Strictly limited

Promoting on r/sweatystartup: Rules and What Gets Removed

r/sweatystartup is a community for entrepreneurs focused on regular old fashioned, service based, sweaty businesses, with 207768 members.

207.8K

members

~1

posts / day

2019

created

7

community rules

Can you promote your product in r/sweatystartup?

You should not promote your product directly here. Rule 3 says, "No blatant self plugging" and adds, "Add value and start a discussion, blatant self plugging is not tolerated," plus, "If you have a course or ebook for sale, you're in the wrong place." Also note Rule 6, "No software or websites posts or comments," which blocks promotion or discussion of software and websites entirely.

The rules that cover promotion

Rule 3: No blatant self plugging.

"Add value and start a discussion, blatant self plugging is not tolerated. Don't care if it's "free". If you have a course or ebook for sale, you're in the wrong place."

Rule 6: No software or websites posts or comments

"Any talk of software or websites is no longer allowed on /r/sweatystartup."

Rule 2: Stay on topic.

"Entrepreneurship of all kinds with a skew towards service based entrepreneurship."

Rule 4: The business must be sweaty

"Pressure washing and pool cleaning: Sweaty. iPhone games, clothing brands and crypto: Not sweaty"

Quoted from the subreddit's own rules, snapshot from July 2026. Read all 7 rules on Reddit

What gets removed

  • Blatant self plugging
  • Courses or ebooks for sale
  • Software or website posts or comments
  • Off topic or non-sweaty business posts

Safer ways to show up

  • Add value and start a discussion instead of plugging yourself
  • Ask or answer questions and be ready for follow up questions
  • Keep your post about service based, sweaty entrepreneurship
  • Avoid software, websites, politics, bragging, and clickbait
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.

Which subreddits fit your product?

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