The research tool I wish I had sooner

When I tried to come up with my first startup idea, I did what everyone else does:

• stared at a blank Google Doc,

• skimmed TechCrunch headlines,

• wrote down random “Uber for X” clones.

It felt like progress, but it was just noise.

The real problem? I was guessing what people wanted instead of listening to what they were already asking for.

The “aha” moment hit me when I stumbled into a Reddit thread. Someone had written:

“I wish there was a tool that automatically handled all my contractor invoices. Every freelancer I know struggles with this.”

There it was. A customer literally begging for a product. And I almost missed it.

That was the day I stopped guessing and started digging into real conversations.

The Shortcut I Wish I Had

If you’ve ever tried to mine Reddit manually, you know how impossible it is. Millions of posts, scattered across thousands of communities. You’ll drown before you strike gold.

That’s why I use (and have partnered for NTE) with GummySearch now. It flips Reddit from overwhelming to actionable.

Instead of scrolling for hours, you set up an audience in your niche like finance, fitness, parenting, crypto, whatever you care about and GummySearch shows you:

• what questions people are repeating,

• where they’re frustrated with current options,

• and the exact language they use when describing the problem.

It’s like doing 100 customer interviews overnight.

Why This Works

Startup ideas aren’t about genius. They’re about demand.

And demand isn’t hidden, it’s written out in plain sight by real people online. They complain. They ask for help. They share half-baked hacks.

When you collect enough of these, patterns start jumping out:

• Ten people in different threads saying their budgeting app fails them at payday.

• Dozens of designers asking “how do I learn sales?”

• Parents trading messy Excel sheets for sleep schedules.

Each of these patterns is the seed of a business. Not theory. Not guessing. Actual proof that people want something better.

That’s why tools like GummySearch are powerful: they don’t generate ideas out of thin air. They show you the demand that already exists.

How to Try It

If you’ve got 30 minutes, here’s how to run it yourself:

1. Sign up for GummySearch for Free

2. Pick your corner of the world
   Think about the groups you know best, maybe you’re into fitness, maybe you’ve worked in HR, maybe you love gaming. Start there.

3. Set up an audience in GummySearch
   Load up 5–10 subreddits that match your niche. Don’t worry about size, mid-sized communities often reveal the best stuff.

4. Search for “wish,” “struggle,” “need”
   GummySearch pulls together the posts where people literally say what’s broken. It’s not subtle. You’ll see sentences like “I wish there was…” or “I really struggle with…”

5. Highlight repeats
   One person venting = noise. Ten people venting = signal. Those repeats are your idea well.

6. Test the waters
   Take one of those patterns, throw up a landing page, or post back into that subreddit with a simple question: “Would you use something like this?” You’ll know within hours if it resonates.

Final Thought

Most founders waste months trying to be “original.” The truth? You don’t need to invent problems. You just need to listen to the ones people already can’t shut up about.

That’s why I use GummySearch. It’s not sexy, but it works.

👉 Try it here and see what people are already begging for.
👉 And if you want to skip the hunt, we’ve logged 5,000+ ready-to-go ideas in NTE Pro.

Don’t waste months like I did. Start where the demand is.