Reddit marketing · r/ycombinator

How to market on r/ycombinator without getting banned

Startup founders discussing the YC ecosystem, fundraising, and early-stage building. Ambitious, technically literate founders aiming at venture-scale outcomes — a concentrated, high-signal audience that scrutinises claims and rewards substance. Here’s how to show up there the right way — from your own account, in a browser session you signed into yourself, with a human approving every word.

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Member counts are indicative and change over time.

~70k

members in r/ycombinator (approx.)

Strict

self-promotion tolerance, per this community’s own rules

rules on file for this community

off

where commenting under strangers starts here

Know the rules

The rules that actually get enforced on r/ycombinator.

Direct promotion is heavily moderated. The sub is for substantive startup discussion, not product launches; overt self-promotion is removed quickly.

Rule 01: No standalone "check out my startup" posts — they are removed.
Rule 02: Contribute to discussions on fundraising, product, and growth with genuine depth.
Rule 03: Reference your product only when it directly answers a question, and disclose it.
Rule 04: Account history and substance matter; new accounts dropping links get filtered.
Tolerance: Strict — promotion in dedicated threads onlySubreddit rules change — read the current sidebar before you post. This is guidance, not a guarantee.

The play

How to actually win on r/ycombinator

Win here on credibility, not promotion. Answer hard early-stage questions — go-to-market, pricing, distribution — with operator-level specifics, and let your post history carry your reputation. A thoughtful answer in front of this audience is worth more than any direct pitch.

The line

What the agent will do in r/ycombinator, and what it won’t.

In r/ycombinator, specifically

Drafted against this community's own rules — the ones listed above, not a generic “be helpful” template.

Always

Answer the question first, in your own voice, from your own account

Draft to r/ycombinator’s own rules, and disclose what you sell the first time it comes up

Wait in your approval queue — you edit, approve or skip every draft

Work in a real browser session you signed into yourself, at human pace

Never

Slip a link into a thread where this community treats an undisclosed mention as spam

Comment under other people’s threads unless you deliberately turned that on

Run a second, newer or “managed” account to push the same link

Post at a bot-like cadence, or the same reply across several communities

Built to stay on the safe side

We don’t do the things that get you banned.

Reddit's 2025 spam crackdown removed a large share of automated posting accounts, and tools that auto-post or operate “managed” accounts are exactly what it targets. FounderReply is built the other way round: it opens a browser you are already signed into and behaves the way you would.

Your own account, your own session

You sign in yourself through a one-time link — two-factor included. The password never reaches FounderReply, and you can end the session from your side at any time.

Human approval by default

Posts, replies and direct messages all start at “approve” on Reddit. Every draft waits in your queue until you release it.

Value-first, 90/10 by design

It surfaces threads where you can genuinely help and drafts contributions that answer the question — promotion stays the exception.

Nothing is turned on for you

Commenting under other people's threads ships “off” on Reddit. Turning it on is one deliberate change, and the warning names the rule it crosses.

FAQ

Marketing on r/ycombinator — the questions first.

Direct promotion is heavily moderated. The sub is for substantive startup discussion, not product launches; overt self-promotion is removed quickly. The safest approach: Win here on credibility, not promotion. Answer hard early-stage questions — go-to-market, pricing, distribution — with operator-level specifics, and let your post history carry your reputation. A thoughtful answer in front of this audience is worth more than any direct pitch.

You get banned for spamming, not for participating. The fast ways to get removed or shadowbanned are posting promotional content outside the allowed threads, using new or multiple accounts to push links, and posting at bot-like intervals. FounderReply does none of those: it works from your own account inside a browser session you signed into yourself, reads the thread before it writes, drafts genuinely useful contributions, and keeps a human approval step on by default — so what goes out is something you would be comfortable posting yourself.

Not by default. On Reddit a new workspace starts with posts, replies and direct messages all at approve, and commenting under other people's threads switched off entirely — so every draft waits in your queue for a one-tap yes. Moving one of those is a deliberate change, and the app names the rule it crosses first. We never operate fake or "managed" accounts on your behalf; it is always your account, in a session you signed into.

Reddit's widely-cited self-promotion norm is that no more than ~10% of your activity should be promotional — the other 90% should be genuine participation. FounderReply is built around that ratio: it surfaces threads where you can genuinely help and drafts value-first contributions, so your promotional mentions stay the exception, not the pattern.

Where to go next

Marketing on r/SaaSModerate — disclosed, in-context promotion toleratedRead Marketing on r/startupsStrict — promotion in dedicated threads onlyRead All subreddit guides26 communities, and what each one allowsRead

Ready when you are

Show up on r/ycombinator — the right way.

FounderReply finds the threads worth replying to and drafts a genuinely useful contribution in your voice. You approve every word, and it goes out from your own account.

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Your own account · a session you signed into · human-approved