Find buyers who are asking for what you sell
Your future customers are posting on Reddit, Stack Overflow, Hacker News, YouTube, GitHub, Mastodon, Lobsters, Tumblr, X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Forums, Product Hunt.Ranked by buying intent, with reply drafts you post yourself. From $15/month.
Workflow
How it works
Needle tracks your keywords across public communities, filters out the noise and ranks every match by buying intent, on the schedule you set.
Needle watches Reddit, Hacker News, X, GitHub and more for the keywords you care about.
Example for a B2B SaaS product: Needle scans 2,431 posts for onboarding tool, Slack integration, Acme, keeps the 3 that match, ranks them by buying intent (94, 86, 71) and sends the top one to Slack #leads.
Why Needle
Why not just search Reddit yourself?
Because the leads really are needles in a haystack. Needle throws away 83% of the posts that match your keywords, and only about 1 in 20 is a strong buying signal. Here is a month of it.
Searching by hand vs keyword alerts vs Needle
| Searching by hand | Keyword alerts | Best fitNeedle | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it looks | Searching by hand:The two or three sites you remember to check | Keyword alerts:Whichever sites the alert tool supports | Needle:Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Bluesky and more in one feed |
| Noise | Searching by hand:You read every post yourself | Keyword alerts:Every keyword match, including memes, tutorials and job posts | Needle:83% of fetched posts dropped before you see them |
| Order | Searching by hand:Whatever you happen to find first | Keyword alerts:Newest first | Needle:Highest buying intent first |
| Timing | Searching by hand:Whenever you get round to it | Keyword alerts:Instant, but unfiltered | Needle:98% surfaced within a day of posting, on your schedule |
| Your effort | Searching by hand:A daily habit across a dozen tabs | Keyword alerts:Triage every ping by hand | Needle:Skim the top of one ranked list |
Tailored fit
Built for your role
One ranked feed, five different jobs. Pick yours to see what Needle finds for it.
First customers
Find your first 10 customers in public threads
Skip cold lists. Reply to people already asking for a tool like yours, while the thread is still open.
- See posts asking for recommendations in your niche, best first
- Tutorials, memes and job posts are filtered out for you
- Draft a reply with AI, then post it yourself in your own voice
Phrases you might track
- looking for a tool
- recommend an analytics
- alternative to Acme
Reddit · r/SaaS · 3h ago
Can anyone recommend an analytics tool that ties revenue to clicks? Acme is way too complex for a 3-person team.
Competitor mentions
Show up when buyers compare your competitors
Track competitor names and “alternative to” threads, and join the conversation while buyers are still choosing.
- Save competitors once and see every thread that mentions them
- Comparison and switching threads rank above casual mentions
- Mine the exact objections buyers raise about each competitor
Phrases you might track
- Globex alternative
- switching from Globex
- Globex vs
Bluesky · @growthnotes · 5h ago
Our Globex bill doubled again. Anyone found a decent Globex alternative for a small marketing team?
Warm outreach
Work warm intent, not cold databases
Contact databases like Apollo or Sales Navigator show who could buy. Needle shows who is researching a solution right now, so you open with the pain they already described.
- Every lead is tagged Hot lead, Worth engaging or Monitor
- Read the buyer’s own words before you reach out
- Send top leads to Slack and work them as a team
Phrases you might track
- need a CRM
- evaluating tools
- any recommendations
Hacker News · Ask HN · 8h ago
Ask HN: We need a CRM that handles EU data residency. Initech doesn’t. Any recommendations from teams under 50?
Demand signals
Build what developers are already asking for
Spot recurring complaints, workarounds and “I wish” posts on GitHub and Stack Overflow before you write a line of code.
- Catch feature requests and API limits as they get posted
- See how often the same pain comes up before you commit
- Turn threads into a validated backlog, not a guess
Phrases you might track
- rate limit
- is there a library
- workaround for
GitHub · acme/sdk issues · 6h ago
The export endpoint hits the rate limit at 100 rows. Is there a library or hosted service that batches this properly?
Buyer language
Write content from real buyer questions
Find the questions people actually ask, in their words, and answer them with posts, landing pages and free tools.
- Collect the phrasing buyers use for your category
- Find unanswered questions worth a guide or a free tool
- Share genuinely useful answers where people are asking
Phrases you might track
- how do I check
- best way to
- is there a free
Stack Overflow · Stack Overflow · 11h ago
How do I check if a domain is on an email blocklist? Is there a free API, or a tool that does this in bulk?
From our users
“This tool really does feel like finding a needle in a haystack.”
- Issac Veerla1,700+ founders and GTM teams have used it to rank 85,000+ buyer conversations. Here is what a few of them found.
As a founder building an online gift discovery tool, I am always looking for ways to find and engage with relevant communities. Needle has made this process fast and intuitive. I have already discovered 15+ subreddits that turned out to be perfect fits. I probably wouldn't have found them through Reddit's native search. Basically, using Needle is a smart move for anyone doing audience research or community outreach.
Cameron Robertson
Founder, VibeQuiz · July 2025
Needle made idea validation so much easier. I love how Needle works - it searched multiple communities and surfaced the most relevant conversations in one pass. Found 50+ high-intent threads in my first day! In a world flooded with social media noise, this tool really does feel like finding a needle in a haystack.
Issac Veerla
Business Major, SJSU · June 2025
As a freelance writer, using Needle is a game-changer for validating my ideas in less time. It tracks keyword trends across social media helping me spot what is trending and can help discover potential clients by tapping into real-time conversations online. It has saved me 10+ hours per week compared to manually searching the same things.
Ayachi Sharma
Content Writer · July 2025
List your product on the Needle Directory
Free listing for verified startups and tools, community upvotes, and a backlink once approved. Sign in to submit your listing.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Answers to common questions about platform coverage, data processing, and the 7-day free trial. Plans and limits are on Pricing.
How is Needle different from manually checking each community?
Instead of opening Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Product Hunt, and other sites one by one, Needle Search runs across the communities your plan includes in one workflow. Unlike plain keyword alerts, it filters out noise and ranks what is left by buying intent, so you open threads where people compare tools, ask for recommendations, or describe urgent pain first. Across all customers (measured Sep 15 - Oct 15, 2026), Needle dropped 83% of keyword matches as noise, only about 1 in 20 posts read was a strong buying signal, and 98% of leads surfaced within 24 hours of posting.
How is Needle different from Apollo, Clay, or LinkedIn Sales Navigator?
Apollo, Clay, and Sales Navigator are contact and account tools: they tell you who could buy from filters like role, company size, and industry. Needle is a customer discovery and buyer-intent tool: it finds problem-aware buyers who are publicly discussing a problem, asking for recommendations, or comparing tools right now on Reddit, Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow, and other communities. Many teams use both - Needle to see who needs a product like theirs this week, then a contact tool to reach the right person. Depending on plan, leads can go to Slack, Google Chat, Discord, Notion, Airtable, a webhook, or (on Scale) HubSpot and Pipedrive, and they can be exported as CSV. Plans start at $15/month after a 7-day free trial.
What can I try before I subscribe?
Every new account starts with a 7-day free trial - full access, no card. From signup you get manual search, recurring Auto Search for your brand, digest alerts, reply drafts, and exports; your first Auto Search run starts as soon as brand onboarding finishes. When the trial ends your leads stay readable and actions pause until you subscribe. Trending Problems has a public preview. Free tools need no account at useneedle.net/tools. A standard Directory listing does not require Search. See Pricing for plans and trial terms.
Which communities and platforms does Needle search?
Solo covers 8 networks: Reddit, Stack Overflow, Hacker News, GitHub, Mastodon, Lobsters, Bluesky, and Product Hunt. Growth adds YouTube, Tumblr, and Forums (11 networks). Scale adds X (Twitter) and LinkedIn (13 networks). Full limits are on Pricing.
Is my data private?
We analyze public conversations. Your account, searches, Auto Search results, and brand settings are treated as yours; we do not sell your data or use it for third-party ad targeting. See the Privacy policy.
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