Reddit is a goldmine of unfiltered customer research. Millions of people complaining about problems they’d pay to solve. Here are 20 startup ideas extracted from recurring themes across r/entrepreneur, r/smallbusiness, r/freelance, r/personalfinance, and r/sysadmin.
1. InvoicePanic
The Reddit complaint: “Client is 90 days late on a $15k invoice and ghosting me”
Solution: Automated invoice chasing service. Connects to your invoicing tool, sends increasingly firm reminders, then escalates to collections letters and small claims court filing assistance.
Monetization: Percentage of recovered invoices (10-25%) or monthly subscription
Why now: Freelance economy is huge, and nobody wants to be the bad guy chasing money
2. LLCinABox
The Reddit complaint: “Do I need an LLC? How do I set one up? What about registered agents?”
Solution: One-click LLC formation with registered agent, EIN, operating agreement, and business bank account setup. All 50 states, plain English explanations.
Monetization: $199-499 formation fee + $99/year registered agent
Why now: Record number of new business formations, existing services are confusing
3. ContractorShield
The Reddit complaint: “Hired a contractor, paid 50% upfront, they disappeared”
Solution: Escrow service for home improvement projects. Funds release based on milestone completion verified by photos and inspector network.
Monetization: 3-5% escrow fee
Why now: Trust is broken in contractor market, no good middleman exists
4. SideProjectCFO
The Reddit complaint: “My side project made $50k, what do I owe in taxes?”
Solution: Bookkeeping and tax planning specifically for side projects and small online businesses. Dashboard shows real-time tax liability, quarterly estimates, deduction tracking.
Monetization: $50-200/month based on revenue
Why now: Creator economy + side hustles exploding, traditional accountants don’t understand digital businesses
5. CancelCulture (the good kind)
The Reddit complaint: “Just realized I’m paying for 12 subscriptions I forgot about”
Solution: Subscription tracker that monitors your bank/credit cards, shows all recurring charges, and cancels with one click (handles the annoying “call to cancel” ones too).
Monetization: Free tier + $5/month premium, or percentage of first-year savings
Why now: Subscription fatigue is real, average person has 12+ subscriptions
6. WarrantyVault
The Reddit complaint: “My $2000 laptop died 3 days after warranty expired”
Solution: Upload receipts, auto-extracts warranty info, sends reminders before expiration, helps file claims, tracks extended warranty through credit cards.
Monetization: $3/month consumer, $10/month family
Why now: Everything has warranties nobody tracks, credit card extended warranties are underutilized
7. ParkingSpotSwap
The Reddit complaint: “I pay $300/month for parking I only use 3 days a week”
Solution: Marketplace for hourly/daily parking spot rentals from people with monthly spots. Building-approved, insurance included.
Monetization: 15% transaction fee
Why now: Hybrid work means expensive parking spots sit empty, but buildings don’t allow subletting
8. SOC2inAMonth
The Reddit complaint: “Enterprise client wants SOC2, quoted $50k and 6 months”
Solution: Automated SOC2 compliance platform for startups. Templates, evidence collection, auditor marketplace, continuous monitoring.
Monetization: $500-2000/month based on company size
Why now: Every B2B SaaS eventually needs SOC2, current process is broken
9. ReturnRunner
The Reddit complaint: “I have 6 Amazon returns sitting in my closet because I don’t want to go to UPS”
Solution: On-demand return pickup service. Schedule online, leave package outside, we handle the rest. Works with all major retailers.
Monetization: $5-8 per pickup or $15/month unlimited
Why now: Returns are friction, time is valuable, last-mile logistics infrastructure exists
10. TenantScore
The Reddit complaint: “Landlord won’t rent to me because I don’t have rental history”
Solution: Verified rental history platform. Tenants build portable reputation from previous landlords. Landlords get better signal than credit scores.
Monetization: $25 tenant verification fee, $50/month landlord subscription
Why now: Housing crisis + remote work = more moving, credit scores don’t capture rental behavior
11. MeetingCostClock
The Reddit complaint: “Just sat through a 2-hour meeting with 15 people about nothing”
Solution: Meeting cost calculator that displays real-time dollar cost based on attendees’ estimated salaries. Integrates with calendar, tracks meeting ROI over time.
Monetization: $8/user/month enterprise
Why now: Remote work = more meetings, companies finally care about productivity
12. APIStatusPage
The Reddit complaint: “Is Stripe down or is it just me?”
Solution: Unified status page that monitors all your third-party dependencies. One dashboard showing health of every API you rely on, with historical uptime.
Monetization: Free for 5 services, $20/month for 50, enterprise tiers
Why now: Modern apps depend on dozens of APIs, status pages are scattered
13. FounderTherapy
The Reddit complaint: “I’m burning out and can’t talk to anyone because I’m supposed to be the strong one”
Solution: Therapy platform specifically for founders and executives. Therapists trained in startup-specific issues (fundraising stress, co-founder conflicts, imposter syndrome).
Monetization: $200-400/session or employer-sponsored
Why now: Founder mental health finally being discussed, traditional therapy doesn’t understand startup context
14. DueDiligenceBot
The Reddit complaint: “Investor wants full data room in 48 hours”
Solution: AI-powered due diligence preparation. Scans your docs, identifies gaps, generates missing documents, organizes into standard data room format.
Monetization: $500 one-time or $100/month for always-ready
Why now: Fundraising velocity increased, AI can actually help with document generation now
15. LocalLeadGen
The Reddit complaint: “I’m a plumber, how do I get customers without paying Angi $50 per lead?”
Solution: Hyper-local lead generation for service businesses. SEO-optimized landing pages, Google Business Profile management, review generation, call tracking.
Monetization: $200-500/month per business
Why now: Local services are underserved by tech, Angi/Thumbtack take too much
16. EquipmentShare
The Reddit complaint: “Need a concrete mixer for one day, rental place wants $200 + delivery”
Solution: Peer-to-peer equipment rental for construction, landscaping, and DIY. Contractors rent out idle equipment, homeowners get better rates.
Monetization: 20% transaction fee + optional insurance
Why now: Equipment sits idle 80% of the time, trust/insurance infrastructure now exists
17. OffboardingOS
The Reddit complaint: “Former employee still has access to everything, IT says it’ll take a week to revoke”
Solution: Automated employee offboarding. One click revokes access across all connected apps, retrieves equipment, handles exit interview, manages knowledge transfer.
Monetization: $5/employee/month
Why now: SaaS sprawl means 50+ apps to revoke, security incidents from ex-employees rising
18. VendorNegotiator
The Reddit complaint: “Salesforce wants to raise our price 40% at renewal”
Solution: AI-powered SaaS negotiation service. Analyzes your contract, benchmarks against similar companies, provides negotiation playbook or negotiates on your behalf.
Monetization: Percentage of savings (20-30%) or flat fee
Why now: SaaS costs out of control, buyers have no leverage or benchmarks
19. HealthShareMatch
The Reddit complaint: “Self-employed, health insurance quotes are $800/month for garbage coverage”
Solution: Marketplace for health sharing ministries and alternatives to traditional insurance. Compare plans, understand trade-offs, find the right fit.
Monetization: Referral fees from health share organizations
Why now: Self-employed population growing, traditional insurance increasingly unaffordable
20. QuitPlan
The Reddit complaint: “I want to quit my job but I don’t know if I have enough saved”
Solution: Financial planning tool specifically for career transitions. Models runway, calculates true monthly burn, includes COBRA costs, shows “quit date” when savings support the leap.
Monetization: $10/month or $99 one-time quit readiness report
Why now: Great Resignation showed demand exists, generic budgeting apps don’t model transitions
How to Validate These
Before building anything:
- Search Reddit for the exact problem - find the threads, read the comments
- Count complaints - is this 10 people or 10,000?
- Check existing solutions - why haven’t they solved it?
- Talk to sufferers - DM people who complained, ask if they’d pay
- Build the landing page - gauge interest before code
The best Reddit-sourced ideas have:
- Repeated complaints (not one-off rants)
- Failed existing solutions (market educated but underserved)
- Willingness to pay (B2B or high-pain consumer)
- Clear first customer (you know exactly who and where they are)
Pick one. Validate it this week. Build it next week.