Founders fail discovery when it is episodic - one Reddit binge, then silence. This SOP keeps a light rhythm (~30 min/day) so quotes, objections, and threads compound.
Pair with customer research methodology and find your first 100 customers.
Weekly calendar at a glance
| Day | Block | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Mon | Search + log | 10 new quotes in spreadsheet |
| Tue | Prioritize + 2 replies | Threads tagged respond/ignore |
| Wed | Synthesis | Updated positioning doc |
| Thu | Outreach | 5 thoughtful touches max |
| Fri | Trending triage | 1–2 content or product notes |
Total: ~2.5 hours if you stay in the box.
Monday - Search and log (30–45 min)
- Run 2–4 queries from your phrase list (alternatives templates).
- Sort by recency and intent; skip threads older than 14 days unless evergreen.
- Log 10 lines in a spreadsheet: quote, URL, platform, constraint hint.
Tool-agnostic: manual tabs work. Search saves time when you repeat the same queries across Reddit, HN, SO, and GitHub.
Tuesday - Prioritize and reply (45 min)
Tag each saved thread:
- Respond now - buying or switching language
- Product insight - feature gap, no reply needed yet
- Ignore - wrong ICP or dead thread
Leave 2 helpful comments (no product link in comment #1). Follow Reddit playbook / HN playbook norms.
Wednesday - Synthesis (30 min)
Answer in a single doc:
- What objection appeared twice?
- Any new competitor or integration named?
- Which phrase should change homepage H1?
Route product insights to one Linear/Jira issue - not Slack noise.
Thursday - Outreach (45–60 min)
- 5–10 touches max - DMs or email only after public value
- Disclose affiliation
- One follow-up on last week's threads
Use founder outbound SOP when moving from research to pipeline.
Friday - Trending triage (30 min)
- Open free Trending Problems - note 2–3 relevant scores.
- Click through to problem detail pages; search related phrases.
- Log one content idea or one experiment - not both if bandwidth is tight.
Read monitor trending problems for validation framing.
Anti-patterns
| Anti-pattern | Fix |
|---|---|
| Scroll without logging | Spreadsheet or doc required |
| Copy-paste replies | Templates adapted per thread |
| Zero follow-up | Calendar reminder on "respond now" rows |
| Chasing every trend | Friday cap: 2 ideas max |
When to add Auto Search
Post-PMF teams add scheduled brand/competitor monitoring so Monday is not the only day signal arrives. See Search docs for Manual vs Auto.