About r/sweatystartup
A hub for entrepreneurs of regular old fashioned businesses.
The community at a glance
r/sweatystartup is a Subreddit for Founders and startup builders and Small Business Owners with roughly 206K members. It has been around since 2019. It uses a forum format for communication. It also includes an email newsletter. On the Hive Index it ranks #2 in the Small Business communities list.
Roughly 29K members have joined in the past year. Popular discussion topics include Business, Cleaning, and Startup. Common discussion themes are Advice Requests and Pain & Anger. Product recommendations often mention septic tank treatment, venue booking system, and online booking system.
Community Topics
Community Features
This community has a forum
This community has an email newsletter of related content
Subreddit Analysis
via GummySearchMember growth over time
All time (yearly)
- 2020: 17K members
- 2023: 82K members
- 2024: 36K members
- 2025: 39K members
- 2026: 11K members
Past year (monthly)
- Jul: 4K members
- Aug: 3K members
- Sep: 3K members
- Oct: 2K members
- Nov: 4K members
- Dec: 3K members
- Jan: 2K members
- Feb: 2K members
- Mar: 2K members
- Apr: 2K members
- May: 2K members
- Jun: 1K members
Themes
- Advice Requests35 posts in the past month
- Starting a business with my fiance. Is it a bad idea?
- How do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money
- Skilled side-hustles you can learn on your own?
#135Advice RequestsStarting a business with my fiance. Is it a bad idea? · How do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money · Skilled side-hustles you can learn on your own? - Pain & Anger14 posts in the past month
- Raised my prices by 60% and somehow got busier, trying to understand why.
- Quit corporate to buy an HVAC shop and local distributors are already ruining my margins lol
- Cold calling for local leads is actually destroying my will to live
#214Pain & AngerRaised my prices by 60% and somehow got busier, trying to understand why. · Quit corporate to buy an HVAC shop and local distributors are already ruining my margins lol · Cold calling for local leads is actually destroying my will to live - Solution Requests11 posts in the past month
- Checklist to start an airbnb cleaning business really lean?
- Best production-ready no-code voice AI agents
- My side hustle idea. Need business set up help.
#311Solution RequestsChecklist to start an airbnb cleaning business really lean? · Best production-ready no-code voice AI agents · My side hustle idea. Need business set up help. - Ideas10 posts in the past month
- Flyers still work!
- Students were challenged to build and grow startups in one week.
- Starting a drain cleaning business - realistic or bad idea?
#410IdeasFlyers still work! · Students were challenged to build and grow startups in one week. · Starting a drain cleaning business - realistic or bad idea? - Opportunities9 posts in the past month
- Three years ago I posted about starting a fence company with no construction experience. Here is what I've learned since then...
- This is going to sound paranoid but I think AI search is about to disrupt how local service businesses get customers
- Another (former) software engineer thinking about starting a service business
#59OpportunitiesThree years ago I posted about starting a fence company with no construction experience. Here is what I've learned since then... · This is going to sound paranoid but I think AI search is about to disrupt how local service businesses get customers · Another (former) software engineer thinking about starting a service business
Topics
- Business201 posts in the past month
- Starting a business with my fiance. Is it a bad idea?
- How do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money
- My cleaning business made $180k last year and i still feel like i have no idea what im doing operationally
#1201BusinessStarting a business with my fiance. Is it a bad idea? · How do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money · My cleaning business made $180k last year and i still feel like i have no idea what im doing operationally - Cleaning38 posts in the past month
- Sh*t just got real: follow me from £0 to £1,000 a week cleaning carpets to save my house.
- The best commercial cleaning leads are sitting in your city's permit database and they're free
- UPDATE 01 - Follow me from £0 to £1,000 a week cleaning carpets to save my house.
#238CleaningSh*t just got real: follow me from £0 to £1,000 a week cleaning carpets to save my house. · The best commercial cleaning leads are sitting in your city's permit database and they're free · UPDATE 01 - Follow me from £0 to £1,000 a week cleaning carpets to save my house. - Startup32 posts in the past month
- Students were challenged to build and grow startups in one week.
- Startup idea need input please
- Startup LLC services for Phone, Email, Website?
#332StartupStudents were challenged to build and grow startups in one week. · Startup idea need input please · Startup LLC services for Phone, Email, Website? - Service22 posts in the past month
- How do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money
- The part of running a service business nobody prepares you for
- How much is a service business actually worth when you sell it? (broker breakdown)
#422ServiceHow do you keep good employees in a service business when bigger companies always offer more money · The part of running a service business nobody prepares you for · How much is a service business actually worth when you sell it? (broker breakdown) - Struggling21 posts in the past month#521Struggling
Product recommendations
- septic tank treatment2 posts in the past month
- What is the Best Septic Tank Treatment?
- What is the Best Septic Tank Treatment?
#12septic tank treatmentWhat is the Best Septic Tank Treatment? · What is the Best Septic Tank Treatment? - venue booking system1 post in the past month
- Best Venue Booking System?
#21venue booking systemBest Venue Booking System? - online booking system1 post in the past month
- Recommended Online Booking System for a Residential cleaning company?
#31online booking systemRecommended Online Booking System for a Residential cleaning company?
Community Reviews
Frequently asked questions
- Who is r/sweatystartup for?
- Best for Founders and startup builders and Small Business Owners enthusiasts looking for a Reddit-based community with forum discussion.
- Is r/sweatystartup free to join?
- This listing is not marked as paid-only. Access rules and any fees are decided by the community.
- How many members does r/sweatystartup have?
- Roughly 206K members, based on figures reported by the community or its host. Member counts are approximate and change over time.
- What platform is r/sweatystartup on?
- r/sweatystartup runs on Reddit. Reddit communities (or "subreddits") are forum-based groups on the popular social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website Reddit. Reddit is commonly known as "the front page of the internet". Users submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down and discussed by other members. From investing Reddit communities, to professional ones, to ones just for laughs, you're likely to find a community for you on Reddit.
- What topics does r/sweatystartup cover?
- On the Hive Index, r/sweatystartup is organized under Founders and startup builders, Small Business Owners.
- How do I join r/sweatystartup?
- You can join r/sweatystartup by clicking this link, or pressing the "Go to community" button above.
- What are the Entrepreneurship communities like?
- One of the biggest categories on the site, covering everything from first-time startup founders to serial entrepreneurs scaling multiple businesses. You will find communities on Reddit, Discord, and Slack for idea validation, fundraising advice, hiring strategy, and the daily grind of building a startup or company. Good for finding peers at similar stages and getting honest feedback from people who have been through it.
Monthly Stats
- 26
- Views
- 19
- Visitors
- 6
- Referrals
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