Community guides › r/startups
How to post in r/startups
What this community allows, what its most upvoted posts have in common, and what gets removed. Checked against the community's sidebar.
Can I promote my app or project in r/startups?
Only inside Share Your Startup (stickied; reported monthly, check). A standalone promotional post will be removed.
Does r/startups allow AI-written posts?
Readers here are skeptical of AI. Write in your own words and don't lead with "AI" in the title.
What do the top posts in r/startups look like?
Top posts of the year: 100% have a text body; median body 380 words, 84% first person; titles ~19 words, 16% questions, 40% with a number; top comments ~25 words.
What do readers of r/startups reward?
One crisp paragraph in the thread format.
The rules we found
"No direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts of any kind" except stickied threads; share only in Share Your Startup; posts need 250+ chars and must not name your project/URL; feedback requests go to the feedback thread. All 25 top posts use the "I will not promote" flair.
What gets posts removed or ignored
- any standalone post
What the research suggests here
Rules over wording.
Draft a post for r/startups that follows these rules, scored before you post it.
Sign up, it's freeRules change. Read the community's own Rules tab before posting; this page is a summary, not the rules.