Reddit ICP discovery

Find where the intended customer and problem actually appear, including communities that never mention the brand. This is a cross-community screening step, not a substitute for the separate deep study of each shortlisted subreddit.

Establish the decision

Ask for a factual brief before ranking: product or idea and its current stage; observable ICP characteristics; problem, trigger, and alternatives; serviceable geography and eligibility; desired outcome (for example signup, qualified lead, paid customer); organic versus paid scope; decision horizon; and material constraints. Mark proposed capabilities as hypotheses. If the ICP or problem is undefined, ask rather than manufacture a persona. If other facts are missing, a candidate inventory may still be useful, but mark fit and acquisition conclusions provisional where those facts matter. Use references/brief-and-handoff.md for the intake and downstream handoff fields.

Reason from the necessary conditions: the community must contain relevant people or problem discussions, have current activity, and permit a credible way to participate. Community size affects potential scale, but subscriber count alone establishes none of those conditions. A successful contribution still does not prove acquisition; the conversion event and measurement path matter.

Discover a defensible candidate set

Search the brand (if it exists), problem language, use cases, alternatives, competitor discussions, audience roles, life events, and geographically relevant terms. Use Reddit search, Reddit Pro Trends, an available read-only archive, or other accessible search sources; record the queries, sources, dates, and coverage. Existing brand-narrative findings are one input, not the universe of possible communities. Follow links and recurring cross-posts to adjacent communities. Include plausible small and large subreddits. No search method proves every relevant subreddit was found.

Screen each community separately

Use a stated recent observation window appropriate to the user's decision horizon. Sample across time and thread types rather than only top posts. Record the sampling method and count; a convenience search sample does not establish a community-wide frequency. Record linked evidence and counterexamples for: