The Danger of Building in an Echo Chamber
Most founders build products based on intuition, spending months writing code before showing it to a single user. Reddit provides a rapid validation loop, provided you understand the culture of the platform. Redditors are notoriously hostile to overt self-promotion.
The "Help Me Understand" Post
Instead of pitching a product, pitch a problem. Write a post saying, "I'm struggling with X. I've tried A, B, and C tools, but they all fail at Y. How do you guys handle this?" If the community agrees and shares your frustration, the problem is real.
Analyzing The Pushback
Pay close attention to users who defend the current way of doing things. They will reveal the switching costs your future product needs to overcome.