How to Get Your First 100 Customers From Reddit (Without Getting Banned)
A founder's playbook for getting your first 100 customers from Reddit: warming up your account, posts and comments that work, ban-avoidance rules learned the hard way, and how to measure results without dropping links
I've helped startups get their first 100 customers and grow to $10k MRR through Reddit. Along the way, I also got banned a couple of times.
This guide is based on that experience: what worked and which mistakes got accounts removed.
First, here's why Reddit is worth your time:
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People search Reddit before buying. Searches like "best X" and "is X worth it" increasingly lead people to Reddit threads.
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Reddit threads rank on Google. A thread you comment on today could stay on the first page of Google for years.
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AI assistants surface Reddit conversations. Showing up in the right threads can also help your product appear in answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI tools.
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Reddit content compounds. Unlike X posts, which often disappear from people's feeds within 24 hours, one great Reddit comment can drive traffic for years.
Here's everything I've learned about marketing a startup on Reddit, in the order you should do it.
Step 1: Find the right subreddits
Go where your ICP spends time.
Look for subreddits with 10k to 50k+ members where people regularly ask questions, share problems, and discuss tools in your space.
Smaller communities in this range are often better than subreddits with millions of members. Large subreddits tend to have stricter moderation, and your posts are more likely to get buried quickly.
If you're unsure where your buyers spend time, start with a few site:reddit.com searches related to the problem you solve. You can also use a subreddit research tool to map relevant communities.
Step 2: Warm up your account
This is the step 90% of people skip, and it's one of the main reasons they get banned.
If your account has no karma and you start promoting your product on day one, your posts or comments will probably get removed. Reddit's spam systems and subreddit moderators often consider your account age, karma, and activity history.
If you want to start as soon as possible, spend at least one week using Reddit like a normal person.
Leave 10 to 15 genuine comments in your target subreddits, upvote posts you find useful, and publish two or three unrelated posts. Try to reach 30 to 50 karma before mentioning your product.
If you have more time, spend two to three weeks building up the account.
Keep your activity balanced. For every comment that mentions your product, leave four or five genuinely helpful comments that have nothing to do with it.
Comment karma matters more than post karma for this strategy because it shows that you participate in conversations instead of only promoting your own content.
It's boring. That's kind of the point.
Everyone skips it, which is why it works.
Step 3: Market through posts
Filter a subreddit by its top posts of all time and study which types of posts perform well. Then create posts that follow similar formats without copying them.
From my experience, two formats consistently work:
Long educational posts. These can include how-to guides, personal stories backed by real numbers, breakdowns of mistakes you've made, resource lists, or contrarian opinions.
For example:
"I raised $5M. Here's what I learned."
"I reached $1M ARR. Here's how I did it."
Offering help. For example:
"I'll do this for free. Drop your product below."
These posts can generate a lot of engagement, but only use this format when you can genuinely help the people who respond.
Step 4: Market through comments
Find threads where people are discussing the problem your product solves.
There are four main ways to find them:
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Search Google for keywords related to your product and add
site:reddit.comto the query. -
Join subreddits where your ICP spends time. Open Reddit once or twice a day, check your feed, and comment on relevant posts.
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In those same subreddits, filter posts by top posts from today, this week, or this month. Look for relevant conversations where you can contribute.
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The easiest option is to go to Okara, enter your website URL, and let it monitor Reddit 24/7 for conversations related to your product. It can also draft authentic replies for you. To compare different options, read our breakdown of Reddit keyword monitoring tools.
When commenting, help first and mention your product naturally.
"I ran into the same problem and ended up using X. Here's what worked for me."
That sounds much more natural than:
"You should check out X."
You can also be transparent about being the founder.
Use a username that makes your connection to the product clear and say something like:
"I built this, so I'm obviously biased, but here's how we think about the problem. Happy to answer any questions."
Reddit users usually respect honest founders more than marketers pretending to be customers.
A simple way to write comments that perform
If you don't know what to comment, here's a process that takes 20 to 30 minutes and can improve every reply you write afterward:
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Open 15 to 20 popular Reddit threads in your niche.
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Take screenshots of the original questions and the most upvoted replies.
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Upload the screenshots to an LLM and ask it to analyze why the top replies received more upvotes.
Ask questions such as:
- What did these replies do well?
- What patterns do they follow?
- Did they avoid including links?
- Did they provide value before mentioning a product?
- How do they structure their answers?
- What tone and language do they use?
- Tell the LLM: "I want to write high-performing Reddit replies like these for my brand."
Give it an overview of your product, audience, and positioning. Then ask it to create a system prompt you can reuse.
- Paste that system prompt into Okara or whichever tool you use to draft your replies.
Instead of guessing what works, you're reverse-engineering the type of content each community already upvotes.
How to avoid getting banned
Everything above only works if your account survives.
These are the rules I learned the hard way:
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Warm up your account before promoting anything. Follow the process in Step 2.
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Avoid posting links in comments. This is one of the fastest ways to get your comments removed or your account flagged. One exception is when a thread specifically asks people to share their products or links, such as "What did you build this week?"
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Don't comment on too many posts within a short period. Unnatural activity can trigger spam filters or attract moderator attention.
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Add value first. Only mention your product when it is genuinely relevant to the conversation.
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Don't make every comment about your product. Help people and participate in discussions without expecting anything in return.
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Follow each subreddit's rules. Some communities allow self-promotion, some have designated weekly threads, and others ban it completely.
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Write like you're talking to a friend. Avoid corporate language and obvious marketing copy.
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Don't post the same comment across multiple threads.
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Don't publish several posts in the same subreddit on the same day.
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Don't mention your product repeatedly in back-to-back comments. Space out promotional comments with normal participation.
How to measure attribution without links
Not posting links makes attribution harder, but it doesn't make it impossible.
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Ask new users, "How did you hear about us?" during onboarding or on sales calls.
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Monitor Google Search Console for increases in branded searches.
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Check your analytics for traffic referred by Reddit, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI assistants.
A strong Reddit comment may generate results in several ways. Someone might discover your product directly in the thread, search for your brand on Google, or find the thread through an AI-generated answer.
How to do this without living in the Reddit feed
The entire playbook above can be done manually.
You find threads, read the conversation, write helpful replies, and space out your activity.
It works, but it can take several hours each week. It is also one of the first marketing activities founders stop doing when something urgent happens with the product.
That's the problem Okara's Reddit agent solves.
You enter your website URL, and it monitors Reddit 24/7 for high-intent conversations related to your product. It then drafts authentic replies that you can review and approve before publishing.
The replies follow the same principles covered in this guide because getting your account banned helps nobody.
The Reddit agent is part of Okara's full AI CMO, which also includes SEO, GEO, and content agents for a flat $249 per month.
Frequently asked questions
Can you really get customers from Reddit?
Yes. I've helped startups get their first 100 customers and grow to $10k MRR primarily through Reddit.
It works best for products whose buyers research problems, ask questions, and compare tools in online communities before purchasing. This includes many software products.
Why do accounts get banned for promoting products on Reddit?
It usually happens for one of three reasons:
- A brand-new account starts promoting a product immediately.
- The account posts promotional links in multiple comments.
- The same promotional message is repeated across several threads.
You can avoid most of these problems by warming up the account, contributing genuinely, and following each subreddit's rules.
How much karma do I need before mentioning my product?
Aim for at least 30 to 50 karma earned through a week or more of genuine participation.
Comment karma is especially valuable because it shows that you actively participate in conversations. An older account with more karma and a natural activity history will generally be safer.
Is it against Reddit's rules to promote your product?
Not necessarily.
Reddit's spam policies and most subreddit rules are designed to prevent low-effort, repetitive, and link-heavy promotion.
Helpful comments that mention your product when it is relevant are more likely to be accepted, especially when you're transparent about your connection to the product.
However, every subreddit has its own rules, so always check them before posting.
How do I track signups from Reddit if I can't post links?
Ask users how they found you during onboarding, monitor branded search growth in Google Search Console, and check your analytics for Reddit and AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Perplexity as referral sources.
How long does Reddit marketing take to produce results?
Expect to spend two to three weeks warming up your account before actively promoting your product.
The first signups may arrive within a few weeks of consistent commenting. The larger compounding effect happens over several months as your comments accumulate in threads that rank on Google and appear in AI-generated answers.