Most side projects die for the same reason: nobody had the problem they solve.
We brainstorm, we build, we launch, and then we go looking for users. It's backwards. The people with a real problem are usually already saying so, in public, over and over. They write it in support threads, review sections and community posts. "Still broken after the update." "Charged again after I cancelled." "Has anyone found a workaround?"
Triremes reads those public reports, groups the ones that describe the same problem, and keeps count. Right now it lists 12,595 distinct problems people have with the software they use.
What you can do with it
There are two ways to use a problem: build the fix, or sell the fix.
1. Build the fix for everyone who reported it
Browsing is free. Every problem page shows:
- the problem in plain words
- how many public reports it has
- when it was first and last reported, so you can see whether it's still happening
That alone answers the question most of us skip: is anyone actually asking for this? A problem with dozens of reports over two years, still being reported last month, is a much better bet than an idea you had in the shower.
If you want the full picture before you commit a weekend (or a quarter), you can buy the problem's idea report. It includes the full summary of what to build or fix, the reports per month, whether it's still reported, the products affected and related problems. It costs $19 for a well-established problem (Tier I) and $9 for one that's still building up (Tier II).
2. Sell the fix to the businesses that have the problem
Some problems come with businesses attached: companies that said, in public, that they have this problem. For those, Triremes sells a lead. You get each business, the email address it published as its own, the page where it published it, the problem in plain words, an AI-suggested opening line for your first email, and a CSV.
A lead costs $19 per business found. The problem page tells you how many businesses were found and the price before you pay.
This is a cold email you can open with: "You mentioned that orders stop syncing after an update. I fix exactly that." It's not a spray-and-pray list. Triremes never contacts anyone for you, and the terms allow only lawful, relevant contact.
The other list: websites with poor SEO / AEO
If you do web work, there's a second catalogue: 279,304 business websites that Triremes measured for gaps in what search engines and AI answer engines can read. Think missing titles, missing structured data, and pages a crawler or an answer engine can't make sense of.
Each listing's page shows what kind of business it is, where it is, its gaps by name and the date it was measured, for free. For $99 you get the business's name, its website, how to contact it and every finding, on a private page with a CSV.
These are measurements, not complaints. But a measured, dated list of what's wrong with a prospect's site is a far better first message than "I noticed your website could use some love."
One won client at $1,000 a month for three months is a $3,000 engagement. The listing costs $99.
How it works, in three oars
A trireme was a ship rowed by three banks of oars, hence the name:
- Find a problem. Browse real problems people keep reporting, free.
- See who has it. Unlock the businesses that have it, or buy the idea report.
- Pitch or build the fix. That oar is yours.
For developers: there's an API
If you'd rather pull problems into your own tools, dashboards or research, there's an API.
Try it
- Browse problems: triremes.com/problems
- See a sample lead and idea report, exactly as a buyer sees them: triremes.com/samples
- Websites with poor SEO / AEO: triremes.com/website-gaps
Next time you're about to start a project, look first for a problem with 50 reports and no fix.
Disclosure: I built Triremes.
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