The tool I built because manual research was melting my brain

Right, so here's the thing.

I've been writing these guides about how to become a digital detective - mining Reddit for pain points, listening to what customers really want, validating ideas before you build them. And I stand by every word. These methods work.

But as I'm sitting here writing about the manual research process, I'm simultaneously building a tool to automate the hell out of it. Because let's be brutally honest - even as I'm explaining how valuable this research is, I keep thinking: "Christ, this is a lot of work."

It's valuable work. It's necessary work. But it's still hours of scrolling, searching, and sifting through noise to find that one golden nugget of a problem. It's a graveyard of open tabs, a Frankenstein's monster of a spreadsheet, and the constant feeling that you might be one click away from a breakthrough or one click away from wasting an entire afternoon arguing about whether pineapple belongs on pizza (it doesn't, fight me).

TL;DR: Why Problem Pop Exists

• Manual Reddit research takes forever and melts your brain
• I was doing the same systematic process over and over
• Built an AI tool to do the tedious parts automatically
• Now you can spend time creating solutions, not hunting problems
• It's live and ready to make your research 10x faster

The Gritty Reality of "Good" Research (Spoiler: It's Exhausting)

I love the process of discovery, but the manual labor part? Not so much. My typical "research" session looked something like this:

• Open 15 different subreddit tabs (because you never know where gold might be hiding)
• Search for a dozen different keywords like "frustrated," "hate," "annoying," "drives me mental"
• Copy and paste revealing comments into a Notion doc that's becoming unwieldy
• Try to spot patterns and recurring themes while my eyes start to water
• Get distracted by a thread about whether a hot dog is a sandwich (it's not, and I will die on this hill)
• End the day with a handful of decent insights but a brain that feels like scrambled eggs

The irony wasn't lost on me. Here I am, writing guides about finding problems, while actively building a solution to the biggest problem in my own workflow: manual Reddit research is bloody exhausting.

It's like being a professional treasure hunter who's still using a rusty shovel when everyone else has moved on to metal detectors.

The "What If?" Moment That's Currently Consuming My Life

So there I was, deep in another research session (and simultaneously coding the solution), when it hit me like a slap in the face.

I wasn't just finding individual problems randomly. I was performing a systematic, repeatable process. A process that involved searching for specific keywords, identifying emotional language, spotting recurring themes, and filtering out the noise from the signal.

And what are computers ridiculously good at? Systematic, repeatable processes.

The question shifted from "How can I find more problems?" to:

"What if I could build a machine that did the tedious digital digging for me? What if it could scan the internet's biggest focus group, find the most emotionally charged complaints, and just… hand me the good stuff?"

What if I could spend less time hunting and more time thinking? Less time on soul-crushing data entry and more time on actually creating solutions that matter?

I wanted a button I could press that would just… make a problem pop.

And so, Problem Pop is being born. (See what I did there?) Right now, as I type this, it's in development - part of my own journey where I'm building solutions to problems I actually have.

Introducing Problem Pop: The Tool I'm Building (And Why You Should Care)

Problem Pop is the tool I wish I'd had from day one - and now I'm actually building it instead of just wishing.

It's an AI-powered engine designed to do one thing brilliantly: automate the pain-point discovery process. It trawls through Reddit, finds what people are genuinely struggling with, and distills all that noise into clear, validated problem statements that actually matter.

Then, because finding the problem is only half the battle, it uses that insight to generate high-quality business ideas, blog post outlines, and marketing angles that you can actually use.

What Problem Pop Does:

• Scans Reddit systematically for emotional pain points and recurring complaints
• Identifies patterns across multiple communities and discussions
• Extracts the exact language customers use to describe their problems
• Generates validated business ideas based on real demand signals
• Creates content outlines that address genuine customer pain points
• Saves you hours of manual scrolling and copy-pasting

It's not here to replace your brain or do your thinking for you. It's here to give your creativity a running start. It does the boring, systematic work so you can do what you do best: create, build, and solve actual problems.

No more endless scrolling through rabbit holes. No more copy-pasting into spreadsheets that make Excel cry. Just a constant stream of validated problems and a launchpad for your next big idea.

Who Is This Actually For? (Hint: Probably You)

I built this for people like me. People who are…

• Ambitious Founders tired of building things nobody wants (been there, done that, got the t-shirt)
• Indie Hackers looking for their next profitable side project that doesn't flop spectacularly
• Content Creators & Marketers who need an endless supply of relevant, pain-point-driven ideas
• Consultants and Agencies who need to understand client industries quickly and thoroughly
• Anyone who knows a great idea is out there, but doesn't have 10 hours a week to spend on digital spelunking

Basically, if you've ever felt the frustration of a research rabbit hole that leads nowhere, or the uncertainty of building something based on a hunch rather than evidence, you'll get why this exists.

From My Chaotic Workflow to Your Secret Weapon

The guides I've written are still the manual. They teach you the "why" and the "how" of good customer research. Understanding what customers really want is still essential knowledge.

Problem Pop is the power tool. It lets you do the same research faster, smarter, and at scale without wanting to throw your laptop out the window.

I'm still deep in those Reddit threads, but now I'm not just hunting manually - I'm building a better way to hunt while I hunt. And I want to share it with you because, frankly, we're all busy enough without spending our weekends scrolling through r/mildlyinfuriating looking for business ideas.

The Research Revolution: Faster, Smarter, Less Soul-Crushing

Here's what research from companies like Buffer has shown us: Reddit discussions generate 3x more authentic customer insights than traditional surveys. The problem was never the quality of insights - it was the time and effort required to extract them.

Problem Pop solves that equation. You get the same high-quality insights that come from real people venting about real problems, but without the carpal tunnel and existential dread that comes from manual research.

Think of it as the difference between panning for gold with a rusty sieve versus having a proper mining operation. Same gold, infinitely less back-breaking work.

Ready to Stop Digging and Start Building?

If you've ever felt the frustration of a research rabbit hole, or the uncertainty of building something based on assumptions rather than evidence, I think you'll get it.

I'm building Problem Pop because I need it. And if I need it this badly, chances are you do too.

Give it a try. Let's make a problem pop.

Ready to see what I'm building? Check out Problem Pop here - it's live, it's ready, and it'll save you from the research rabbit holes that have been consuming my evenings (and probably yours too).

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