Overview
In today’s fast-moving tech world, automation is more than a luxury—it’s a necessity. From startups to corporate teams, professionals are realizing the value of streamlining repetitive tasks with the help of AI and powerful automation tools. One such emerging tool is NA10, an open-source automation platform that’s gaining traction for its flexibility, affordability, and depth. In this post, we’ll explore how NA10 works, how it compares to competitors like Zapier and Make, and walk you through a real-world use case: automating Reddit scraping to discover profitable startup ideas.
Why Automate at All?
The majority of professional tasks are repetitive. Studies and hands-on experience with teams and founders show that around 80-90% of daily job functions are mundane, procedural activities. Whether it’s compiling data, sending reports, or responding to similar queries, most tasks follow a pattern. Instead of spending hours on manual work, automation tools enable users to focus on the 10-20% of creative work that truly adds value.
If you’re a little tech-savvy and feel overwhelmed by the daily grind, automation is your superpower. And with tools like NA10, you don’t need to be a coder to start reaping the benefits.
Meet NA10: The Rising Star in Automation
NA10 is a versatile open-source automation platform designed to give users exceptional control and scalability. While other automation platforms like Zapier, Make, or IFTTT offer user-friendly integrations, they can become expensive and restrictive as your needs grow. NA10 stands out by offering:
- True customization: Deep control over your workflows
- Cost-efficiency: A genuinely free tier to get started
- Integration flexibility: It supports less common or niche tools
Its open-source nature also means a thriving community, constant improvements, and transparency you don’t find in many commercial automation platforms.
Real-World Project: Validating Startup Ideas with Reddit and NA10
Now let’s bring theory into practice. The use case? Automating the process of identifying market gaps by analyzing user complaints on Reddit. If people are constantly frustrated about a tool or service, that’s a business opportunity waiting to be tapped.
Step 1: Setting Up NA10
Begin by signing up on na10.io. Choose the option to start a workflow from scratch—this gives you full control over configuration.
Create a manually triggered automation so it runs only on demand. The flexibility of selecting your trigger type (a button press, a scheduled time, or a keyword) adds control from the get-go.
Step 2: Scraping Reddit
Add a Reddit node using the platform’s built-in features. Authenticate your Reddit account using your personal client ID and secret. Search for specific complaints such as “why I stopped using Slack” in the relevant subreddits. For demo purposes, limit the results to about 10 posts.
From the Reddit node, pull useful data fields like the post’s title, body (selftext), number of upvotes, timestamp, and URL. Filter these results using if-condition settings, such as requiring at least two upvotes and non-empty content.
Step 3: Analyzing the Data with AI
Pull in an AI node using Google’s Gemini Flash 2.0 (optimized for speed). Pass each Reddit post through a prompt that generates a binary “yes” or “no” to determine whether the complaint reflects a genuine problem. You can also ask the AI to explain the core issue briefly.
Merge this AI analysis with the original Reddit data to consolidate your results. This step helps in building a structured pipeline of insights.
Step 4: AI-Powered Ideation
For each valid complaint, pass the issue through another Gemini AI node to propose potential business solutions. The prompt should request short, pragmatic startup ideas addressing the core problem highlighted in the Reddit post.
Merging this second AI response with the earlier dataset results in a comprehensive overview: post, problem, validation (yes/no), explanation, and recommended solution.
Step 5: Exporting to Google Sheets
Finally, integrate Google Sheets through NA10 to export your processed data. Define the columns: Title, Original Problem, Upvotes, Date Created, URL, AI-validated Issue, and Suggested Solution. This makes it easy to scan through validated opportunities and prioritize your next steps.
With one click, every part of this automated workflow—scraping, analysis, solutioning, and storage—is triggered and executed in real-time.
Conclusion
The future of productivity lies in automation, and tools like NA10 make it easier than ever to build sophisticated, end-to-end workflows without writing code. By combining Reddit data with AI analysis and seamless integrations like Google Sheets, you can transform raw internet chatter into actionable startup insights in minutes—not days.
Whether you’re a founder looking for your next big idea or a professional eager to reduce your manual workload, learning to harness platforms like NA10 is a skill worth investing in. This hands-on example is just the tip of the iceberg—what will you automate next?
Note: This blog is written and based on a YouTube video. Orignal creator video below:
