Pain Point Finder
Discover validated pain points on Reddit. Searches for frustrations, complaints, and unmet needs, then analyzes comment threads for agreement signals and failed solutions. Powered by PullPush API — no API keys needed.
Workflow
Follow these 4 phases in order. Each phase builds on the previous.
Phase 1: Discover Subreddits
Find the right subreddits for the user's domain.
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs discover --domain "<user's domain>" --limit 8
Example:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs discover --domain "project management" --limit 8
Take the top 3-5 subreddits from the output for phase 2.
Phase 2: Scan for Pain Points
Broad search across discovered subreddits.
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs scan \
--subreddits "<sub1>,<sub2>,<sub3>" \
--domain "<domain>" \
--days 90 \
--limit 20
Example:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs scan \
--subreddits "projectmanagement,SaaS,smallbusiness" \
--domain "project management" \
--days 90 \
--limit 20
Review the scored posts. Posts with high painScore and high num_comments are the best candidates for deep analysis.
Phase 3: Deep-Dive Analysis
Analyze comment threads of top posts for agreement and solution signals.
Single post:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs deep-dive --post <post_id>
Top N from scan output:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs deep-dive --from-scan <scan_output.json> --top 5
Look at the validationStrength field:
- strong: widespread, validated pain (agreementRatio > 0.20, 10+ agreements)
- moderate: notable pain with some validation
- weak: some signal but limited agreement
- anecdotal: one person's complaint, needs more evidence
Phase 4: Synthesis (you do this)
For each validated pain point, present a structured proposal:
- Problem: One-sentence description of the pain
- Evidence: Top quotes + agreement count + subreddit
- Who feels this: Type of person/business affected
- Current solutions & gaps: What people have tried (from
solutionAttempts) and why it fails - Competitive landscape: Tools mentioned (from
mentionedTools) - Opportunity: What's missing in current solutions
- Idea sketch: Brief product/service concept
- Validation: strong/moderate/weak + data backing it
Options Reference
discover
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--domain |
required | Domain to explore |
--limit |
10 | Max subreddits to return |
scan
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--subreddits |
required | Comma-separated subreddit list |
--domain |
Domain for extra search queries | |
--days |
365 | How far back to search |
--minScore |
1 | Min post score filter |
--minComments |
3 | Min comment count filter |
--limit |
30 | Max posts to return |
--pages |
2 | Pages per query (more = deeper, slower) |
deep-dive
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--post |
Single post ID or Reddit URL | |
--from-scan |
Path to scan output JSON | |
--stdin |
Read scan JSON from stdin | |
--top |
10 | How many posts to analyze from scan |
--maxComments |
200 | Max comments to fetch per post |
Rate Limits
The script self-limits to 1 request/sec, 30/min, 300/run. If PullPush is slow or returns errors, it retries with exponential backoff. Progress is logged to stderr.
Tips
- Start broad with
--days 90then narrow to--days 30for recent trends - High
num_comments+ highscore= validated pain (many people agree) - High
painScore+ lownum_comments= niche pain (worth investigating) - The
mentionedToolsin deep-dive output maps the competitive landscape - Posts with
validationStrength: "strong"are the best startup candidates