How to find leads on Bluesky

Bluesky is a good place to find leads for one simple reason: people post their problems in public, and anyone with an account can search those posts. You don't need a paid tool to start. You need the right searches, a short daily routine, and replies that help.

This guide covers the search operators Bluesky documents, the phrases that surface buyers, and how to reach out without ending up reported as spam.

First: what counts as a lead on Bluesky

A follower is not a lead. A lead is a person who recently wrote something that shows they have the problem you solve, and ideally that they're looking for a fix. On Bluesky that usually looks like:

• a question: "is there a tool that…", "any recommendations for…"
• a complaint about the current way of doing it: "I'm so tired of…"
• a switch: "looking for an alternative to…"

The post has to be recent. Someone who asked two weeks ago has often found an answer already. More on what to look for in buying intent signals.

Step 1: sign in before you search

On November 9, 2026, opening the search page on bsky.app without an account shows "Search is currently unavailable when logged out". So create an account first, with a real profile: a photo and a bio that says plainly what you do. People check it before they answer you.

Once signed in, the search page has tabs: Top, Latest, People, Feeds and Starter Packs. For leads, use Latest. Top favors popular posts, and a popular post is rarely a person quietly asking for help.

Step 2: the search operators that matter

Bluesky listed its advanced search operators in Tips and Tricks for Bluesky Search (May 31, 2024). The useful ones for finding leads:

• Quotes for an exact phrase: "any recommendations". Bluesky notes that the phrase also matches the alt text of images.
• since: and until: to limit dates, in YYYY-MM-DD format and in UTC: since:2026-11-01.
• lang: with a two-letter language code: lang:en, lang:fr.
• #hashtag to see posts with that tag.
• from:handle to read one person's posts, useful before you reply to them.
• domain: to find posts that link to a site, a competitor for example: domain:competitor.com.

You can combine them. In a test on November 9, 2026, through Bluesky's public search API, since: and lang: both filtered the results as described.

Step 3: search for the words buyers actually write

Search for what the buyer types, not what you sell. Nobody writes "I need a customer relationship management solution". They write "how do you keep track of clients?".

Start with these patterns and add your topic:

• "any recommendations" + your topic
• "is there a tool" + the task
• "looking for an alternative to" + a competitor
• "how do you" + the task
• "so tired of" + the current tool or habit

_Example_ (fictional business): you sell a booking tool for dog groomers. Searches to try:

• "dog grooming" booking since:2026-11-01
• "any recommendations" grooming software
• "looking for an alternative to" + the booking tool groomers use most

Keep queries short. Bluesky search matches words, so a long phrase in quotes often returns nothing. In the same test, "any recommendations" together with crm returned only a handful of posts, most of them months old: a narrow niche can be quiet. Widen the words before you widen the dates.

Step 4: use hashtags, then read the profile

Hashtags show you where your buyers gather. Founders post under tags like #buildinpublic, small business owners under #smallbusiness. Combine a tag with a buyer phrase: #smallbusiness "recommend".

When you find a good lead, read their recent posts with from:handle. What do they do, which tools do they use, did they already find a fix? Two minutes there saves you from a reply that misses the point.

Step 5: turn it into a daily routine

Leads go stale fast. A search you run once is worth little. The same five searches run every morning are a pipeline.

1. 1Keep 5 to 10 searches in a note, each with since: set to two or three days ago.
2. 2Run them each morning in the Latest tab.
3. 3Copy the best 3 posts into a list: link, date, what they asked.
4. 4Reply to those 3. Stop there.

Three good replies a day beat thirty rushed ones.

Step 6: reply in public first, DM later

Bluesky's Community Guidelines are clear: "Do not send spam or repeatedly post content in ways that disrupt normal conversations or service use." They also ask you not to post advertising without saying it's advertising.

DMs are also more closed than you might think. When Bluesky launched DMs (May 22, 2024), it wrote: "By default, only people you follow can send you DMs." So a cold DM often can't even be sent.

And people do report unwanted messages. Bluesky's 2025 Transparency Report (January 29, 2026) counts 134.95K DM reports in 2025, and says nearly half of them (48.48%) involved misleading content, "primarily spam operations and scam attempts that target users through direct outreach."

So the order is simple:

1. 1Reply to their post, in public, with a real answer to their question. No link, no pitch.
2. 2If they reply, keep helping. Ask one question about their situation.
3. 3Mention what you built only when it fits what they asked, and say plainly that it's yours.

_Example_ reply (fictional), to a groomer who asked for booking tool recommendations:

"Whatever you pick, check that it sends a reminder the day before with a one-tap confirm. That's where most tools differ for groomers. How many bookings do you handle a week?"

It answers the question, it's specific, and it ends with an easy question. More on this in how to write an outreach message that gets replies.

Mistakes to avoid

• Searching for your product category. Search for the problem, in the buyer's words.
• Using Top instead of Latest. You want fresh posts, not popular ones.
• Replying to old posts. Check the date. Past a week, move on unless the thread is still active.
• Pasting the same reply everywhere. People notice, and it reads as spam.
• Pitching in the first reply. Help first. Nobody asked for a demo.

A 20-minute routine for this week

1. 1Write 5 searches with buyer phrases, since: set to three days ago, and lang: for your market.
2. 2Run them in the Latest tab each morning.
3. 3Pick 3 recent posts from people who clearly have the problem.
4. 4Reply to each with one useful idea and one question.
5. 5Note who answers, and keep those conversations going.

If Bluesky is quiet in your niche, the same method works elsewhere: see how to find customers on Reddit.

Where FounderPulse fits

Steps 2 to 5 are the slow part: running the searches every day and reading through posts to find the few people who are asking right now. FounderPulse does that part. It searches recent public Bluesky posts by keyword and by the hashtags your buyers use, along with Mastodon, Hacker News, forums and the open web. It checks the date of each post, drops ads and job offers, and tells you in one sentence why each person fits. For each one, it drafts a first reply that helps before it mentions you.

It doesn't post or send anything for you. You read the draft, change what you want, and send it yourself from your own account.

You can try it free without signing up: paste your website and see three people to contact today.