Market research used to mean hiring a firm, running surveys, or at minimum spending three weeks manually reading forums and competitor reviews. Most solo founders skip it entirely. They build on gut, launch to silence, and figure out the gap after. There is a faster path. One that costs almost nothing and produces sharper signal than a $5,000 agency report. Here is how to actually do it. Why does most solo founder market research fail? Most founders skip market research because they think it means surveys, focus groups, or expensive data firms. It does not. The real problem is that founders look for validation instead of friction, and they stop reading as soon as they find one comment that agrees with them. That is not research. That is confirmation bias with extra steps. Real market research means going where your customers already complain, without knowing you are watching. Reddit, Twitter, Hacker News, niche Slack groups, app store reviews.…