modbender Pain Point Finder
Discover validated pain points on Reddit. Searches for frustrations, complaints, and unmet needs, then analyzes comment threads for agreement signals and failed solutions. Powered by PullPush API — no API keys needed.
Workflow
Follow these 4 phases in order. Each phase builds on the previous.
Phase 1: Discover Subreddits
Find the right subreddits for the user's domain.
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs discover --domain "<user's domain>" --limit 8
Example:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs discover --domain "project management" --limit 8
Take the top 3-5 subreddits from the output for phase 2.
Phase 2: Scan for Pain Points
Broad search across discovered subreddits.
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs scan \
--subreddits "<sub1>,<sub2>,<sub3>" \
--domain "<domain>" \
--days 90 \
--limit 20
Example:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs scan \
--subreddits "projectmanagement,SaaS,smallbusiness" \
--domain "project management" \
--days 90 \
--limit 20
Review the scored posts. Posts with high painScore and high num_comments are the best candidates for deep analysis.
Phase 3: Deep-Dive Analysis
Analyze comment threads of top posts for agreement and solution signals.
Single post:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs deep-dive --post <post_id>
Top N from scan output:
node {baseDir}/scripts/pain-points.mjs deep-dive --from-scan <scan_output.json> --top 5
Look at the validationStrength field:
- strong: widespread, validated pain (agreementRatio > 0.20, 10+ agreements)
- moderate: notable pain with some validation
- weak: some signal but limited agreement
- anecdotal: one person's complaint, needs more evidence
Phase 4: Synthesis (you do this)
For each validated pain point, present a structured proposal:
- Problem: One-sentence description of the pain
- Evidence: Top quotes + agreement count + subreddit
- Who feels this: Type of person/business affected
- Current solutions & gaps: What people have tried (from
solutionAttempts) and why it fails - Competitive landscape: Tools mentioned (from
mentionedTools) - Opportunity: What's missing in current solutions
- Idea sketch: Brief product/service concept
- Validation: strong/moderate/weak + data backing it
Options Reference
discover
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--domain |
required | Domain to explore |
--limit |
10 | Max subreddits to return |
scan
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--subreddits |
required | Comma-separated subreddit list |
--domain |
Domain for extra search queries | |
--days |
365 | How far back to search |
--minScore |
1 | Min post score filter |
--minComments |
3 | Min comment count filter |
--limit |
30 | Max posts to return |
--pages |
2 | Pages per query (more = deeper, slower) |
deep-dive
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--post |
Single post ID or Reddit URL | |
--from-scan |
Path to scan output JSON | |
--stdin |
Read scan JSON from stdin | |
--top |
10 | How many posts to analyze from scan |
--maxComments |
200 | Max comments to fetch per post |
Rate Limits
The script self-limits to 1 request/sec, 30/min, 300/run. If PullPush is slow or returns errors, it retries with exponential backoff. Progress is logged to stderr.
Tips
- Start broad with
--days 90then narrow to--days 30for recent trends - High
num_comments+ highscore= validated pain (many people agree) - High
painScore+ lownum_comments= niche pain (worth investigating) - The
mentionedToolsin deep-dive output maps the competitive landscape - Posts with
validationStrength: "strong"are the best startup candidates