HowTheyGotUsersHowTheyGotUsers

Target Subreddits Where the Pain Is Felt, Not Where the Solution Lives

Target Subreddits Where the Pain Is Felt, Not Where the Solution Lives is a reddit & forums tactic for getting your first users: He realized his budgeting app converted better in adjacent-pain subs (r/MiddleClassFinance, r/Frugal, r/povertyfinance, r/jobs, r/college) than in the obvious r/personalfinance, because his real users don't identify as budgeters yet.

It's a strong fit for Consumer / mobile apps teams, and works especially well for consumer apps, any pre-aware audience. As a reddit & forums play, plan for low effort and expect results to arrive at a steady pace, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Reddit & forumsLow effortMedium

Why does reddit & forums work for this?

Pre-aware users gather where they feel the problem, not where the mature product category is already discussed.

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 / universalConsumer / mobile apps

Frequently asked

What kind of products does the "Target Subreddits Where the Pain Is Felt, Not Where the Solution Lives" tactic work for?
It is a good fit for Consumer / mobile apps — pick it when your product looks like that, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.
How is the "Target Subreddits Where the Pain Is Felt, Not Where the Solution Lives" 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 low 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

Reddit & forumsLow effort· Fast

Reverse-Engineer Customers From Top Subreddit Threads

Use a niche subreddit as free customer research: read the highest-voted threads and their comments to learn what your target audience actually cares about, then turn recurring complaints into product or feature ideas.

Read the steps →
Reddit & forumsMedium effort· Slow

Warm the Reddit Account for a Week Before Mentioning Your Product

Spend roughly a week posting and commenting helpfully on Reddit before promoting anything, so the account doesn't look like it was created purely to advertise.

Read the steps →
Reddit & forumsMedium effort· Slow

Farm Comment Karma First to Beat Reddit's New-Account Sandbox

New Reddit accounts sit in a low Contributor Quality Score tier that auto-removes posts and collapses comments; you escape it by verifying email and earning karma specifically from comments, not posts, before promoting anything.

Read the steps →
Reddit & forumsMedium effort· Medium

Post Across Subreddits to Find Warm Pockets, Then DM There

Seed posts in many subreddits to test where interest exists, then concentrate direct messages on members of the subreddits that responded.

Read the steps →
Reddit & forumsMedium effort· Slow

Recover Reddit Account Trust by Aging It, Not Posting More

After two posts were auto-removed and his account got shadow-removed (comments visible only to him), he learned VPNs, DNS changes, and stripping promo content don't fix a trust deficit, only aged participation does.

Read the steps →
Reddit & forumsMedium effort· Slow

Ride Reddit's Google Rankings

Because Reddit threads rank highly in Google and many people deliberately append "reddit" to searches, well-placed posts and comments keep pulling in traffic long after you publish.

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.

Unlock for $29 onceBrowse by channel