r/goStartupIndia

Something's been bothering me and I want to know if other founders face this too.

Every reddit post, every advice thread, every "how to build a startup" guide says the same thing. Don't build for yourself. Build for others. Listen to users. Solve real problems.

ok fine. I've been doing that for the last few months. Posting my product on reddit, asking for honest feedback, taking notes on every suggestion. People said "add privacy controls" I added privacy controls. people said "make it private by default" I made it private by default. Someone said "build X feature" i literally shipped it in 4 hours the same day they commented.

and then? they disappeared.

The person who said they'd absolutely use it if privacy existed didn't sign up after I shipped privacy. The person who told me to pivot the whole business model didn't come back to see if i pivoted. The people who left 6 paragraph comments on what I should build didn't even checked out after i shipped it.

so now i don't know what to trust anymore.

If i build for myself, people say "you're solving your own problem, not theirs." If i build what they ask for, they don't actually use it. where's the middle?

My current theory is that reddit feedback is a different thing entirely. It's not market validation. It's a form of intellectual entertainment. People enjoy the thought exercise of telling you how to fix your startup. They don't actually have skin in the game. Their suggestion costs them nothing. Your implementation costs you a weekend.

The few people who actually pay or use something are usually the ones who never commented in the first place. They just quietly clicked the link, checked it out, and either used it or didn't. no long post about why they would or wouldn't.

Is this just me or is this how reddit works in general. Because if "build what users ask for" means "build what reddit commenters request" then we're all being led in circles.

Anyone else had this happen. what did you actually learn from it.