A social platform of topic-based communities.
Reddit worked as a low-cost channel when founders followed community rules and showed up as real people. Free lifetime or trial offers drove 1,000+ downloads in two days, one client app got 1,200+ signups, and Deel's Reddit and Quora answering started near 15% of its funnel. Lesson: ask mods first, earn karma, and give real value before promoting.
- Pay for a single post
- Run 30 small influencer deals
- Creator may switch to competing app
- Salary and equity, tied to mission
- Creator learns the product roadmap
- Iterates on what drives clicks
Sunflower's hire drives 50 to 100k link clicks a month
From Koby Conrad, Sunflower and Reddit
What was said about Reddit
Hire the biggest creator in your niche as an employee, not for one post. Koby Conrad hired an influencer as an employee at Reddit, then used the same approach at Sunflower. He pitches the top creator on a go-to-market role with salary and equity, tied to a mission, rather than buying one-off posts or running 30 small influencer deals.
He compares it to buying wholesale: the creator learns the product roadmap, iterates on what drives clicks, and is less likely to switch to a competing app. The numbers come from Sunflower, not Reddit. Eric (Mr. Impulsive), with 50 to 100 million views a month, became VP of Sobriety before Sunflower had revenue and drives 50 to 100k link clicks a month. Koby's advice: "Just hire them as employees. Don't go to them and be like, I'm trying to buy one post."
I speedran an ai app from 0 to $1m/yr in 10 months
Koby hired an influencer as an employee there, the same approach he later used at Sunflower.
Hire the biggest creator in your niche as an employee, not for one post. Koby Conrad hired an influencer as an employee at Reddit, then used the same approach at Sunflower. He pitches the top creator on a go-to-market role with salary and equity, tied to a mission, rather than buying one-off posts or running 30 small influencer deals.
He compares it to buying wholesale: the creator learns the product roadmap, iterates on what drives clicks, and is less likely to switch to a competing app. The numbers come from Sunflower, not Reddit. Eric (Mr. Impulsive), with 50 to 100 million views a month, became VP of Sobriety before Sunflower had revenue and drives 50 to 100k link clicks a month. Koby's advice: "Just hire them as employees. Don't go to them and be like, I'm trying to buy one post."
The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product | Ethan Smith (Graphite)
Reddit is heavily cited in AEO and is the top question Ethan's customers ask. Mass fake accounts get banned, while five good comments from real, named people can be enough.
Reddit Marketing: How to Get Your First 1,000 Downloads
Free lifetime giveaways in relevant subreddits brought over 1,000 downloads in two days without ad spend. Moderators vet developers, so ask permission, build karma, avoid posting the same promotion in several subreddits in one day, and post on Thursday or Friday in Western daytime. Its mods refused promo-code giveaways, so making the iOS lifetime tier free was the only option. It requires a strict post format of platform, app name, what's free, short description and one link, and a wait of two to three months between posts. Its mods approved a free motivation app giveaway because the app was free and did not harm members, but paid versions are not allowed. Reposting an all-time top post with the same title earned only about one or two karma, though it is a way to build karma before promoting.
An inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth)
Deel set up keyword alerts on day one and had real people answer every question. It went from about 15% of the funnel to under 5% as other channels grew, while still reaching more people each year.
The ultimate guide to Martech | Austin Hay (Reforge, Ramp, Runway)
A channel to watch: it is opening its conversions API, and its embedded ads look like posts people can comment on.
How to launch and grow your product | Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund
A rare example of a platform that built a long tail of communities, which Product Hunt failed to replicate across podcasts, games and books. Niche subreddits are also a source of problem ideas.
Reddit Marketing: How We Drove 1,200+ App Signups
Reddit drove over 1,200 signups to a client's app once the account earned trust by posting paid apps that went free. Each subreddit has its own rules, and moderators delete posts that look like self promotion.
Side Hustle App Marketing Strategies
Chris used niche subreddits to validate his app idea, collect launch emails and promote it by posting visible progress. It works best when the app produces something to show.
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