product-research

Product Research & Idea Validation

What this skill does

Two-pass research process to find and validate product opportunities in a target niche:

• Pass 1 (Reddit): Raw pain points, complaints, tool requests from real community conversations
• Pass 2 (Corroboration): Verify freshness, check existing solutions, read competitor reviews, confirm the pain still exists today

Inputs

The user provides:

• Niche/audience (e.g., "Amazon FBA sellers", "Shopify store owners", "freelance designers")
• Optional constraints (e.g., "solo dev", "prefer simple to build", "B2B only")

---

Pass 1: Reddit Community Research

Browser setup

Always use playwright-cli open --headed --persistent. Both flags required — Reddit blocks if either is missing. Headed avoids headless fingerprint detection, persistent preserves login cookies.

Phase 1: Identify communities (1 min)

1. Open browser: playwright-cli open --headed --persistent
2. Navigate to Reddit, identify top 2-3 subreddits for the niche
3. Check subscriber counts to prioritize (biggest first)

Phase 2: Landscape scan (3-5 min per subreddit)

For each subreddit, extract top posts using JS eval (NOT snapshot parsing):

# Navigate to top posts
playwright-cli goto "https://www.reddit.com/r/{subreddit}/top/?t=year"

# Extract titles + metadata in one shot
playwright-cli eval "JSON.stringify([...document.querySelectorAll('a[href*=\"/comments/\"]')].map(a => ({title: a.textContent?.trim()?.slice(0,150), href: a.href})).filter(x => x.title && x.title.length > 20 && !x.title.includes('Skip') && !x.title.includes('Navigate')).reduce((acc, x) => { if (!acc.seen.has(x.href)) { acc.seen.add(x.href); acc.result.push(x); } return acc; }, {seen: new Set(), result: []}).result.slice(0, 25))"

Repeat for t=month to get recent trends.

Time bias: prioritize 2026 > 2025. Threads older than 2024 are background context only — never primary evidence.

Phase 3: Deep-dive threads (2-3 min per thread)

Read 4-5 highest-signal threads. Extract comments:

playwright-cli eval "JSON.stringify([...document.querySelectorAll('[id*=\"comment\"] p, article p')].map(p => p.textContent?.trim()).filter(t => t && t.length > 25).slice(0, 35))"

What to look for in comments:

• Complaints about existing tools ("X is clunky", "X doesn't do Y")
• Explicit asks ("I wish there was...", "does anyone know a tool that...")
• Workarounds people describe (manual processes = automation opportunity)
• Recurring frustrations (same problem in multiple threads = high confidence)
• Tool recommendations + why they're insufficient

Track freshness for every data point:

• Note the age of each thread/comment (Reddit shows "Xmo ago", "Xy ago")
• Flag anything older than 12 months as potentially stale
• Recent threads (< 3 months) with the same pain = strong signal
• Old threads with no recent equivalents = possibly solved or irrelevant

Phase 4: Targeted search (only if needed, 2 min)

Only after understanding the landscape from Phase 2-3. Use informed queries based on patterns already observed, not generic "wish there was a tool" queries.

playwright-cli goto "https://www.reddit.com/r/{subreddit}/search/?q={informed_query}&sort=relevance&t=all"

Phase 5: Compile Pass 1 findings

Create a raw list of pain points with thread URLs and freshness tags before moving to Pass 2.

---

Pass 2: Corroboration & Validation

For each top 5-7 ideas from Pass 1, verify with external sources. This is what separates "someone complained on Reddit" from "this is a real, current, underserved market."

2A: Freshness check

For each idea, ask: Is this pain point still active TODAY, or was it solved / became irrelevant?

• Search for the same pain in recent (last 3 months) posts
• If the pain is old (e.g., PPC was painful in 2019) — check if the same complaints exist in 2025-2026 threads, or if new tools solved it
• Look for "I switched to X and it fixed it" comments — that means the problem may be solved

2B: Existing solution audit

For each idea, find what already exists:

# Search for existing tools
playwright-cli goto "https://www.google.com/search?q={niche}+{pain_point}+tool+OR+software+OR+app"

# Check review sites
playwright-cli goto "https://www.g2.com/search?query={tool_name}"
playwright-cli goto "https://www.capterra.com/search/?query={tool_name}"

What to capture:

• Tool name, pricing, rating
• Top complaints in reviews (1-2 star reviews are gold — they show unmet needs)
• Feature gaps mentioned by reviewers
• "I switched FROM X because..." comments

2C: Competitor weakness analysis

For the top 3 ideas, read 1-star and 2-star reviews of existing solutions:

# Extract review text
playwright-cli eval "JSON.stringify([...document.querySelectorAll('[class*=\"review\"] p, [class*=\"Review\"] p, [data-testid*=\"review\"] p')].map(p => p.textContent?.trim()).filter(t => t && t.length > 30).slice(0, 20))"

Key patterns in bad reviews:

• "Too expensive for what it does" → price disruption opportunity
• "Clunky UI / hard to use" → UX opportunity
• "Missing X feature" → feature gap opportunity
• "Support is terrible" → service opportunity
• "Hasn't been updated in years" → abandoned product opportunity

2D: Market size signals

Quick checks for each top idea:

• Google the main existing tool — check their pricing page for plan tiers (indicates market maturity)
• Check Chrome Web Store for related extensions (install counts = market size proxy)
• Check ProductHunt for similar launches (comments show reception)

---

Scoring Framework

Factor	1	2	3
Pain (P)	Nice-to-have	Saves hours/week	Critical to revenue/survival
Confidence (C)	1-2 mentions	3-5 threads + upvotes	Recurring theme, multiple sources
Ease (E)	Complex orchestration, many integrations	Standard web app, some API work	Simple SaaS, weeks to MVP
Promotability (M)	Hard to reach, enterprise sale	Niche communities, word of mouth	Reddit/YouTube/SEO natural fit, viral potential
TAM (T)	Small subset of niche	Most active members	Everyone in the niche
Freshness (F)	Modifier: 0.5x if only old threads, 1x if mixed, 1.5x if hot right now

Score = P x C x E x M x T x F (higher = better)

Adjustments per user constraints:

• If user says "solo dev" or "easy to build" → weight Ease higher (multiply E by 1.5)
• If user says "complex is fine" → don't penalize Ease
• If user specifies revenue model → factor willingness-to-pay signals from threads

Output Format

# {Niche} App Ideas — Research Report

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Pass 1 Sources:** {subreddits with member counts}
**Pass 2 Sources:** {review sites, competitor tools checked}

## Scoring Framework
{table}

## Ranked Ideas

### 1. [Idea Name] — Score: X (P:X C:X E:X M:X T:X F:X)

**Problem:** What the audience is struggling with

**Freshness:** {ACTIVE / STALE / EMERGING} — {one-line justification, e.g., "3 threads in last 2 months, complaints intensifying due to 2026 fee changes"}

**Evidence (Reddit):**
- [Thread title](https://reddit.com/r/.../comments/...) — "key quote" (X upvotes, Y comments, Z ago)
- [Thread title](https://reddit.com/r/.../comments/...) — "key quote" (X upvotes, Z ago)

**Existing solutions & gaps:**
- {Tool} (${price}/mo, {rating} on G2) — Gap: "{what users complain about}"
- {Tool} (${price}/mo) — Gap: "{missing feature}"

**Opportunity angle:** What specifically to build differently
**MVP scope:** What v1 looks like + rough timeline

### 2. ...

## Top 3 Recommendation
{Brief rationale for the top picks given user's constraints}

Behavioral Rules

1. Add small random jitter between actions: sleep $((RANDOM % 2 + 1)) between navigations
2. Use JS eval for data extraction, not snapshot parsing — 10x faster and more reliable
3. Browse organically first — read top posts to understand the landscape before searching
4. Don't use overly literal search queries — people don't write "I wish someone built X." They complain, ask for alternatives, describe workarounds
5. Read comments, not just titles — titles are clickbait, comments contain the real pain
6. Always track thread age — a pain point from 3 years ago with no recent mentions may be solved
7. Corroborate before scoring — Reddit gives signal, Pass 2 gives conviction. Don't rank high on Reddit alone
8. Close browser when done — playwright-cli close
9. Target 10-15 ideas from Pass 1, detail top 5 with Pass 2 — diminishing returns after ~30 min total per niche
10. Always use --headed --persistent — user wants to watch, session persists
11. Always include thread URLs — every evidence point must link to the source so user can verify firsthand