How to Find Problems Worth Solving on Reddit
Reddit is full of complaints. Most are not business opportunities.
The skill is identifying which problems are worth solving — problems that are frequent enough, painful enough, and valuable enough to build a business around.
What Makes a Problem Worth Solving
A problem worth solving has these characteristics:
1. Frequency
How often does this problem occur?
Daily problems: High opportunity (habits form)
Weekly problems: Good opportunity
Monthly problems: Moderate opportunity
Yearly problems: Harder to build habits around
2. Intensity
How painful is the problem?
Must-solve: Cannot function without solving
Should-solve: Significantly better when solved
Could-solve: Nice to have a solution
Why-solve: Barely a problem at all
3. Willingness to Pay
Will people spend money on a solution?
Indicators:
- Already spending on inferior solutions
- Mention budget or cost
- Describe financial impact of the problem
- Time equals money for them
4. Accessibility
Can you reach people who have this problem?
Easy: They gather in specific subreddits
Moderate: They are distributed but findable
Hard: No clear gathering places
The Problem Qualification Framework
For every problem you find, rate it:
Total 24+: Strong opportunity
Total 18-23: Worth investigating
Total below 18: Probably not worth pursuing
Finding High-Quality Problems
Search Strategies
Frequency indicators:
- "Every time I have to..."
- "Always struggle with..."
- "Daily battle with..."
- "Constantly dealing with..."
Intensity indicators:
- "I hate this so much"
- "This is driving me crazy"
- "I would pay anything"
- "Biggest frustration"
- "Wasting hours on"
Willingness to pay indicators:
- "Worth investing in"
- "How much would it cost to"
- "Currently paying for"
- "Hired someone to"
Where to Search
High-value subreddits:
- r/Entrepreneur - Business problems
- r/smallbusiness - SMB operations
- r/startups - Founder challenges
- Industry-specific subs - Niche problems
Problem-rich post types:
- "Rant" or "vent" posts
- Help requests
- Tool recommendation threads
- "How do you handle X" discussions
Problem Patterns That Work
The Time Trap
"I spend X hours per week on [task]"
Why it works: Time is money. If you can give people hours back, they will pay.
Examples:
- "I spend my entire Sunday on expense reports"
- "Data entry takes 10 hours a week"
- "Meeting scheduling wastes half my day"
The Skill Gap
"I need to do X but do not know how"
Why it works: Learning is painful. If you can skip the learning curve, they will pay.
Examples:
- "Need a website but cannot code"
- "Need marketing help but cannot afford an agency"
- "Want to analyze data but not a data scientist"
The Coordination Problem
"Getting everyone on the same page is impossible"
Why it works: Coordination is messy. Tools that align people are valuable.
Examples:
- "My team uses different tools and nothing syncs"
- "Clients never give feedback on time"
- "Remote collaboration is chaos"
The Compliance Burden
"We have to do X for legal/regulatory reasons"
Why it works: Non-negotiable requirements with painful processes are goldmines.
Examples:
- "GDPR compliance is a nightmare"
- "Financial audits take weeks"
- "We manually track everything for compliance"
The Integration Gap
"Tool A does not talk to Tool B"
Why it works: Modern work requires many tools. Connections between them are valuable.
Examples:
- "I export from X and manually import to Y"
- "No good integration between these tools"
- "Wish these would sync automatically"
Problem Patterns to Avoid
The Hobby Problem
"I want to do X but it is hard"
Why it fails: Hobbyists resist paying. The problem is optional.
The Rare Problem
"Once a year I need to..."
Why it fails: Infrequent problems do not build habits or recurring revenue.
The Trivial Problem
"It is a little annoying when..."
Why it fails: Not painful enough to pay for.
The Already-Solved Problem
"I use [tool] and it works fine"
Why it fails: Switching costs are real. Good-enough solutions are hard to displace.
The Unsolvable Problem
"The fundamental issue is..."
Why it fails: Some problems cannot be solved with software.
Validation Techniques
Counting Mentions
Search for the problem across multiple subreddits and count:
- How many posts mention it?
- What is the average upvote count?
- How many comments per post?
- How recent are the posts?
Checking Solutions
Search for what people currently do:
- What tools do they mention?
- What workarounds have they built?
- How much are they spending?
- What are they complaining about?
Looking for Switching
Search for people changing solutions:
- "Switched from X because..."
- "Looking for alternative to..."
- "Used to use X but..."
This indicates both pain (current solution failed) and willingness to try new things.
From Problem to Opportunity Assessment
The Opportunity Canvas
Problem Statement:
[One sentence describing the problem]
Target User:
[Who specifically has this problem]
Current Solutions:
[What they do today]
Why Current Solutions Fail:
[The gap you will fill]
Your Solution Hypothesis:
[How you will solve it]
Evidence from Reddit:
- X posts mention this problem
- Average Y upvotes per post
- Common complaint: "[quote]"
- Willingness to pay indicator: "[quote]"
Score: [Total from qualification framework]
Real Example: Evaluating a Problem
Problem Discovered
"I spend 5+ hours every week manually updating my CRM from email conversations"
Qualification
Total: 24 — Strong opportunity
Conclusion
This problem is worth investigating further. The frequency, intensity, and willingness to pay are all high. Competition exists but is not fully solving the problem.
Next Steps After Finding a Problem
- Deep dive research - Find 20+ posts about this problem
- Solution mapping - Document all existing solutions and their weaknesses
- User interviews - Reach out to people who posted about the problem
- MVP definition - Define the minimum solution that addresses the core pain
- Market sizing - Estimate how many people have this problem
Conclusion
Not every Reddit complaint is a business opportunity. The skill is knowing which problems are worth solving.
Look for frequency, intensity, willingness to pay, and accessibility. Avoid rare, trivial, or already-solved problems.
Find the right problem, and building the business becomes much easier.
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