How to Identify Underserved Needs and the Best Tools to Do It

Spotting market gaps and leveraging data to uncover hidden opportunities for your next business.

Viganella is a tiny village in Piedmont with about 200 inhabitants. Every year, from November to February, the mountains surrounding the small hamlet prevent the sun from reaching the valley's homes for 83 days.

The problem has been known forever and for a very long time influenced the quality of life of people living in Viganella, both from a logistical and psychological perspective. Only in 1999, the then-mayor Pier Franco Midali decided to tackle the issue once and for all.

A task force was formed with the goal of bringing the sun to Viganella, even during the dark months. The solution found was simple yet brilliant: install a giant mirror above the village's mountains to reflect the sun's rays toward the valley below.

The project came to life in 2006 and was a huge success. The story made headlines worldwide, and from that day on, the citizens of Viganella could finally enjoy sunlight and warmth even during winter months.

Creativity is a process

The story of Viganella's mirror is perfect for introducing this new deep dive in Business Revealed: how do you find the perfect idea for a startup? Or better yet: where do you start looking?

The answer is simple: by following rules.

Very often, people think the perfect idea is the result of lightning creativity, something that comes suddenly and somewhat by chance (think Newton's apple). However, if you observe any creative art, it becomes immediately clear that brilliant ideas never germinate in rule-free environments.

In theater and later in cinema, Aristotle's three-act structure defined precise rules for screenplay writing, a process that still determines the success of most films in circulation today. In cartoons or TV series, comic duos are designed following standard parameters (Laurel and Hardy, Pinky and The Brain, Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner). Not for nothing did Orson Welles state that "The enemy of art is the absence of limitations."

For this reason, the Viganella case is emblematic. The village's problem was clear: due to topographical reasons, the sun couldn't reach the valley for 83 days a year. How do you find the brilliant idea to solve this problem? By following rules that are part of a creative process: first, a study was done on the territory's conformation, then a study on available technologies, necessary economic resources, and so on. Only after defining these parameters was it possible to identify the most effective and convenient solution.

Searching for underserved needs

But let's return to the initial question: how do you find the perfect idea for a startup? In this case, the set of rules provided by the "startup manual" involves a clear and defined approach. Over the years, technology has changed and will continue to change the methods and research tools, but the target doesn't change: understanding who your company's future customers are, what they want, and how to make them happy.

Unless you have the intention and financial strength to become Nike's next competitor, the first step to reaching the right business idea is finding empty or still poorly defended market spaces where you can create new opportunities. In more technical terms, what you need to do is identify and analyze so-called "underserved needs."

As the word itself suggests, underserved needs are all those needs that aren't optimally satisfied by the market through existing services and products. These are all those requirements that people have, but which currently aren't covered at all, are only partially satisfied, or could be better satisfied. Identifying one of these needs is the first big step toward working on an idea that can guarantee long life to your startup. This is where your creative process must begin.

Customers want jobs to be done

A theoretical approach to underserved needs necessarily passes through Clayton Christensen and his Jobs to Be Done Theory. According to the Harvard Business School professor, customers don't just purchase products but they "hire" them to do a specific "job" in their lives. In other words, people don't buy products or services for their technical characteristics, but they do so with the intention of solving a problem or improving a situation that involves them.

Around Christensen's theory, a real framework has been created that allows investigating all those jobs that still today don't find the most suitable solutions on the market to hire for their execution.

The jobs that will emerge from applying the framework will lay the foundation for identifying the underserved needs you need and that you can subsequently analyze through data obtained from the tools I'll tell you about later.

But first, here are the framework elements to analyze to get your thinking started:

1. What problems do people still struggle to solve today and for which no optimal solution exists or only partially exists? Answering this question allows you to identify gaps present in various markets and especially to understand the real value of a potential solution for future customers (e.g., Airbnb filled the need for affordable and flexible accommodations, Canva simplified access to graphic tools for non-designers).

2. What is the best context where a product or service can best perform its job? Instead of immediately focusing on the characteristics and specifications of a product/service, it's fundamental to understand where its use will actually be required.

3. What are the functional, emotional, and social dimensions of each job? The functional dimension defines the practical problem that using the product solves; the emotional dimension establishes what sensory emotions a product provokes when purchased by a customer; the social dimension specifies the type of image a person conveys to others when using a certain product.

Focusing on these aspects helps concentrate on all those unsolved problems and difficulties that don't have an adequate solution and therefore make life complicated for many people (potential customers).

You are your first customer

The simplest way to decipher the elements of the Jobs to Be Done Framework is to test yourself. You too are a potential customer and you too experience difficulties performing certain activities every day.

"Scratch Your Own Itch"

As Jason Fried from 37signals puts it: "The best way to build something people want is to build something you want yourself. When you're solving your own problem, you understand the nuances, the frustrations, and what a good solution actually looks like."

Source: Scratch Your Own Itch - 37signals Podcast

Below I've grouped a series of questions that will be useful for taking this more introspective journey:

1. What jobs do you try to perform every day? Among these, is there one you can't complete or whose final result doesn't satisfy you 100%? (e.g., watering plants, making the bed, preparing dinner)

2. Where do you notice an absence of consumption? Try to understand what areas people don't use existing products or services in, this will help you discover unmet needs and unsolved problems (e.g., why doesn't anyone buy smooth penne pasta? why do few people buy 8K TVs? why doesn't anyone buy travel egg holders?)

3. Do you know DIY solutions adopted on a large scale? The spread of alternative ideas to solve certain problems is an important indicator of dissatisfaction with available or completely unavailable market options.

4. What tasks do you tend to avoid most? Identify those activities that people find annoying or want to avoid (e.g., no one wants to cook every day, no one wants to waste time standing in line or finding parking)

5. Do you know of alternative uses people make of existing products? Observe how customers use products in unconventional ways, but with equal success (e.g., a plate used as a saucer, a lamp used as a coat hanger).

Tools and data

After finding answers to the questions above, best practice would have you do the same work with as many people as possible, or at least with what could be a hypothetical target audience. Interviews remain a powerful tool for investigating consumer needs, but the advancement of AI-based technologies allows performing similar work by leveraging the enormous amount of data available online.

The best startup ideas aren't buried underground waiting to be discovered. They're sitting on the surface, scattered everywhere, waiting for someone to pick them up. Most people think finding startup ideas is like mining for gold, but the reality is much simpler - the opportunities are already validated and hiding in plain sight.

There are many tools that can help you find the same answers on massive samples. Among these, I'll start by mentioning Subreddit Stats (very useful for having precise analytics on various Reddit subreddits), Answer The Public (generates the most requested questions on keywords you want to analyze), and Minea (analyzes online and social media advertisements from major ecommerce retailers and helps understand their positioning).

Beyond individual tools, my advice is to follow a comprehensive framework that combines traditional research with AI-powered discovery methods. I've structured this into 4 main research approaches that will help you identify underserved needs systematically.

1. What's trending?

First, you need to understand what the current trends are. What are the most discussed topics and most talked-about products? Among the resources I prefer are:

Pinterest Trends - Thanks to Pinterest's data platform, you can explore popular trends from many geographical areas and do vertical research on keywords that interest you.

For each topic, you'll have access to data regarding interest over time, related trends, involved demographic groups (divided by age and gender), and the most popular pins. By focusing on these last ones, you'll be able to observe the resonance each topic has with the public and the predominant perception the public has of those topics.

Google Trends + Glimpse - Like Pinterest, Google also has its data platform that analyzes trends and keywords by comparing information obtained from Google, Google Images, Google News, Google Shopping, and YouTube. The main differences with Pinterest Trends concern the type of target and amount of data (not quality): Google has access to much more information on individual searches compared to Pinterest, but they're not necessarily more pertinent for research purposes.

To improve this aspect, my suggestion is to install the Glimpse extension from the Chrome store. Glimpse makes Google Trends much more powerful and precise in trend research and analysis: it analyzes more complex search patterns providing not only related searches but also related questions (very useful for identifying any unresolved problems linked to that topic), allows analyzing the same topics on major social networks, and proposes predictions on future trend development.

Exploding Topics - Tool very similar to Google Trends, but with greater focus on predicting long-term trends and analyzing emerging trends. In 2024, the company was acquired by Semrush, which enhanced the platform by increasing the number of online searches, social conversations, and other data sources accessible.

2. Unresolved problems and potential solutions

Once you've found the trend you think has the most potential or that interests you most (you can also leverage the answers you gave yourself within the JBTD Framework), you need to extract all possible information about activities performed around that trend. Reddit is an extremely powerful platform for searching this type of information and identifying any unresolved problems among its users.

The ultimate tool in this case is undoubtedly GummySearch. This tool groups and divides all Reddit's various subreddits by categories and topics, a precious resource for finding the right idea or understanding market gaps on certain products or services. For each subreddit, the platform identifies the problems and difficulties most discussed among users interacting on a specific trend, the main advice people request, and the solutions given to requests by various Reddit users.

Advanced Research Techniques:

Beyond GummySearch, I've developed specific search strategies that can uncover hidden opportunities:

• Run targeted Google searches: Use site:reddit.com "is there a tool that" + your niche. This reveals users actively seeking solutions that don't exist yet.

• Search for workflow hacks: Look for posts where people are improvising solutions in comments - these represent clear product opportunities.

• Monitor niche communities: Join Facebook groups with specific focuses like "Notion for teachers" or "real estate automation."

AI-Powered Discovery Methods:

Modern research combines traditional analysis with AI assistance. Here are the most effective approaches I use:

1. Direct AI consultation: Ask ChatGPT specific questions like "Give me 10 tedious workflows a [job title] does that AI could automate."

2. Personal usage pattern analysis: Review your own ChatGPT conversation history. Repeated prompt patterns often indicate product opportunities.

3. Friction point identification: Analyze your daily browser behavior to identify copy/paste actions between tools - each friction point is a potential startup idea.

4. Automated Influencer Feed Scoring
   I built a workflow with Clay and Apify that starts from a curated list of influencers, scrapes all their latest posts, and runs a scoring model. The scoring compares each post both against my personal content strategy pillars and against engagement metrics like reaction counts. The result is a prioritized backlog of fresh post ideas that align with my positioning while leveraging formats currently resonating with the audience.

Marketplace Intelligence:

Professional service platforms reveal manual workflows ready for automation:

• Browse service marketplaces: Fiverr and Upwork services like "I'll use ChatGPT to write your product descriptions" indicate manual processes waiting to become products.

• Analyze user feedback patterns: 2-star Shopify or WordPress plugins with high usage typically signal market demand with poor execution.

• Use specialized discovery tools: Platforms like Ideabrowser.com scan multiple sources to identify high-potential opportunities.

By analyzing the data from these sources, you can understand whether various user requests correspond to existing market solutions, or you'll have clear evidence that current products don't adequately address consumer needs.

3. Who's talking about these trends?

To understand consumer desires and requests even better, the next step is going to the square. Obviously not a real square, but what have become online squares: comment sections. Needless to say, this would be endless work, so my advice is to use your preferred virtual assistant (Perplexity AI, ChatGPT, Claude AI, etc.) and have it give you a list of the main creators currently talking about the trend you're investigating.

Advanced Comment Analysis:

I've found that comment sections are goldmines of product feedback and feature requests:

• YouTube review comments: Users frequently describe exactly what they wish existing tools could do - this becomes your product roadmap.

• High-engagement content analysis: Videos with 60k+ views typically have comment sections filled with specific use-case requests and friction points.

• Tutorial gap identification: When someone creates "How to automate X using 8 different tools," there's clearly an opportunity for a single, integrated solution.

Automated Pipeline

Using Gumloop or n8n, I run an automated pipeline that starts from either a curated influencer list or a topic tag. The workflow fetches all recent videos, ranks them by engagement, extracts every comment, and feeds the corpus to Gemini (or another long-context LLM) to surface trends, unmet needs, and concrete feature requests. The output is a prioritized insight report with examples, frequency, and suggested product angles.

Real-World Behavior Research:

Some of the most valuable insights come from observing actual work patterns:

• Calendar pattern analysis: Your own recurring meetings, prep time, and repetitive agendas often reveal software opportunities, especially when you're copying the same templates repeatedly.

• Small business observation: Local businesses often manage critical processes in spreadsheets. Whether it's a dentist's appointment system or a gym's membership tracking, Excel-based workflows frequently indicate automation opportunities.

• Professional service interviews: Solo practitioners and small agencies often receive repetitive requests from clients that they find tedious but necessary - these represent clear productization opportunities.

Professional Network Intelligence:

LinkedIn and professional networks reveal emerging market needs:

• Job title trend analysis: Growing industries create new roles, and new roles create new workflow requirements. Ask yourself: "What would make this person 10x faster at their job?"

• Emerging role identification: New job titles like "AI Operations Lead" or "Growth Product Manager" indicate evolving workflows that likely lack proper tooling.

• Community listening: Industry-specific Discord and Slack groups are filled with people asking "does anyone have a tool for..." or describing manual workflow solutions.

You can then select videos and posts that have generated considerable interactions, studying comments and opinions under this content. This part is very important for your project because it will help you put yourself even more in the shoes of someone looking for a solution to a problem they can't solve.

4. Anti-trends and Asymmetric Opportunities

The last piece of advice is a real plot twist. Where there are trends, there are also anti-trends that can in turn become new trends. In response to a hyper-connected world, for example, Dumb Phones were born; to respond to an ultra-minimalist decorating style, the charm of vintage objects returned; vinyl records started selling again.

But there's something even more powerful than anti-trends: asymmetric opportunities. These are extreme, concentrated bets that look irrational to everyone else but create massive competitive advantages.

Learning from Asymmetric Winners:

History's biggest business successes often came from counterintuitive decisions:

• Hubspot focused entirely on free educational content when competitors were building sales teams. They produced 750+ blog posts before hiring their first salesperson. Result: 61% lower customer acquisition costs and a current valuation of $25B.

• Costco deliberately carries only 4,000 product varieties when Walmart stocks 100,000+. This seemingly limiting constraint generates 2-3x more revenue per square foot than competitors.

• Five Guys serves made-to-order burgers with zero automation while the industry optimizes for speed. Their "slow food" approach creates 3x the revenue per store compared to traditional fast food.

The Asymmetric Opportunity Framework:

When everyone zigs, successful companies zag. Here's how to identify these opportunities:

1. Identify industry sacred cows - What if you completely eliminated something everyone considers essential?

2. Find the hidden cost center - What painful activity do businesses accept as unavoidable?

3. Invert the status metric - If everyone optimizes for speed, optimize for thoroughness

4. Weaponize a constraint - Turn your limitation into your competitive advantage

5. Find the emotional gap - What feeling is missing from the standard customer experience?

6. Go irrationally niche - Focus so narrowly that competitors think you're crazy

Modern Examples:

In today's AI-saturated market, some companies are finding success through deliberate "AI-free" positioning, betting that algorithm fatigue will create demand for human-centric solutions. Others are succeeding by adding intentional friction to products in industries obsessed with seamless experiences.

The Key Insight: If your idea doesn't make some people uncomfortable or seem irrational, it's probably not asymmetric enough to create lasting competitive advantage.

All the tools listed for finding current trends are obviously valid for understanding anti-trends and asymmetric opportunities. The advantage is entering markets that are initially less competitive and allow you to reach highly engaged, passionate audiences who often become the most loyal customers.

From Discovery to Validation: The Complete Framework

All this enormous amount of data will be fundamental for refining your research on underserved needs with the highest business potential. But discovering an opportunity is only half the battle - you need to validate it before building.

The 7-Question Validation Framework:

Based on years of analyzing successful startups, I've developed a systematic approach to validating discovered opportunities:

1. What's a fast-growing underserved niche?

2. What's a significant pain-point for them?

3. How do most people currently solve it?

4. Why doesn't the current solution work well?

5. How would you solve it differently?

6. How can you build this with healthy margins (50%+)?

7. What is your unfair advantage?

Quick Validation Techniques:

Before diving into full product development, use these methods to test your assumptions:

• Legacy tool analysis: Browse G2 or Capterra for highly-rated tools in traditional categories. If there's no modern AI integration, there's likely an opportunity to build the next-generation version.

• UX improvement opportunities: Find successful tools on Product Hunt or Gumroad that have traction but poor user experience. Often, better design and positioning can capture significant market share.

• Freelance market validation: Monitor Upwork job boards for recurring project types that involve manual AI-assisted work. High demand for manual services often indicates readiness for automated solutions.

The Validation Process:

The key is moving quickly from hypothesis to evidence. Start with the lightest possible validation methods before investing significant time or resources. Sometimes a simple landing page or a well-crafted survey can provide the validation you need to proceed with confidence.

When you're convinced of the result, you can move on to the full development phase of your idea, which involves market analysis, target definition, value proposition development, MVP creation, and all the other standard startup building blocks that will help you obtain more precise results in less time.

AI's contribution is evident in this new approach to researching underserved needs. However, as I mentioned above, technologies change research methods but don't change the fundamental objectives.

The other component that remains unchanged is the empathetic element: being capable of putting yourself in others' shoes, knowing how to observe what surrounds us (starting from our own daily experiences), remain key competencies for identifying the problems that still complicate the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. And that will ultimately determine whether your idea succeeds or fails.

Sources:

Clayton Christensen, Competing Against Luck (Harper Business, 2016)
"Know Your Customers' 'Jobs to Be Done'", Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan
"How to Identify an Underserved Need in the Market", Catherine Cote
"How I use Reddit and AI to find winning startup ideas", Greg Isenberg
"How I use Pinterest and Google to find $1M+ startup ideas", Greg Isenberg
ContentGrip Audience Building Framework Analysis, ContentGrip