Where to find customers in local services
Local operators are not on Hacker News. They are in Facebook groups named after a trade, Reddit communities for restaurants and gyms, YouTube comments under 'how I run my shop' videos, and review sites where their customers — not them — do the talking. If you sell scheduling, payments, reputation, payroll, or marketing to gyms, restaurants, salons, trades, real estate, or home services, you will find the owner when something breaks: no-shows, chargebacks, Google review bombs, a technician who quit. This hub maps those owner-operators and the exact places they ask peers what to buy next. Pitching like a SaaS founder here fails; talking like a vendor who has been in a shop at 6 a.m. works.
Who sells here
Vertical SaaS for trades and hospitality, reputation tools, booking and membership products, local SEO agencies, and payment companies that sell to independent locations.
Audiences in this sector
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Frequently asked questions
Is Facebook still the main channel for local business owners?
For trades, salons, gyms, and many restaurants, yes. Facebook groups are where owners paste screenshots of their POS and ask 'is this normal?' Reddit is stronger for restaurants, coffee, and some fitness niches. YouTube comments are underrated: owners watch other owners, then ask which software is in the video.
How do I avoid getting banned from contractor groups?
Do not drop a link on day one. Most groups require you to comment as a peer or mark posts as 'vendor.' Lead with a specific operational answer — how to handle a no-show deposit, how to reply to a one-star review — and mention software only when asked. Several groups have full-time admins who search for URLs.
Where does competitor frustration show up for local software?
In 1-star app store reviews, Facebook threads about Mindbody, Toast, Jobber, Housecall Pro, Mindbody, and whatever the vertical incumbent is, plus YouTube 'switching off X' videos. Those threads name the missing feature. That is your outreach context, not a generic 'we help local businesses grow.'
Reading 1,000 threads a month doesn't scale. PainHuntr does.
Paste your product URL. PainHuntr finds the conversations on Reddit, X, Hacker News, YouTube, and review sites — then helps you reply, track what worked, and do it again.
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