How many members does r/startups have?

r/startups has about 2.1M members (as of July 2026).

How active is r/startups?

r/startups gets roughly 9 new posts per day (measured July 2026).

Strictly limited

Promoting on r/startups: Rules and What Gets Removed

r/startups is a discussion community for people working on or learning about startups, companies designed to grow and scale rapidly, across different backgrounds and experience levels.

2.1M

members

posts / day

2008

created

community rules

Can you promote your product in r/startups?

No, you generally cannot promote your product in r/startups. Rule 2 says, "No direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts of any kind," and only allows sharing your startup in the stickied Share Your Startup thread. Rule 3 also says submissions must discuss startup topics "WITHOUT tying them directly to your own project using its name or URL."

The rules that cover promotion

Rule 2: No direct sales, advertisements, or promotion

"**No direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts of any kind**. We have designated places that are an exception to this rule."

Rule 2: No direct sales, advertisements, or promotion

"* You MAY share your startup in the Monthly Share Your Startup thread"

Rule 2: No direct sales, advertisements, or promotion

"Self-promotion is anything you have an interest, stake or relationship with including being friends with someone at the company."

Rule 3: Submissions Serve a Specific Purpose

"Submissions are for discussing methodologies, experiences, strategies, techniques, markets, and other such things WITHOUT tying them directly to your own project using its name or URL."

Quoted from the subreddit's own rules, snapshot from July 2026. Read all 9 rules on Reddit

What gets removed

Direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts
Posts that tie discussion directly to your own project by name or URL
Feedback requests, surveys, and polls posted outside the Feedback Thread or other appropriate weekly thread
Affiliate links in comments, affiliate links = banned

Safer ways to show up

Share your startup only in the stickied Monthly Share Your Startup thread
Post discussion about methodologies, strategies, techniques, or markets without naming or linking your project
If you link in comments, explain why it is relevant and only link content you have no affiliation with
If you want to share your own blog, get prior mod approval and include the full body in the Reddit post

Whatever the written rules say, the pattern that gets promo removed everywhere is the same: batches of similar comments, reused wording, and necro-posting on old threads. A promotional mention only has value if it survives, so pace matters more than volume. We measured this the expensive way: 70% of bought pool comments were removed within two weeks. See also how to find customers on Reddit without getting banned.