Where do people describe the problem you solve?
Search X, LinkedIn, Hacker News and Reddit, where B2B buyers write in public, plus review pages for the tools you replace. Each has its own search rules, and the platforms' help pages are specific about them.
| Where | How to search it | What to know (help pages checked 24 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| X | Advanced search | Filter by exact phrase, any of several words, excluded words, accounts, place and date range. Available only when logged in. |
| Search bar, then the Posts tab | Boolean search works with AND, OR and NOT in capitals, quotes for exact phrases and parentheses for grouping. No wildcards. | |
| Hacker News | hnrss.org search feeds | Feeds of new posts or comments matching a term; separate several keywords with OR |
| Search inside the subreddits your buyers use | See our guide to finding Reddit users who ask for a tool like yours | |
| Competitor reviews | Low-star reviews of the tools you replace | Reviewers have used the tool and say what is missing |
Two details save time. LinkedIn's help page says it ignores stop words such as by, in and with in quoted searches, and treats square brackets and braces as ordinary characters, so keep strings simple. hnrss.org needs reserved characters percent-encoded, so a plus sign becomes %2B. For review sites, our piece on what users hate about your competitors shows how to turn complaints into a positioning list.
Which words should you search for?
Search for the symptom in the buyer's words. Your category name is the wrong search term, because people describing a problem rarely use it.
An October 2026 Indie Hackers thread about finding the right people shows this. The founder was building for freelancers and barely found posts about time tracking or profitability. Commenters suggested phrasings freelancers actually use, such as feeling undercharged, a real hourly rate, or whether a client is worth it. In another Indie Hackers thread on finding early users, one founder said the useful signal was very specific: people tired of clients sending vague website revision requests by screenshot, message and email.
| Phrase family | Example search terms | Strength |
|---|---|---|
| Asking for a replacement | "alternative to" [competitor], "switching from" [competitor], "replace" [competitor] | Strong |
| Asking for a recommendation | "what do you use for" [job], "can anyone recommend", "looking for a tool" | Strong |
| Describing a workaround | "spreadsheet", "by hand", "every Friday", "copy and paste", "wrote a script" plus the job | Strong |
| Naming a cost | "too expensive", "price went up", "hours every week" | Medium |
| Venting | "I hate", "so frustrating", "worst tool" | Weak on its own |
Copy these and swap in your own words:
- LinkedIn posts: ("alternative to" OR "switching from") AND (CompetitorA OR CompetitorB)
- LinkedIn posts: (spreadsheet OR manually OR Excel) AND invoices NOT hiring
- X advanced search: exact phrase "anyone recommend", any of the words invoicing invoices billing, none of the words hiring job
- Hacker News feed: https://hnrss.org/newcomments?q=CompetitorA+OR+CompetitorB
Which problem posts are worth your time?
Pursue posts that score high on recency, a workaround or cost, an open ask, and fit. Skip the rest. Score each post 0 to 2 on four questions and add them up:
| Question | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| How recent is it? | Over a month old | Within the last month | Today |
| Does it show a workaround or a cost? | No | Mentions time or money lost | Describes the spreadsheet, script or tool stack they built |
| Are they asking for an option? | No, just venting | Comparing or weighing tools | Asks for an alternative or a recommendation |
| Does the author fit your buyer? | Outside your market | Partly: right industry or right role | Right role at the right kind of company |
Act on 6 to 8 today. Keep 3 to 5 in a watch list and check back if they post again. Skip 0 to 2. Fit counts as much as the post: a perfect complaint from someone who can't buy is still a 0 on the last row, so check the profile before you write.
Worked example, with invented posts: a head of operations at a 30-person agency who posted this morning about rebuilding a client report in a spreadsheet every Friday, and asked what others use, scores 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8. A student who wrote last month that invoicing tools are a rip-off scores 0 + 1 + 0 + 0 = 1. Both would show up in the same keyword search.
Why does a workaround beat a complaint?
A workaround shows the person is already spending time or money on the problem, while a complaint only shows pain. In the October 2026 Indie Hackers thread, one commenter put the contrast between a complaint and a weekly spreadsheet export this way: the second person "is someone already paying for the problem with their time". That is one commenter's view, and the thread gave several versions of it:
- Filter for questions over complaints, because people asking what others use are the ones open to switching.
- Look for people sharing their own spreadsheet or template and asking how to improve it, because they already do the job by hand.
- Look for people who name a cost they have already paid to fix the problem.
The founder who started the thread tested this against their own notes. Of the 3 to 5 threads out of about 20 that seemed open to switching, only one or two mentioned an actual workaround, such as a spreadsheet or jumping between two tools. The founder called 20 threads a small sample, so treat the ratio as one person's experience.
If you use an AI filter, write the description this way too. F5Bot's AI filtering guide suggests describing intent rather than keywords, and its example combines frustration with named tools and actively seeking alternatives. Syften's buying-intent page lists the job, friction, workaround or technical problem among the signals it looks for.
How recent should the post be?
For a public reply, aim for the same day, ideally within hours. For a direct message, within a few days. In a September 2026 r/SaaS thread on social listening, one commenter said they only reply to threads under two hours old with zero to three comments; of their first three such comments, two turned into real conversations. That is one person's small sample; their reason was that in a busy thread a late reply is the 14th and nobody scrolls that far.
Recency applies to events as well as posts. In the Indie Hackers thread, one commenter argued that a founder who posted an engineering job this week has the problem right now, whether or not they complain about it. Our guide to using job postings as buying signals covers how to read a job ad for the work behind it.
- On X, set the date range in advanced search to the last few days.
- On Hacker News, the hnrss.org feeds show new posts and comments as they arrive.
- On LinkedIn, run your saved strings from recent searches each morning.
Who do you miss by searching public posts?
You will probably miss most of them: in one founder's experience, most people with the problem never post about it. In an August 2026 r/SaaS thread from a founder who built a replacement for TV Time after that app shut down, the founder described where former users went: a Discord set up the week it closed, and a subreddit full of people asking whether anyone saved their comments. Then came the uncomfortable part: "The ones who need it most are the ones who gave up quietly."
The founder's point was that the people in the Discord had already found something. Public posts reach the minority who speak up, and some of them have already solved it. Treat problem posts as your highest-intent list, and as only part of your market. Fill the rest of the week with people who match your buyer profile and show a timing signal, such as a new role or a hiring post, even if they never complained.
What should you say when you find someone?
Reply in public first, add something useful, and say plainly that you built a tool. Three starting points, written for this guide with no measured reply rates behind them:
- To a workaround post: "The Friday spreadsheet rebuild sounds painful. Two things that cut it for others: [tip one], [tip two]. Full disclosure, I built [product] for exactly this, happy to share how it handles [detail] if useful."
- To an alternatives request: "If [criterion] matters most, [competitor] is strong. If [other criterion] matters more, look at [your product], which I run, so I'm biased. What made you start looking?"
- A direct message after a public exchange: "Thanks for the back-and-forth on [thread]. You mentioned [detail]. Is that still eating [time] a week, or did you find a fix?"
No link until they ask. For more openings, use our LinkedIn comment templates. Our comparison of keyword alert tools and intent scoring covers tools that run the searches for you.
Siela's AI SDR looks for signals it infers from what you sell: people asking how to solve the problem, comparing tools, looking for a competitor alternative, hiring for the work you automate or posting a pain point. It scores each lead hot, warm or cold with a one-line reason, and writes each LinkedIn and X message from the person's profile and the signal that surfaced them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I search LinkedIn posts for a specific complaint?
Type a Boolean string into LinkedIn's main search bar and open the Posts tab. LinkedIn's help page says AND, OR and NOT must be in capital letters, quotation marks give an exact phrase and parentheses group terms. It doesn't support wildcards, and it ignores stop words such as by, in and with inside quoted phrases.
Should I reply to people who are only venting?
Usually not with a pitch. A vent shows pain but no move to fix it. Reply only if you can add something useful, and save outreach for posts that describe a workaround, name a cost or ask for an alternative. If the author fits your buyer profile, add them to a watch list and check whether they post about it again.
How can I get alerts for my problem keywords on Hacker News?
hnrss.org publishes RSS feeds of new Hacker News posts or comments that match a search term, using a q parameter in the feed address. Several keywords go in one feed separated by OR, and reserved characters such as the plus sign must be percent-encoded. The same feeds come in Atom and JSON Feed formats.
How many complaint posts turn into real prospects?
There is no reliable benchmark. One founder on Indie Hackers read about 20 recent complaint threads in October 2026 and judged only 3 to 5 open to switching, and only one or two of those mentioned a workaround. The founder called it a small sample and personal judgement, so track your own ratio over a few weeks.
What is a workaround signal?
A workaround signal is a post where someone describes how they handle the problem today without a proper tool: a weekly spreadsheet, a script, copying data between apps or a chain of automations. It shows they already spend time on the problem, which makes them more likely to consider a fix than someone who only complains.
Sources
- X Help Center: How to use advanced search (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Use Boolean search on LinkedIn (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Search on LinkedIn (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- hnrss.org: Hacker News RSS (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Indie Hackers: I don't need more traffic. I need to find the right people. (posted 20 Oct 2026)
- Indie Hackers: How are you finding consistent users or clients early on? (posted 24 Mar 2026)
- r/SaaS: I built a replacement for TV Time after it shut down. How do I find the people who actually need it? (posted 15 Aug 2026)
- r/SaaS: Social listening helped solved my marketing for an unexpected reason (posted 25 Sep 2026)
- F5Bot: AI Filtering documentation (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Syften: Buying intent alerts for B2B SaaS (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Siela: AI SDR (checked 24 Oct 2026)