How one founder grew a SaaS to a million dollars using Reddit, in nine minutes

jonathan rintala's most useful bit is how he finds threads to comment in. he searches five or ten keywords (things like "HR software", "best HR software", or a competitor plus "alternative"), filters to daily or weekly, and jumps into the relevant conversations. F5 Bot is the free alert tool he uses to automate it, emailing you whenever someone mentions a keyword. his claim is that you show up minutes after someone asks, and demos sometimes land in his calendar a minute after a comment.

the comment pattern he describes is to answer the question first. if someone asks about webinar software, say what to look for (branding, handling attendees, engagement tools), then mention your product does a few of those. if someone asks about what Zoom can't do, point out that tools exist that do it and you're one of them. he says he's booked demos and signed deals this way.

for posts, he lists four formats. the relatable post, with an open question or a rant, got 118,000 views. the guide post shares something you tried, and his example was a one-month experiment getting 10,000 TikTok followers, written up in detail for a growth hacking community. the conversation starter got over 300,000 views. the story post tells a startup story with lots of learnings and only a small plug. he says to pick subreddits based on your ideal customer, like a marketing or SaaS sub, and learn each one's rules. he doesn't name many specific communities, so don't expect a list.

his case for why Reddit matters is that Google is surfacing Reddit threads, and people add "reddit" to software searches because they want advice from real people. the sponsored blog post is what they're avoiding. he also says DMs mostly come across as fake and aren't worth it.

what to take from it: set up keyword alerts for your category and your competitors' names, and reply fast with a real answer where your product is one mention among useful points. build karma by commenting and asking open questions before you post anything promotional. when you do post, tell a story or share what you learned and keep the plug small. no direct links, no corporate voice, and expect some downvotes while you find the right tone.

video by Jonathan Rintala on YouTube, the original.