark the URL reddit.com/search/?q=...&sort=new&t=week and check it daily.
3. Pick the right subreddits
Your buyers hang out where the problem lives, not in founder communities. A budgeting app's users are in r/personalfinance, not r/startups. Read the top posts of the month in 3–5 subreddits and note which ones ask for recommendations often and allow them in their rules.
4. Score posts before you reply
Reply first to posts that are recent (under 48 hours), name a specific problem, and have few answers. A post asking "what do you all use for X?" with 2 comments is worth more than a viral rant with 400.
5. Reply like the person who solved it
Answer the question first, mention free options if they exist, then say plainly that you built something and link it only if it fits. Check each subreddit's self-promotion rules before posting. Our guide to Reddit replies that don't get removed has a template.
6. Do it daily, or automate the finding
Ten good replies a day to people already describing your problem usually beats any launch post. The slow part is searching. First10 scans Reddit and X for posts asking for what you built and emails you a ranked list with reply drafts every morning. You still post every reply yourself; First10 never auto-posts.
Also useful: three X searches that find people asking for your tool and how to get your first users for an AI app.