Building in Public: How to Use Reddit for Product Feedback
Building in public has become a popular strategy among indie hackers and startup founders. The idea is simple: share your journey openly, get feedback along the way, and build an audience that becomes your first customers. Twitter is the default platform for this approach, but Reddit offers something different—access to highly engaged communities full of your actual target users, not just other founders watching founders.
The challenge with Reddit is that communities have developed strong antibodies against self-promotion. The same communities that offer invaluable feedback will quickly downvote and ban anyone who shows up just to promote their product. Success requires understanding Reddit's culture, providing genuine value, and earning the right to share your work.
This guide covers how to build in public on Reddit effectively—getting the feedback you need while building relationships that turn into users, advocates, and even collaborators.
Why Reddit Works for Building in Public
Reddit offers unique advantages for founders willing to invest in community participation. Unlike Twitter where your content competes with millions of tweets, Reddit organizes discussions into focused communities where your target audience is already gathered and paying attention.
Reddit vs Twitter for Building in Public
| Factor | ||
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Other founders watching founders | Actual target users |
| Feedback Quality | Polite, supportive | Brutally honest |
| Validation Signal | Likes from network | Upvotes from strangers |
| Targeting | Algorithm-dependent | Niche subreddits |
| Anti-spam | Loose | Strictly enforced |
| Long-term Value | Content disappears fast | Posts stay discoverable |
The feedback you receive on Reddit tends to be more honest than what you'd get elsewhere. Anonymity removes social pressure to be polite. When someone on Reddit says your landing page is confusing, they mean it. When they say your pricing doesn't make sense, they're not worried about hurting your feelings. This brutal honesty, while sometimes painful, accelerates learning.
The niche subreddit structure means you can reach exactly the audience you need. Building a tool for accountants? Post in r/accounting. Creating software for sales teams? Engage in r/sales. This targeting precision is difficult to achieve on broader platforms.
Finding the Right Communities
Different subreddits serve different purposes for building in public. Some explicitly welcome project sharing; others tolerate it under specific conditions; many prohibit it entirely.
3 Types of Communities for Building in Public
| Type | Examples | Tolerance | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Startup | r/SideProject, r/startups, r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur | High | Progress updates, milestones |
| Feedback-Specific | r/alphaandbetausers, r/roastmystartup | Very High | Early testing, brutal critique |
| Target Market | r/marketing, r/webdev, r/accounting | Low | Real user feedback (earned) |
General startup communities welcome building-in-public content when done well. In r/SideProject, the entire purpose is sharing side projects, making it one of the most permissive communities for founders. The subreddit r/startups hosts regular "Show and Tell" threads for sharing work.
Feedback-specific communities exist specifically to provide critique. In r/alphaandbetausers, founders recruit testers for early products. The subreddit r/roastmystartup provides brutally honest feedback by design—users expect to be criticized.
Your target market's communities require the most careful approach. If you're building for marketers, r/marketing contains your potential users. If you're building for developers, r/webdev or r/programming might be relevant. These communities often have strict anti-promotion rules, but the feedback from actual target users is invaluable when you earn it.
What to Share and How to Share It
The content of your building-in-public posts determines whether you're welcomed or rejected. The pattern that works is clear: provide genuine value through your sharing, with your product as context rather than focus.
Content That Gets Upvoted
| Content Type | Example | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Progress + Learning | "I shipped feature X—here's what I learned about real-time sync" | Teaches something |
| Revenue Milestones | "Hit $100 MRR—here's exactly how I got first 10 customers" | Numbers + details |
| User Research | "I talked to 20 users—the #1 thing surprised me" | Creates curiosity |
| Educational | "5 things I learned launching on Product Hunt" | Your product is context |
| Honest Struggles | "My landing page converted at 0.5%—here's what I changed" | Vulnerability + learning |
Content That Gets Downvoted
| Content Type | Example | Why It Fails |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Promotion | "Check out my new app!" | No value provided |
| Cross-posting | Same post in 5 subreddits | Looks like spam |
| Drive-by Posting | No community history | Marks you as outsider |
| Fake Humility | "I accidentally built this thing" | Reads as manipulation |
| Finished Product | "Feedback on my launched product?" | Not really seeking feedback |
Honest struggles humanize your journey and often generate the most engagement. "I almost quit this week—here's what brought me back" or "My landing page converted at 0.5%—here's what I changed" show vulnerability while providing learning. Others facing similar challenges engage because they see themselves in your story.
Structuring Effective Feedback Requests
When you do ask for feedback, how you ask determines the response you receive. Vague requests get vague responses. Specific requests get actionable insights.
The Effective Feedback Request Formula
| Element | What to Include | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Context | What you're building and for whom | Helps responders frame feedback |
| Specific Ask | Exactly what you want feedback on | Focuses the response |
| Clear Purpose | How you'll use the feedback | Shows you're serious |
| Humility | Ask for help, not validation | Invites honest critique |
Before asking anything, establish yourself as a community member. Answer questions others ask. Share insights from your experience. Engage with other people's projects. Build karma and posting history. Communities treat established members differently than brand-new accounts asking for favors.
After Receiving Feedback
| Action | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Respond to every comment | Shows you value their time |
| Thank genuinely (even critical ones) | Builds relationship |
| Explain what you'll do with feedback | Demonstrates you'll act |
| Update community when you implement | Increases future feedback quality |
This follow-through builds relationship and increases the quality of feedback you receive next time.
Distinguishing Signal from Noise
Not all Reddit feedback deserves equal weight. Learning to identify high-signal feedback prevents you from chasing every suggestion while missing patterns that matter.
High-Signal vs Low-Signal Feedback
| High Signal | Low Signal |
|---|---|
| Multiple people say the same thing | Single opinion without corroboration |
| Detailed explanation provided | Vague "I don't like it" |
| From target user profile | From outside your market |
| Specific and actionable | Edge cases / unusual scenarios |
| Aligns with your metrics | Contradicts paying customers |
When to Ignore Feedback
| Situation | Why Ignore |
|---|---|
| Contradicts paying customers | They voted with wallets |
| Outside your target market | Doesn't apply |
| Feature request, not problem | Underlying need may differ |
| One vocal person, unrepresentative | Volume ≠ sample size |
Conversely, certain patterns demand attention. When multiple independent sources agree without coordinating, you're seeing something real. When feedback aligns with problems you're seeing in your metrics, external validation confirms internal signal. When it comes from confirmed target users, their perspective matters more.
Building Relationships Through Consistent Engagement
Building in public on Reddit isn't a one-time activity—it's an ongoing relationship with communities. The founders who succeed treat Reddit as community participation, not content distribution.
Engagement Dos and Don'ts
| Do | Don't |
|---|---|
| Respond to everyone who comments | Only show up when you want something |
| Remember repeat commenters | Ignore or argue with criticism |
| Share other people's projects | Spam multiple subreddits |
| Help with expertise (even unrelated) | Disappear after getting what you wanted |
| Reference previous interactions | Treat Reddit as content distribution |
Learning from Successful Building-in-Public Posts
Studying posts that work helps you understand patterns of success. A well-crafted building-in-public post typically has a hook that creates curiosity, substance that delivers on the hook, and a minimal call-to-action that doesn't feel like the point.
Anatomy of a Successful Post
| Element | Example | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Hook Title | "Month 3: just crossed $500 MRR. What worked and what didn't." | Creates curiosity |
| Specific Numbers | "$500 MRR," "10 customers," "0.5% conversion" | Grounds story in reality |
| What Failed | "I tried X and it flopped" | Builds trust |
| What Worked | "Here's exactly what moved the needle" | Delivers value |
| Lessons | Actionable takeaways | Makes it useful to others |
| Product Mention | Small mention at end (optional) | Incidental, not central |
Conclusion
Reddit building in public works when you genuinely participate in communities rather than treating them as audiences to broadcast to. Be a member first, contributor second, and promoter never—let your product come up naturally in context.
Share genuine progress that teaches something. Ask specific questions that can receive actionable answers. Respond to and implement the feedback you receive. Build relationships through consistent engagement over time.
Done right, Reddit becomes a free focus group that tells you what to build, a marketing channel that introduces you to early adopters, and a community of collaborators who want to see you succeed. Done wrong, you get banned from communities that could have accelerated your success.
The choice is in how you show up.
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