How it works
Three steps. Ninety seconds. One verdict.
Describe your idea
Answer 3 short questions about what you're building and who it's for.
AI scans Reddit
We search real customer conversations to find pain signals, competitors, and timing data.
Get your score
Receive a Founder Signal Score, a verdict, and insights in about 90 seconds.
What you get
An AI analyst report. Not a survey.
Every Signal report scores your idea on 7 dimensions, surfaces real Reddit pain signals, maps the competitive landscape, and generates pivot suggestions — in under 90 seconds.
Sample Signal Report
AI-powered meal planning app for busy parents
Better than 78% of ideas scored on PaintedDoor
Score Breakdown
High Reddit velocity — parents actively vent about dinner decision fatigue daily across r/Parenting and r/mealprep.
$4.2B meal-kit market with strong SaaS adjacency and proven household willingness to pay.
Incumbents focus on recipes, not AI-driven weekly planning — a clear unoccupied gap.
Post-pandemic cooking fatigue + mainstream AI adoption creates a 12–18 month first-mover window.
Business Model Signals
Weekly habit loop with near-zero churn incentive once integrated into family routine.
Saves money vs. takeout — positions as a cost-cutting tool during downturns.
Low switching cost today; defensibility depends on personalization data accumulation over time.
Key Signals from Reddit
“I spend more time thinking about what to make for dinner than actually making it. By the time I decide, everyone's already cranky.”
“Anyone else just end up ordering takeout 3× a week because the mental load of planning is too much? My wallet hates me.”
“The mental load of feeding a family is REAL. I wish someone would just tell me what to cook based on what's in my fridge.”
Competitive Landscape
Mealime
Free / $5.99mo Pro
Weakness: Static recipe library — no AI, no personalization engine. Users complain it ignores pantry inventory.
Plan to Eat
$5.83/mo
Weakness: Recipe importer, not a planner. Clunky drag-and-drop UI with no smart suggestions.
Pivot Suggestions
Target single-parent households specifically
Improves competition score
Integrate with Instacart for one-tap grocery ordering
Improves market score
Niche into families with picky eaters
Improves pain score
Ready-to-Share Posts
I just validated my startup idea in 90 seconds on PaintedDoor. Score: 72/100 — GO verdict. Here's what Reddit actually told me about the market...
Unlocked with Signal
Pivots + social posts — $29/mo
The Graveyard
See what happened to other ideas.
Browse public Founder Signal reports from founders who tested before they built. Learn from real GOs, PIVOTs, and KILLs.
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Pricing
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Every founder gets one free validation. No credit card required.
Free
1 lifetime validation. Score + verdict.
- 1 lifetime Founder Signal Score
- GO / PIVOT / KILL verdict
- Basic score breakdown
- Graveyard — browse 5 public reports
Signal
Unlimited validations with full reports.
- Unlimited Signal validations
- Full score breakdown + explanations
- Business model signal scores
- Real Reddit pain signals
- Competitor landscape
- Pivot suggestions
- Ready-to-share social posts
- Full Graveyard access
Validate
Everything in Signal + 1 live experiment/mo.
- 1 live experiment per month
- Everything in Signal
- Real .com domain
- AI-generated landing page
- 7-day Reddit ad campaign
- Real-time analytics + verdict
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