DM Redditors Who Posted the Exact Problem You Solve

DM Redditors Who Posted the Exact Problem You Solve is a cold outreach tactic for getting your first users: A commenter reports success DMing users who post about specific problems the product solves; response rate is low but each hit is a hyper-qualified lead who already described their pain.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for Products solving a clearly stated pain. As a cold outreach play, plan for medium effort and expect results to arrive at a steady pace, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Cold outreachMedium effortMedium

Why does cold outreach work for this?

People who publicly post a problem are pre-qualified and primed to hear about a solution.

The exact steps (5)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

Unlock the steps · $29 oncePlus all 3,000+ tactics and the new ones we add weekly.

Sources

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "DM Redditors Who Posted the Exact Problem You Solve" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is medium effort, and results tend to be medium.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

Related tactics

Cold outreachMedium effort· Fast

DM Founders Already in Your Network, Rapport First

Mine your existing LinkedIn connections for founders, open with a personal conversation to build rapport, then pitch the team benefit.

Read the steps →
Cold outreachLow effort· Fast

Route Cold-Email Validation Through One Gmail, Not Paid Mailboxes

A cheap way to run cold-email validation campaigns across several unrelated landing-page domains without paying for separate email hosting on each one.

Read the steps →
Cold outreachLow effort· Medium

Ask the People Who Reject You Exactly Why

When a cold prospect declines, get them to spell out the precise reason, then use that feedback to rebuild the pitch (here a rejection revealed that generic, non-personalized pitches were the core problem and inspired the whole product).

Read the steps →
Cold outreachMedium effort· Medium

Use Twitter and Reddit Search to Reply to People With the Problem

The maker treated Twitter and Reddit search as targeting tools, searching for people talking about the problem his app solves and leaving them a message, having shifted from DMs to public replies.

Read the steps →
Cold outreachMedium effort· Medium

Mine #JournoRequest on Twitter and Email Journalists Directly

Use IFTTT to scrape tweets tagged #JournoRequest into a spreadsheet, filter by your keywords, then email the reporter directly instead of going through a PR middleman.

Read the steps →
Cold outreachMedium effort· Medium

Get a Verbal Yes Before Sending the Survey Link

Instead of dropping a survey link and hoping, the maker first asked in DM whether the person would be willing to give feedback, and only sent the website and survey link after they said yes, which made completion far more likely.

Read the steps →

Get all 3,000+ tactics in one place

Filter by your product and channel, follow the exact steps, and get the new tactics we add every week. One payment, yours for good.