How to Use AI to Find a $1M Idea: A Builder’s Blueprint for Launching with AI Tools

Table of Contents

• Why You Should Even Care
• The Stack Breakdown: AI Funnel Builder Meets Market Research
• The Build (Step by Step)
• StackSwitch Moment
• The Real Talk
• TL;DR StackStarts Take
• FAQ
• Video Credit

Why You Should Even Care

Coming up with a solid business idea is one of the toughest parts of launching a startup. The human brain is prone to ego, bias, and overthinking, which often leads to spinning wheels instead of actionable concepts. What if you could outsource this notoriously tricky process to AI? That’s exactly what Steph France set out to prove with the Gold Mining Framework. In under an hour, using only AI tools, she went from zero knowledge about a niche to a fully fleshed-out business idea, complete with a high-converting landing page — without writing a single line of code or copy.

This approach isn’t just about convenience; it’s about radically changing how solo builders and indie hackers find and validate ideas. Instead of guesswork and gut feelings, this method uses real-world data scraped from places where people actually talk about their problems — like Reddit — and then leverages AI to distill pain points, generate business ideas, and craft marketing copy tailored to those pains. If you’re tired of brainstorming in a vacuum or chasing trends that fizzle out, this framework offers a pragmatic, data-driven alternative to jumpstart your next project.

The Stack Breakdown: AI Funnel Builder Meets Market Research

The Gold Mining Framework is a well-orchestrated AI funnel built on a handful of tools and integrations carefully selected for their strengths and limitations. Here’s the core stack:

• Claude AI: The primary large language model (LLM) used for generating human-like, emotionally resonant copy and parsing complex data. Steph prefers Claude for its natural tone and copywriting finesse.
• Gemini AI: Used selectively when a massive context window (up to 1 million tokens) is needed for deep, ongoing conversations within the same thread.
• Google Search + Advanced Queries: Essential for uncovering relevant Reddit threads using carefully crafted search strings that surface authentic user pain points and frustrations.
• Keyword Everywhere Chrome Extension: Quick access to search volume and related keyword data to validate demand before diving deeper.
• Google Trends: To confirm market stability or growth trends, ensuring the niche isn’t a flash in the pan.
• Lovable (No-Code App Builder): The final stage uses Lovable to turn AI-generated prompts into a fully functional landing page — again, no code or manual copywriting required.

Markdown formatting is a subtle but critical detail throughout the process. Using markdown to structure prompts preserves clarity for the AI and helps maintain consistency across multiple tools. The stack is flexible; you can swap Claude for something else like OpenAI’s GPT models if you prefer, but the key is the multi-step, layered approach combining research, data gathering, and AI-powered synthesis.

The Build (Step by Step)

1. Find a Market to Explore: Start with one of the three core markets where people are willing to spend money: health, wealth, and relationships. Choose a sub-niche you have an edge in or are genuinely interested in. For example, within health, Steph chose stress management, then used the Market Idea Expander prompt to dig deeper into related sub-niches like massage therapy and meditation.
2. Validate Market Demand: Use Google Search and Keyword Everywhere to check search volumes for keywords related to your sub-niche. Then verify trends with Google Trends to confirm the market is stable or growing. For example, Swedish massage showed decent volume but an up-and-down trend. Switching to the relationship market, co-parenting emerged as a solid, growing niche with 40,000 monthly searches and clear demand for apps and services.
3. Gather Data from Real Users: Reddit is the goldmine here. Use advanced Google search queries tailored to surface Reddit threads where people share their frustrations, questions, and experiences around your chosen market (e.g., co-parenting). Copy those threads into a text document for processing. This step is about mining authentic pain points expressed in users’ own language.
4. Process the Data with AI: Paste the Reddit threads into Claude and use a series of prompts to extract and categorize pain points, attaching direct quotes to each for authenticity. Then run these pain points through a Market Gap Generator prompt that applies frameworks like new product innovation, new technology, and differentiation to generate viable, unique business ideas.
5. Choose a Business Idea and Generate a Landing Page Prompt: Pick the most compelling business idea from the AI output. Use a Landing Page Prompt Creator designed specifically for Lovable, which turns the idea and pain points into a detailed prompt for the no-code tool.
6. Build and Publish the Landing Page: Paste the prompt into Lovable and let it create a complete landing page, including headline, subheadings, feature descriptions, FAQs, and even a form. The final landing page is well-structured and speaks directly to the validated pain points, ready to capture interest and build a waiting list.

StackSwitch Moment

The process is elegant but not without its quirks. The biggest challenge is managing data volume and ensuring quality control when scraping Reddit threads. Too much irrelevant or off-topic content can dilute results, so careful selection and manual reading are still necessary. Steph’s use of Google advanced queries helps filter for quality, but there’s no perfect shortcut here — it’s a balance between automation and human judgment.

Another point of friction is the somewhat convoluted step of generating a prompt to create another prompt (for Lovable). This “prompt inception” is a neat hack but could confuse newcomers. It’s a reminder that AI tools are powerful but often require layered orchestration that isn’t fully seamless yet.

On the technology front, Claude’s emotional tone and copywriting edge made it the preferred LLM, but if your use case demands extreme context memory, Gemini might be a better fit. Flexibility with LLMs depending on the task is critical.

The Real Talk

This framework nails the idea discovery and validation phase, turning guesswork into a repeatable, data-driven process. It’s a massive upgrade over the traditional “brainstorm and hope” approach. Using Reddit for raw, unfiltered pain points is especially smart — you’re mining real human problems, not hypothetical ones.

That said, this isn’t a magic bullet for launching a business. The AI-generated landing page is a starting point, not a finished product. You still need to validate with real users, build the actual product, and iterate. Steph wisely recommends using quizzes on the landing page to build a waiting list and gather feedback before investing heavily in development.

Also, while no-code tools like Lovable accelerate the landing page creation, the process still requires some manual oversight and tweaking to ensure the page converts well. AI can draft copy, but understanding your audience and refining messaging remains a human job.

Overall, the Gold Mining Framework is a practical, builder-first approach that leverages AI to reduce friction and risk in early-stage idea discovery and validation. It’s a system worth adopting if you want to move fast without flying blind.

TL;DR StackStarts Take

The Gold Mining Framework is a no-nonsense AI funnel builder stack that mines authentic user pain points from Reddit, validates demand with search tools, and automates landing page creation with Lovable — a tactical blueprint for launching with AI tools that cuts the fluff and gets you from idea to launch-ready page in under an hour.

FAQ

What are the three core markets to focus on?

Health, wealth, and relationships. These are broad markets where people are willing to spend money, reducing risk when choosing a niche.

Why use Reddit for gathering pain points?

Reddit offers anonymous, in-depth discussions where real people share their frustrations and problems. It’s a rich source of authentic customer pain points in their own words, which AI can then analyze.

Can I use other AI models besides Claude?

Yes. Claude is preferred for its human-like tone and emotional copywriting, but Gemini or OpenAI’s GPT models can be used, especially if you need larger context windows or specific capabilities.

Is the AI-generated landing page ready to launch?

It’s a strong starting point designed to convert based on validated pain points, but you should still validate with real users, refine messaging, and build the actual product before fully launching.

How do I validate the business idea beyond the landing page?

Steph recommends using quizzes on your landing page to build a waiting list and gather user feedback. This helps confirm demand before investing time and resources into building the full product.

Do I need coding skills to use this framework?

No. The entire process, including landing page creation, is designed to be no-code using tools like Lovable and AI-powered prompt engineering.

Video Credit: How to Use AI to Find a $1M Idea [Reddit, Claude]