Search the sentence they type
Do not search your brand. Search the messy version of the job: 'alternative to spreadsheets for', 'what do you use for', 'anyone replaced', 'is X worth it'. Sort by new, then by this week. The posts from the last day are the only ones where a comment still gets seen.
Save three subs where those phrases show up more than once a week. A huge sub with one relevant post a month is worse than a small sub with five. Subscriber count is a vanity number here. Posts per day about the problem is the number.
The thread worth entering
- The author is choosing, not venting for sport.
- Comments are still in the tens, not the hundreds.
- The rules do not say 'no products' or 'no links from new accounts'.
- You can answer the question without a link and still be helpful.
Karmy runs this filter on a schedule and sends the ones that pass to Telegram. You can do it by hand for a week to learn the shape. After that the hand version slips, because the good threads die before lunch.
What 'found a customer' means
A reply, a profile click, a visit with that thread as the referrer. Not an upvote from another founder. Track the visit. If a sub sends upvotes and no visits, it is the wrong room, even if the comments feel friendly.
A worked search, not a theory
Suppose you sell a tool that stops a small team double-handling trial signups. Do not search your brand. Search 'two people replied to the same demo', 'shared inbox for trials', and 'what do you use instead of forwarding emails'. Sort by the past week, then open only the posts from the last day. The older ones are research. The new ones are the job.
Write the subreddit, the hour the post went up, and whether the author is choosing or venting. Venting can still be a customer, but the reply has to solve the complaint. A joke thread is neither. After ten posts you should see two or three subs repeating. Those are the ones to join. The rest of the internet's 'best subreddits' lists are someone else's market.
The first ten comments
Make ten comments in seven days. No links. Each one should be understandable if the product did not exist. Track three numbers in a note: replies from other people, profile views, and referral visits. Upvotes are optional. If all three stay at zero, the subs are wrong or the comments are about you. Read them back. If the first line is your bio, rewrite the habit before you add a tool.
When one comment brings visits, save the exact title. That title is a better keyword than anything from a brainstorm. Point the Karmy mission at that phrasing and at the sub it came from. The next ping should look like a cousin of that thread, not like a random mention of a category word.
What to do with a hit
Answer follow-ups the same day. Do not edit the original into a pitch because it started working. If someone asks what you use, then you can name it, with the case where it does not fit. If a mod removes it, the removal reason is the spec for the next comment. Reposting the same text is how a single removal turns into a ban from the sub.
A customer from Reddit usually looks small: one signup, from one comment, from a sub you had not heard of on Monday. That is the channel working. A spike of upvotes from other founders is a different sport, and it rarely pays the invoice.
Keep a single note with the ten comments: sub, hour, whether you named the product, and visits by the next morning. That note is worth more than another tab of advice. When the note shows one sub producing every visit, stop splitting your attention. Point the mission there and let the other two rest until you have a reason to reopen them.