38 Ways To Find A $1M Business Idea (With The Prompts)

Search Reddit for pain words in one niche

"Frustrated," "annoying," "I wish." Real complaints, with dates, and strangers agreeing in the replies.

Pick one industry you already understand.
Pull 40 or more results from the last year, with dates.
Cluster them, then delete every cluster nobody currently pays to fix.

Reddit Pain Mining

I am hunting for a business idea by mining Reddit for pain. Industry or niche: [be specific. "Dental practices," not "healthcare"] Subreddits to search: [list them, or find the 5 most active ones for this niche first] Search those subreddits for posts and comments containing "frustrated", "annoying", "I need", "I wish", "is there a tool that", and "why is there no". 1. Pull at least 40 results from the last 12 months. Quote each one verbatim and give me the source and the date. If you cannot access Reddit or a subreddit, say so rather than inventing quotes, and give me the exact searches to run myself so I can paste the threads back to you. 2. Group them into distinct problems. Name each group in the words the posters used, not in startup language. 3. For each group tell me how many quotes it holds, how recent they are, and how much upvote agreement they got. 4. Throw out any group where nobody is currently paying to solve this, with a tool, a freelancer, a VA or an employee. Tell me which ones you threw out and why. 5. Rank what survives and give me the top three, each with the smallest thing I could sell those people within 30 days. Never invent a quote, a username, a subreddit or a number.

Unbundle an all-in-one

Categories crowded with tools promising everything. Their reviews tell you the one module people open daily.

List the all-in-ones and the modules each advertises.
Find every review saying "we only use it for X."
Build that one job properly, priced against the bundle.

The Unbundler

I want to unbundle an all-in-one product into a lean, focused alternative. Category: [e.g. project management for agencies, all-in-one CRM for realtors] 1. List the tools in this category that market themselves as all-in-one. For each, list the modules they advertise. 2. Read their reviews, especially the 2 and 3 star ones. Tell me which single module people actually use daily and which ones nobody mentions at all. 3. Find every review that says a version of "we only use it for X" or "we still use another tool for Y". Quote them. 4. Name the one job the category does badly because it is spread across ten features. That is the product. 5. Give me the pricing argument: what the all-in-ones charge, what a focused tool could charge, and why somebody switches. 6. Tell me who would NOT switch, and why, so I know the real ceiling. Use only real tools and real reviews you can find. Do not invent a competitor or a quote.

Follow SaaS price anger on X

Price hikes create switchers on a deadline. Cheaper alone is weak, so pair it with the workflow they already do outside the tool.

Track "price increase" and "cancelled our subscription" by tool name.
Note what people say they switched to.
Own the outside-the-tool workflow, then undercut.

Price Rage Tracker

I want to find businesses built on the back of SaaS price anger. Tools or category to watch: [name them, or ask me after suggesting the 10 most complained-about tools in my industry] 1. Search X, Reddit and review sites for complaints about the price of these tools. Include "price increase", "pricing change", "cancelled our subscription", "too expensive for what it does". Quote them with dates. If a site blocks you, say which one and give me the exact searches to run myself. 2. Tell me what triggered each wave of anger and whether the vendor reversed it. 3. For each tool, list what people say they switched to, and whether they were happy. 4. Cheaper alone is a weak position. For the angriest category, name the one workflow users keep doing outside the tool. A lighter competitor wins by owning that workflow, not by being 30% less. 5. Give me the v1 feature list for a lighter alternative and the price I would launch at. 6. Tell me honestly whether this category is defensible or whether I would just get undercut next. Use real, findable complaints only. No invented quotes or made-up pricing.

Scrape 1 and 2 star reviews

G2, Capterra and the app stores. Most low reviews are billing complaints. The ones naming a missing capability are the gold.

Pull 40 low reviews across the category leaders.
Split broken product from bad support from genuinely missing.
Check whether a competitor already shipped it before you build.

Review Miner

I want to mine low-star software reviews for unmet needs. Category or tools: [name them, or find the 5 leaders in this category first] Where to look: G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, the App Store and Google Play 1. Pull at least 40 one and two star reviews across these tools, from the last 18 months. Quote them with the source and date. 2. Separate them into three buckets: broken product, bad support or billing, and genuinely missing capability. I only care about the third bucket, so tell me how big it is. 3. Inside that bucket, group the missing capabilities and rank them by how often they appear and how angry the reviewer sounds. 4. For the top three, tell me whether any competitor has already shipped it. If one has, say so and move on rather than sending me to build something that exists. 5. For whatever is genuinely unbuilt, describe the smallest product that fixes it and who would buy it first. Quote real reviews only. If you cannot access a review site, say so and tell me which pages to open and paste back to you.

Read public feature request boards

My favorite of the 38. An old request with real votes and a "not planned" reply is proven demand the incumbent has turned down.

Find the roadmap or request board for 3 tools in one category.
Pull the most upvoted open requests with dates.
Target anything 18+ months old with votes and no plan.

Unbuilt Feature Finder

I want to find highly requested features that nobody has built. Products: [name 3 to 5 tools in one category] Public feature request and roadmap boards are the highest-signal place to look, because requests are public, dated, upvoted, and answered by the company. 1. Find the public feature request board, roadmap, changelog or community forum for each product. 2. Pull the most upvoted open requests. For each, give me the request, the vote count, the date it was opened, and any official response. 3. Flag every request that is more than 18 months old, has real votes, and has either no response or a "not planned" response. That combination is the opportunity, because demand is proven and the incumbent has declined it. 4. For each, tell me why you think the incumbent will not build it. Strategic conflict, technical cost, or too small for them. 5. Give me the three best, each with who is asking, what they would pay, and whether it works better as a standalone product or an add-on. Only use boards and requests you can actually find and cite.

Read job boards for the work people hire around

When hundreds of companies hire for the same repetitive duty, they’ve already agreed the work is worth paying for.

Pull 30 recent listings for one role.
Find the duty they share and price it at salary.
Keep the ones that are rules-based and high volume.

Job Board Demand Signals

I want to read job postings as demand signals. Industry or role: [e.g. ecommerce ops, medical billing, property management] 1. Search Indeed, LinkedIn and industry job boards for roles in this area posted in the last 90 days. Pull at least 30. 2. Extract the responsibilities that appear across many listings. Rank them by how often they show up. 3. Flag every responsibility that is repetitive, rules-based, high volume and done in a tool rather than in person. Those are the automatable ones. 4. For the top three, estimate what companies currently pay for that work, using the salary ranges in the listings and the share of the role each duty represents. Show your math. 5. Tell me which of the three a small software product or an agent could genuinely do today, and which still need a person. 6. For the best one, name 10 real companies from those listings that would be my first outreach list. Use real postings. Do not invent a company, a salary or a listing.

Host an open-source tool for non-developers

The product exists and works. Normal people just can’t deploy it. Always check the license first.

Find active projects with real stars and recent commits.
Confirm the license permits commercial hosting.
Read the issues for people asking how to deploy it.

Open Source To SaaS

I want to turn a popular open-source tool into a hosted service for people who cannot self-host. Category or problem: [e.g. analytics, email sending, scheduling, document parsing] 1. Find open-source projects in this space with real traction: meaningful stars, commits in the last 6 months, and an active issues tab. 2. For each, check the license and tell me plainly whether commercial hosting is permitted. Kill anything where it is not, first. 3. Read the issues and discussions for people asking how to deploy it, struggling with setup, or asking whether a hosted version exists. Quote them with dates. That is your demand. 4. Check whether the maintainers already sell a hosted version. If they do, say so and move on. 5. For the best remaining candidate, tell me what the hosted version has to add beyond hosting: onboarding, support, backups, a real interface, compliance. 6. Give me the pricing model and the honest risk that the maintainers launch their own cloud version and take the market. Verify licenses carefully and say when you are not certain.

Turn a template people keep buying into an app

If several creators sell a Notion or Airtable template for the same job, that job is validated. Templates break in predictable ways.

Find the best sellers for one niche on Gumroad, Etsy and the Notion Marketplace.
Group them by the job they do.
Read reviews for what breaks, usually syncing or client sharing.

Template To Product

I want to turn a repeatedly sold template into a standalone product. Niche: [e.g. freelancers, real estate agents, personal trainers, restaurant owners] 1. Search Gumroad, Etsy, the Notion Marketplace and Airtable's template gallery for the best selling templates for this niche. Give me the template, the creator, the price and any visible sales or review count. 2. Group them by the job the template does. Any job that several creators sell a template for is a validated, repeated need. 3. Read the reviews and comments for the recurring complaint. Templates break in predictable ways: they do not sync, they do not scale, they need manual updating, they cannot be shared with a client. 4. Pick the job with the most sales and the most structural complaints. That is the one that should be software rather than a template. 5. Describe the v1 app: the three screens it needs, what it automates that the template cannot, and what I would charge monthly against the one-time template price. 6. Tell me how I would reach the people already buying those templates. Use real listings you can find. Do not invent sales numbers.

Ask local businesses what tech they wish they had

Slower than scraping, and much higher signal.

Pick five local business types running on manual systems.
Ask about the last time something went wrong. Never ask "would you use an app that."
Learn to tell a buying signal from politeness.

Local Business Interviews

Help me prepare and run interviews with local business owners about the tech they wish they had. My town or area: [where you are] Types of business I can reach: [e.g. dentists, gyms, contractors, restaurants, clinics] 1. Pick the five business types here most likely to be running on outdated or manual systems. Explain why for each. 2. For each, tell me what their week actually looks like operationally and where the manual work probably hides. 3. Write me 10 interview questions that get at real problems without pitching anything. No leading questions, no "would you use an app that". Ask about the last time something went wrong and what they did about it. 4. Give me the exact opening line to walk in or call with, that does not sound like a sales pitch. 5. Tell me what a genuine buying signal sounds like versus polite enthusiasm, so I can tell them apart in the moment. After I run the interviews I will paste my notes back to you, and you will cluster them into problems and tell me which one has real money behind it.

More on this one in be the local AI person.

Ask freelancers what they always bill for

Any task where two good freelancers would hand back nearly identical work wants to be a product.

Find the recurring gigs and their going rate.
Rank them by how mechanical the work is.
Be honest about where the value is really judgment.

Freelance Task Productizer

I want to find the tasks freelancers bill for repeatedly that should be a product. Type of freelancer or service: [e.g. bookkeepers, designers, paid media, video editors, VAs] 1. Search Upwork, Fiverr and freelance communities for the most common recurring gigs in this area. Give me the task, the typical price and how often it repeats for one client. 2. Rank them by how mechanical the work is. I want tasks where two competent freelancers would produce nearly identical output, because that is what productizes. 3. For the top three, break the task into steps and mark each step as automatable, needs judgment, or needs the client's input. 4. Tell me what percentage of each task is genuinely mechanical, and be honest when the value is actually in the judgment. Those are the ones that stay services. 5. For the best candidate, describe the product, what it charges against the current freelance rate, and how a freelancer doing this today would react. Some of them become your first customers and some become competitors. Use real listings and real prices you can find.

Once one turns up something real, stop hunting and stress-test it. My business validator runs the deep market report, and the 3-step workflow is the faster version.

38 Ways To FindA $1M Business Idea

38 Ways To Find
A $1M Business Idea