Do you think social media search is underrated for finding customers?
Feels like there are thousands of conversations happening every day where people literally describe their problems but most of us don’t tap into them properly. Do you actively use platforms like Reddit, Twitter, or HN for: finding users validating ideas understanding pain points Or do you rely on other methods? Curious what’s actually working for people here.
What’s your current workflow for customer discovery?
Trying to understand how people here go from “idea” → “talking to real users”. Do you: search communities (Reddit, HN, etc)? run ads to validate? do cold outreach? or something else? What’s worked best for you - and what’s been a waste of time?
How are you currently finding real customer conversations online?
When building Needle, one thing surprised me - most founders still rely on manual search across Reddit, Twitter, forums, etc. Curious how others here are doing it: Do you actively search for conversations or wait for inbound? Which platforms have been most useful for you? Have you found any repeatable workflow that actually works? Would love to learn how people here approach customer discovery...
What we’re cooking next at Needle 👀
We’re launching a completely redesigned version — faster, smarter, and way more intuitive. But that’s just the start. We’re experimenting with AI-powered market insights, community heatmaps, and auto competitor tracking (yep, while you sleep 😴). If you could instantly get one piece of intel about your market every morning — what would you want it to be?
We built Needle because we were tired of shouting into the void 😅
As founders, we kept building cool things… but couldn’t find who actually needed them. We spent hours digging through Reddit threads, Hacker News comments, and forums — just to find 5 people asking the exact thing we were solving. That pain became Needle. Now, you can discover those conversations in seconds. Curious — how do you currently find early customers?
What’s one thing you’d love Needle to do next?
We’re continuously improving — faster search, smarter signals, and deeper insights. If you could add one feature to make customer discovery effortless, what would it be? (We might just build it 👀)
Which platform gives the realest startup signals?
Needle scans Reddit, Hacker News, Quora, Stack Overflow, and more — but we’ve noticed some platforms surface more “authentic” pain points than others. Which community do you think reveals the most genuine user problems?
How do you find your first 100 customers?
We built Needle to make this process easier - but everyone’s story is different. How did you find your first users or early adopters? Through Reddit, Twitter, communities, or something else entirely? Would love to hear what worked (and what didn’t)! 🚀
