r/startups — Complete Community Guide
Welcome to r/startups, home to over 1.9 million startup fans since 2008. This is the place to talk about the challenges and solutions in building fast-growing companies. Feel free to join the conversation, share your ideas, and learn from others. Make sure to check the rules for posting and find the right spot for your content.
What you'll find on r/startups
Founder Success Stories
People love sharing their journey from zero to hero. You'll see posts about how founders bootstrapped their way to millions or sold their startup for a hefty sum. It's all about the hustle and the breakthroughs.
Lessons from Failure
Startup land is full of ups and downs, and folks aren't shy about sharing their biggest mistakes. These posts are gold for anyone looking to avoid the same pitfalls in their own ventures.
Step-by-Step Guides
Some users drop detailed guides on how to build a startup from scratch, like building a SaaS or scaling SEO. It's like getting a mini-MBA for free, straight from the trenches.
Life After Startups
There's life beyond the startup grind, and some folks share their journey after exiting or failing. It's a mix of introspection, lessons learned, and what's next on their plate.
Marketing and Growth Hacks
Everyone's looking for the secret sauce to grow fast. Posts about SEO strategies, user acquisition tips, and growth hacks are super popular here.
Rants and Opinions
Every now and then, you'll find a rant about industry trends or a controversial opinion, like banning certain links or questioning the VC world. It's a spicy take on what's happening in startup land.
Financial Milestones
Hitting financial goals is a big deal, and users love to celebrate these wins. Whether it's reaching $1 million in revenue or securing a funding round, these posts are all about the numbers.
Non-Tech Founder Wins
Not everyone in the startup world is a coder, and some folks share how they succeeded without writing a single line of code. It's inspiring for those who feel like the tech world is out of reach.
How to Engage
Share your personal journey, warts and all. Posts like 'I had a VC-Funded Unicorn-in-the-Making and I F*cked it up' resonate because they're raw and real.
Break down complex processes into digestible steps. Like the post 'A step-by-step guide of how I would build a SaaS company right now', people love actionable advice.
Be open about your failures. 'My first startup failed – Here are 10 things I wish I'd do differently' shows others what not to do, and that's just as valuable as success stories.
Talk about money and success honestly. Posts like 'Sold my startup for mid 7-figures' get attention because everyone wants to know how it's done.
Share lessons from your past experiences. 'If only someone told me this before my 1st startup' posts are goldmines for folks starting out.
Engage in hot topics and community debates. The 'Ban X.com (formerly Twitter) links from this subreddit?' post sparked conversation because it tapped into current events.
Highlight unexpected success stories. 'From a sucky accounting job to doing $1.4 million dollars a year with my mobile app' captivates because it's relatable and inspiring.
Don't shy away from big numbers and bold claims, but back them up with your story. 'How I bootstrapped a $40m company overnight' grabs attention because of its audacity.
Rules & Moderation
We are a community of discussion based around startups, not traditional businesses. All content must be relevant to startups. You are welcome to ask how to apply startup methodologies to your traditional business if you frame your question in a non-promotional way. We want you to be able to ask any question that helps your startup.
**No direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts of any kind**. We have designated places that are an exception to this rule and they will always be stickied at the top of /r/startups. * You MAY share your startup in the Monthly Share Your Startup thread Self-promotion is anything you have an interest, stake or relationship with including being friends with someone at the company. At the end of the day, /r/startups moderators have the final say if your comments are promotional or not.
Submissions are for discussing methodologies, experiences, strategies, techniques, markets, and other such things WITHOUT tying them directly to your own project using its name or URL. Titles must be clear and descriptive. Submissions must have at least 250 characters of content. The more details you provide us the better support our community can provide you with. Like life, the more you put into something the more you get out of it. No legal questions. Use our Legal Office Hours.
All Feedback Requests (including surveys/polls) belong in our [Feedback Thread or other appropriate weekly thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/boq669/your_weekly_threads_guide_learn_about_the_new/). You are invited to repost each week. Be sure to contribute to the others in the thread and ask them to return the favor to increase engagement. You may not publicly offer feedback or direct support outside of the Stickied Threads.
Sometimes you think the best solution is simply to link to a resource that might answer someone's question. We want you to be able to link in discussion to relevant content. We also don't want the discussion to turn into a self promotional mess and link farm. If you are going to link to something in the comments please make sure to: * Write at least a sentence explaining why the link is relevant to the discussion. * Link only content you have no affiliation with. Affiliate links = banned.
The purpose of making a submission or comment is to engage in a public discussion with the community. It is not to request a PM/DM from someone. Do not post a notice that you DMed someone. You are more than welcome to engage privately with one another, but it is up to you to take the initiative directly.
Sharing your blog is not a means to self promote. A link to the original blog post is allowed with **prior** Mod approval. If you are submitting your own blog content, the full body of the content must be included in the post, properly formatted for reddit. Include an outline & timestamps with a video. If your blog is over 2000 words you may ask for an exemption. All other rules still apply. No blogs about your "startup" journey allowed.
The goal of this community is to encourage people to learn and be inspired to pursue ventures related to startups. Do not troll, harass people, or be an asshole. **This does not mean to lie. It means to give support and explain why you don't like something.** Try to remember people likely do not have much experience yet or might be simply ignorant to what you know. Be willing to hold a discussion and try to explain your opinion or point of view to the benefit of the entire community.
We do not allow unscheduled AMAs. We need to verify and approve all AMAs. If you wish to do an AMA you must use the "Message the Moderators" feature in the side bar and you must give us at least TWO (2) Weeks Lead Time to organize it with you.
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