← Back to blog
PLAYBOOK·6 min read

Self-promotion on Reddit without being "that guy"

Karmy
The Karmy team
Jun 28, 2026
help
first.

Reddit hates being sold to. Founders still find customers there every day. Both things are true. The difference isn't luck or a secret sub, it's method.

What "that guy" does

You already know the patterns, because they annoy you too:

Drops a link with no context and disappears.
Posts the same pitch across ten subs in an afternoon.
Answers a question that was never asked, just to name the product.
Has an account that only ever talks about one thing.

Mods remove all of these on sight, and even when they don't, readers do the removing with downvotes.

Help first, mention second

The method that works is simple to say and harder to keep up: be useful far more often than you promote. If most of your comments help people with no agenda, the occasional time you mention what you built reads as a recommendation, not an ad. Trust is the currency, and you earn it before you spend it.

Earn the right to mention your product. Don't take it on the first comment.

How to mention it so it lands

1
Only where it genuinely answers the question. Forced fits read as forced.
2
As an aside near the end, after the useful part.
3
Say you built it. Hiding it backfires harder than disclosing it.
4
No link unless someone asks. Then it's welcome.

The real work is finding the right thread

Most "self-promotion" advice stops at how to write the comment. But the comment only works if it lands on a thread where your product actually fits, while that thread is still alive. Finding those, across the handful of subs where your buyers hang out, is the slow part, and it's where most people give up or start spamming out of impatience.

Karmy does that part for you: it watches the right subreddits, surfaces the threads where you can genuinely help, and hands you a draft that leads with value. You stay the helpful one, not "that guy".

Promote by being useful

Karmy finds the threads where you can genuinely help, with a draft that leads with value. Free for 30 days.

Start on Telegram →