How to find customers on Reddit (without getting banned)

Every day, people on Reddit write things like "what tool do you use for this?" or "I'm stuck with X, any advice?". For a small business, that is a public list of people who need help right now.

It is also one of the easiest places to get banned. Reddit users and moderators spot sales pitches fast, and many communities remove them on sight.

This guide shows how to find customers on Reddit the way that lasts: by being the most useful person in the thread.

The one rule that matters

Reddit's own rules say it plainly. Rule 2: "Participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest, and do not spam or engage in disruptive behaviors" (Reddit Rules).

On top of that, each subreddit has its own rules, written by its moderators. Some ban any self-promotion. Some allow it only in a weekly thread. Some require a minimum account age or karma before you can post. Read the rules of every subreddit before you write a word there. They are in the sidebar on desktop and under "About" on mobile.

Step 1: pick subreddits where your customers ask questions

The classic mistake is going where founders hang out. Communities like r/SaaS or r/startups are full of people selling, not buying.

Go where your customers talk about their work. A bookkeeping tool belongs in communities for accountants and small business owners. A tool for florists belongs where florists talk shop.

For each candidate subreddit, check three things:

• Activity: are there new posts every day?
• Questions: do people ask for help or recommendations, and do they get answers?
• Rules: is a mention of your product ever allowed, and where?

Keep three to five subreddits. More than that and you will not have time to be useful in any of them.

Step 2: if your account is new, help first for a while

Many subreddits filter posts from new or low-karma accounts automatically. Moderators set these rules, and they vary by community.

The fix is not a trick. Spend your first one or two weeks answering questions in your area of expertise, with no mention of your product at all. Short, specific, useful answers. This builds karma and, more importantly, a comment history that shows you are a real person who knows the topic. Anyone who clicks your profile later will see that.

Step 3: find the questions that signal buying intent

Use Reddit search inside your chosen subreddits and sort by New. Search for the phrases people write when they are close to a decision. Example searches:

• "recommend" or "recommendations" + your category
• "alternative to" + a competitor's name
• "is there a tool" or "is there an app"
• "how do you handle" + the problem you solve

Ignore threads older than a few days. Old threads are dead, and a reply there looks automated.

Step 4: answer in the thread, without a link

This is where most people go wrong. Your first reply should solve the problem, completely, with no link and no product name.

A good reply has three parts:

1. 1Show you read the post. Mention their specific situation in one line.
2. 2Give the answer. The method, the steps, the mistake to avoid. Concrete enough that they could do it without you.
3. 3Leave the door open. "Happy to go into more detail if useful."

Example for a post asking how to follow up with leads who went silent: "Two follow-ups max, three days apart, and each one should add something new: a short case, a question about their deadline, a resource. 'Just checking in' gets ignored because it asks for attention without giving anything."

That reply helps the person and everyone who finds the thread later from Google.

Step 5: when you can mention your product

Mention it only when:

• someone asks what you use or what you built, or
• the question is literally "is there a tool for X", your product does X, and the subreddit rules allow it.

When you do, be transparent: "I built a tool for this, so I'm biased: [name]. But the method above works without it." Disclosure costs you nothing, and hiding it is exactly what gets people banned and called out.

Step 6: be careful with private messages

Do not send private messages to people just because they posted a question. Many users report unsolicited messages as spam, and that can hurt your account.

If someone replies to your comment with a follow-up question, answer in the thread. If they ask you to message them, then message them.

Mistakes that get accounts banned

• Posting the same link or comment in several subreddits.
• Replies that start helpful and end with a sales pitch every single time.
• Using several accounts to upvote your own posts. That is content manipulation, which Rule 2 forbids.
• Deleting a removed post and posting it again.
• Ignoring a moderator's warning.

A 20-minute daily routine

1. 15 minutes: run your saved searches in your subreddits, sorted by New.
2. 210 minutes: answer two or three fresh questions properly.
3. 35 minutes: reply to anyone who answered your comments.

Write down every conversation that turns into a real exchange. After two weeks, you will know which subreddit and which type of question actually lead to customers.

Doing the search part faster

The slow part is finding fresh, relevant questions among hundreds of posts. FounderPulse does that part: it looks for recent public posts from people describing the problem you solve, on forums, Hacker News, Bluesky, Indie Hackers and the open web (including Reddit threads when web search finds them). For a public thread, it drafts a reply that helps first, with no link, following the same approach as this guide. You stay in control and post it yourself.

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