500+ Startup Lessons from Reddit’s Frontlines
Collecting startup wisdom line by line, straight from the trenches of Reddit
Hi humans, and bots!
If you’ve ever found yourself on a subreddit dedicated to startups, you know a lot of threads are lessons from founders who reached a specific goal, like ARR or a certain number of users. Most of these posts also contain wisdom that is more relevant than anything you’d read in Harvard Business Review.
But not all lessons are created equal. Some are just poorly disguised promotions, like this gem:
“Address deliverability challenges by using a specialized tool (Smartlead), which helped manage email verification issues.”
Oddly specific, don't you think?
Indeed, faking success and attributing that fake success to a specific service or product seems to be the new fad.
But fear not, money-hungry indie developers. I’ve collected over 500 pieces of advice from these threads, and I’m sharing them in this post.
Yes, I used my own service to do it, which I will now shamelessly promote: AutoSerp.dev.
Just give me the damn data:
👉 If you want to browse all 500+ pieces of advice, you can view them here.
Most Common
These are all true, but they’ve been repeated so many times I’m not even sure they count as genuine advice anymore. Maybe founders just include them because they’re supposed to. Either way, the fact that they show up so often probably means they matter.
Start with an MVP
An old relic popularized by “The Lean Startup” in 2011, though the term was actually coined in 2001 by Frank Robinson—a person apparently not important enough to have a Wikipedia page.
Actively listen to customers
This might qualify more as common sense than advice. Still, it's a helpful reminder for those who just build and forget to talk to users. Like me.
Acquire customers early
Solid advice. Easy to forget when you’re obsessing over the perfect onboarding flow. If this is news to you, you might want to consider moving out from under that rock.
Ship quickly and constantly
“Always be shipping” is a reference to Glengarry Glen Ross and used to be all the rage. I still think it holds up.
“A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing.”
This was an attempt to make software development sound cooler than it actually is.
My Favorites
Note: these are my favorites. They might not be yours, but I think they’re more unique and tangible than most—without being oddly specific.
Be present in your community and intentionally nurture discussion.
Ask as many questions as possible and learn from objections and negative responses.
Don't always listen to your users.
Don't pursue "new and sexy" ideas without a clearly defined market or proven demand.
Don't try to do everything on your own.
During cold outreach, first offer genuine help before introducing your solution.
Offer something for free when scoping out your business.
Use your product internally to validate its effectiveness and ensure it meets a specific market need.
Take care of yourself.
Persist and remain resilient even when facing multiple failures.
Target those who are well-funded and less likely to be excessively demanding.
Do not directly promote your product when answering questions.
Focus on stability, quality, and improving the onboarding flow after initial validation.
👉 If you want to browse all 500+ pieces of advice, you can view them here.