Customer Discovery

Early Consideration Reddit: How to Find Your First Customers

8 min read

Why Reddit Is Your Secret Weapon for Early Customer Discovery

You’ve got an idea. Maybe it’s fully formed, maybe it’s just a hunch. But before you build anything, you need to know if people actually want what you’re creating. That’s where early consideration comes in - and Reddit is one of the best places to find it.

Reddit isn’t just a social platform; it’s a goldmine of honest, unfiltered conversations about real problems. Unlike polished LinkedIn posts or carefully curated Instagram feeds, Reddit users share their frustrations, questions, and needs without a filter. For entrepreneurs in the early consideration phase, this raw feedback is invaluable.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to leverage Reddit to find your first customers, validate your assumptions, and build a product people actually want - before you write a single line of code.

Understanding the Early Consideration Phase

Early consideration is the critical period when potential customers first become aware they have a problem and start exploring potential solutions. It’s the phase before they’re actively comparing products or ready to buy - they’re still defining their needs and understanding their options.

For startups, capturing attention during early consideration is crucial because:

Lower competition: Fewer solutions are targeting people who don’t yet know what they need
Higher influence: You can shape how prospects think about their problem
Better product-market fit: You can build exactly what they need, not what you think they need
Authentic relationships: Early conversations build trust and loyalty

Reddit excels at early consideration because users come to communities seeking advice, sharing frustrations, and asking “is this normal?” questions - all signals that someone is in the discovery phase.

Finding the Right Subreddits for Your Target Audience

Not all subreddits are created equal for early consideration. You need communities where your target audience actively discusses problems, seeks advice, and shares frustrations.

Start with Problem-Focused Communities

Look for subreddits where people discuss challenges, not just showcase solutions. For example:

r/productivity – People struggling with time management and efficiency
r/Entrepreneur – Founders facing business challenges
r/smallbusiness – Small business owners seeking practical advice
r/freelance – Independent workers managing client relationships and workload

Evaluate Community Engagement

Size matters, but engagement matters more. A subreddit with 50,000 active members beats one with 500,000 lurkers. Look for:

Recent posts (within the last 24 hours)
High comment counts on discussions
Genuine questions and advice-seeking posts
Active moderation (shows community health)

Map Multiple Communities

Don’t rely on a single subreddit. Your ideal customer likely participates in several communities. Create a map of 5-10 subreddits where different aspects of their life or work might surface pain points.

Identifying Early Consideration Signals

Once you’ve found your communities, you need to recognize when someone is in early consideration mode. Look for these telltale phrases and patterns:

Question Patterns That Signal Early Consideration

“Does anyone else struggle with…”
“How do you handle…”
“Is there a better way to…”
“What’s the best approach for…”
“Am I the only one who finds… frustrating?”

Frustration Signals

Pay attention to emotional language. Posts with frustration indicators like “sick of,” “tired of,” “can’t believe,” or “why is there no…” reveal pain points that haven’t found satisfactory solutions.

Comparison Shopping Questions

When users ask “what tools do you use for X?” they’re in early consideration - they know they need something but haven’t committed to a solution yet. These threads are goldmines for understanding the competitive landscape through your customers’ eyes.

How to Use Reddit Insights to Validate Your Idea

Reading posts is one thing; systematically validating your startup idea is another. Here’s a framework for turning Reddit conversations into actionable insights.

The Pain Point Analysis Method

Create a simple spreadsheet tracking:

Pain point: What specific problem is mentioned?
Frequency: How often does it appear?
Intensity: How urgent/painful is it? (Check upvotes and comment sentiment)
Current workarounds: What solutions do people mention?
Gaps: What’s missing from existing solutions?

Spend 30 minutes daily for two weeks analyzing posts. You’ll quickly see patterns emerge - certain problems will dominate, while others are one-offs.

The Five-Person Validation Rule

If you see the same pain point independently mentioned by five different people across multiple communities, you’ve found something worth exploring. This isn’t about confirmation bias - it’s about statistical significance in qualitative research.

Using PainOnSocial to Accelerate Your Reddit Research

Manual Reddit research works, but it’s time-consuming. If you’re serious about early consideration research and need to move faster, PainOnSocial automates exactly this process.

Instead of spending hours scrolling through subreddits and manually tracking pain points in spreadsheets, PainOnSocial uses AI to analyze real Reddit discussions and surface the most frequent and intense problems people are discussing. It provides:

Evidence-backed pain points: Real quotes from actual users, not assumptions
Smart scoring (0-100): Quickly identify which problems matter most
Direct permalinks: Click through to read full context and verify insights
Curated subreddits: Access 30+ pre-selected communities known for high-quality discussions

For early consideration research specifically, PainOnSocial helps you identify not just what problems exist, but which ones people are actively seeking solutions for right now. The upvote counts and engagement metrics give you confidence that these aren’t isolated complaints - they’re validated pain points worth addressing.

Engaging With Early Consideration Prospects

Finding the conversations is step one. Participating meaningfully is step two. Reddit has strict norms against self-promotion, so your approach needs to be genuinely helpful.

The Value-First Approach

Never lead with your product. Instead:

Share relevant experiences and lessons learned
Offer thoughtful advice based on your expertise
Ask clarifying questions to understand the problem better
Contribute to the community consistently before mentioning any solution

When to Mention Your Startup

Only mention your product when:

Someone explicitly asks for tool recommendations
You’ve built genuine credibility through helpful contributions
Your solution directly addresses the specific problem discussed
You’re transparent about being the founder

Frame it humbly: “I actually built something to solve this exact problem because I struggled with it too. Happy to share if you’re interested.” This positions you as someone who understands their pain, not a salesperson.

Building Your Early Consideration Pipeline

Consistent Reddit research should become part of your routine. Here’s a sustainable system:

Daily Habits (15-20 minutes)

Check your 5-10 target subreddits for new posts
Save 2-3 relevant threads for deeper analysis
Leave one thoughtful comment on a discussion

Weekly Deep Dives (60-90 minutes)

Analyze saved threads from the week
Update your pain point tracking spreadsheet
Identify emerging patterns or new problem areas
Reach out to 1-2 people for follow-up conversations (via DM, offering value)

Monthly Reviews

Review all data collected
Identify your top 3 validated pain points
Adjust your product roadmap based on insights
Explore 1-2 new subreddits to diversify your research

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced founders make these Reddit research mistakes:

Confirmation Bias

Don’t just look for evidence that supports your idea. Actively seek disconfirming evidence. If you can’t find people complaining about your supposed pain point, that’s crucial data.

Treating Every Comment as Gospel

Reddit users can be vocal outliers. One angry comment isn’t a trend. Look for patterns across multiple threads and users.

Lurking Forever

Reading without engaging means missing out on deeper insights. You learn more from conversations than observations.

Spam and Self-Promotion

Nothing kills your credibility faster than dropping product links inappropriately. Respect community norms or risk getting banned.

Turning Reddit Insights Into Action

Research without action is just procrastination in disguise. Here’s how to move from insights to execution:

Prioritize Based on Data

Use your tracking spreadsheet to rank pain points by:

Frequency (how often it appears)
Intensity (engagement metrics, emotional language)
Solution gap (how poorly existing solutions work)
Alignment with your capabilities and vision

Create Customer Personas from Real People

Don’t invent personas - build them from actual Reddit users. Include:

Specific pain points they’ve mentioned
Their exact language and terminology
Current workarounds they use
What they value in solutions

Validate Before Building

Before investing months in development, create a simple landing page describing your solution and share it (appropriately) in relevant threads. Measure interest through email signups or survey responses.

Conclusion: Reddit as Your Early Consideration Advantage

Early consideration research on Reddit isn’t about finding a quick win - it’s about building deep understanding of your customers before they become customers. The entrepreneurs who succeed aren’t necessarily the ones with the best ideas; they’re the ones who listen best.

Reddit gives you direct access to the raw, unfiltered truth about what people struggle with. By systematically tracking pain points, engaging authentically, and building solutions based on real needs, you dramatically increase your chances of creating something people actually want.

Start today with just one subreddit. Spend 15 minutes reading discussions. Take notes. Ask questions. The insights you gain will be worth far more than any amount of theoretical market research.

Your first customers are already talking about their problems on Reddit. The question is: are you listening?