Guide
Short answer: search Reddit for recent posts where people describe the problem your product solves or ask for a tool like it, read each community's rules, answer the question properly before you mention your product, and say plainly that you built it. Do it by hand, from your own account, a few times a week.
Most posts that mention your category are not buyers. The ones worth your time usually fall into one of four patterns. Write down the phrases your customers would use for each before you search.
| Signal | What people write | How warm it is |
|---|---|---|
| Buying ask | “Is there a tool that…”, “what do you use for…”, “can anyone recommend a…” | Warmest. They're shopping now. |
| Switching | “Alternative to [tool]”, “moving off [tool]”, “[tool] got too expensive” | Warm. They know the category and want something better. |
| Pain point | “I spend hours every week on…”, “how do you deal with…”, “so tired of…” | Lukewarm. The problem is real, but they may not want software. |
| Your keywords | Niche terms, job titles, or workflows only your customers use | Varies. Good for finding the right communities. |
Reddit's own search works well enough once you sort by New and keep queries specific. Quotes match an exact phrase, and subreddit: limits results to one community. Swap in your own category words:
"looking for a tool" invoicing
"alternative to" [competitor] subreddit:smallbusiness
"what do you use" (invoices OR billing) subreddit:freelance
Or let the free search builder write these from your product's words. Search engines often surface older threads that Reddit's search buries. Limit them to the past week or month with the search engine's date filter:
site:reddit.com "is there an app" OR "any recommendations" invoicing
Save the five or six queries that keep finding real people. Re-running the same queries regularly is what turns this from a one-off into a channel.
A reply in that spirit might look like this:
We had the same problem with late invoices. What worked for us: reminders at 3 and 10 days, and a payment link in the first email. Disclosure: I built a small tool that automates those reminders. Happy to share if it's useful, but the two steps above work with any setup.
People ask for recommendations on X too, and fewer tools watch for it. X's advanced search supports exact phrases, OR, exclusions with -, language with lang:, and -filter:links to skip posts that are already ads:
("any recommendations" OR "is there a tool" OR "alternative to") invoicing lang:en -filter:linksThe same reply rules apply: help first, disclose, no copy-paste. More on this in how to find customers on X.
Twenty minutes, a few times a week, beats a big push once a month. Run your saved searches sorted by newest, pick the two or three posts where you can genuinely help, reply, and note which threads led to a signup so you know which queries and communities to keep.
Meg's Reddit & X lead finder automates steps 1, 2, and 5. It builds the phrase list from your product, searches public posts from the last 15 days on both platforms, scores each one for buying intent, and drafts replies in your voice. Steps 3, 4, and 6 stay with you: you choose what to answer and post it yourself. Meg doesn't post, reply, or DM for you.
Create an account, show Meg who you are, and start with 6,000 credits.