Interview with Romàn Czerny, How He Used Reddit to Build a $34K/Month SaaS
Roger Mendoza summarizes a practical playbook for creators who want an AI-powered launch system for creators that doesn't rely on ad spend or polished PR. Romàn Czerny, co-founder of Goji Berry AI, grew a SaaS from zero to roughly $30k–$34k monthly recurring revenue in months, with Reddit doing a disproportionate share of the heavy lifting. This is the tactical conversation—questions, answers, and the parts you can replicate tonight.
Table of Contents
- AI-powered launch system for creators 🧭
- The setup 🛠️
- The magic: Reddit as an organic distribution engine ⚙️
- The playbook, step-by-step 🔬
- Real talk: negatives, bans, and noise 🧾
- Operational shortcuts and prompts 🧩
- Final takeaways and who should copy this 🏁
- FAQ ❓
- Parting note 🔍
AI-powered launch system for creators 🧭
Pat Walls asks the questions. Romàn gives the answers. Roger annotates the parts worth copying. The core idea is simple: use authentic stories plus a reproducible Reddit playbook powered by a few AI shortcuts and a handful of operational rules that keep accounts alive and posts visible.
The setup 🛠️
Before the tactics, here's what Romàn built and the tools he leaned on. The stack is lean and mostly off-the-shelf: outreach automation, SEO helpers, a landing framework, and AI for copy and creative. It reads like a solo builder tech stack, not a VC-backed extravaganza.
Pat: What is Goji Berry AI and how do you price it?
Romàn: Goji Berry AI finds intent-based leads on LinkedIn—people who have just engaged with competitors, liked certain posts, raised funding, or made hires. The product aggregates those signals and automates outreach with AI-personalized messages. They offer three subscription tiers; most customers sit on the $99 plan, which unlocks unlimited high-intent leads and the outreach flow.
Pat: What tools do you actually pay for?
Romàn: The marketing stack is boring but effective.
- Instantly AI for high-volume cold email (about $800/mo for their volume).
- Outrank for SEO (~$99/mo).
- Goji Berry (obviously, their tool) for LinkedIn outreach (~$99/mo).
- ScanNly for call booking (~$20/mo).
- Framer for landing pages (~$49/mo).
- ChatGPT Plus and NanoBanana for copy and creative (~$40/mo).
- Sales Navigator on some accounts (~$100/mo).
That’s the minimal runway to operate a modern outreach-first SaaS. No agency retainers, no mysterious growth teams—just repeatable tools and daily execution.
The magic: Reddit as an organic distribution engine ⚙️
Romàn treated Reddit like a distribution system with rules, not a wild west where you spray links and hope for luck. The playbook is procedural: set up clean accounts, warm them, post compelling stories with proof, and engineer early engagement. The result: millions of impressions and tens of thousands of site visitors.
Pat: How big did Reddit move the needle?
Romàn: Reddit drove more than 11 million impressions and over 40,000 visitors to the site. For early customer acquisition it’s priceless—if you paid for that reach, it would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Beyond direct visitors, prospects repeatedly mentioned "I've seen you on Reddit" during demo calls. That kind of repeated exposure shortens sales cycles and increases conversion probability.
Pat: Show one example that actually worked.
Romàn: One post titled "I paid five influencers on LinkedIn to promote my SaaS. Here's what $1,250 got me" hit ~160k views, 543 upvotes, and sent about 2,000 visitors—yielding roughly 10–15 customers. Another post about failing a Y Combinator interview got ~179k views and similar customer pickup. The pattern is simple: an honest story plus proof equals attention; attention equals traffic; traffic equals customers when your funnel converts.
Pat: Why did those posts go viral?
Romàn: Three reasons.
- Leverage AI to tell the story well. Romàn records his story by voice into ChatGPT, asks it to translate and edit, then refines. That removes friction from deep, specific storytelling—even if you aren't a native English speaker.
- Seed initial engagement aggressively. You need momentum in the first 5–10 minutes. Romàn and his team have a small group that upvotes and comments to trigger the algorithm.
- Never front-run the post with a sales pitch. Don’t paste your product link in the narrative. Spark curiosity, show screenshots or evidence, and let curious users click through to your landing page or profile.
The playbook, step-by-step 🔬
This is the operational checklist Romàn uses to get posts in front of people without getting banned. Treat it as a minimum viable playbook—no guesswork.
Pat: If someone starts today, what exact steps do they follow?
Romàn: Follow this sequence.
- Create fresh accounts responsibly. One account per browser profile is enough. He uses separate browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) to keep browser fingerprints simple. Important: do not create a new Reddit account with a new email at the same time—Reddit flags that combo.
- Complete the profile. Add a picture, link the SaaS in the bio, and enable the "hide feed" feature to avoid giving haters an easy view of an account that only posts promotions.
- Warm it up for 7–14 days. Do not promote. The warming period is comment replies, upvoting, and genuine entropy. Build karma. This makes the account stronger.
- Start posting after warming. Post stories, case studies, lessons learned—never a product dump. Rotate angles across posts: sometimes link to a YouTube breakdown, other times to a tweet or a blog post.
- Engineer early votes. You need roughly 10 upvotes in the first 10 minutes. Have a circle of 10–15 marketers who cross-promote each other’s posts for that initial push.
- Reply to every comment. Every single one. Engagement signals rank posts higher. It also builds trust and can convert lurkers into users.
- Use proof as armor. Bail out of fights with evidence. Show screenshots, dashboards, or public links when someone questions metrics. People still trust numbers and screenshots.
Pat: How do you create content ideas consistently?
Romàn: The simplest content engine is your day-to-day work. Every campaign, rejection, weird bug, or split-test becomes a micro-story. If you’re just starting and don’t have big wins, share the problem you're solving, experiments you’re running, and the small wins. Authenticity scales on Reddit more than polish does.
Real talk: negatives, bans, and noise 🧾
Reddit is blunt. It will tell you when your product stinks or when your storytelling feels fake. Romàn's approach is defensive and pragmatic.
Pat: What about haters and bans?
Romàn: They happen. Two practical rules:
- Show proof. If someone accuses you of lying, screenshots and links shut down the argument faster than defensiveness.
- Block and move on. Comments designed to derail are distractions. Respond to reasonable questions; remove or ignore the trolls.
Also, know subreddit rules. Some communities, like r/ycombinator, are effectively closed to promotion. Don’t waste posts there; place stories where they naturally belong and will be accepted.
Pat: Does Reddit scale to large MRR?
Romàn: Reddit is an amplifier for early-stage traction and validation, not a single channel to scale to enterprise MRR alone. It’s ideal for the first 10 to 100 customers, for direct feedback, and for hitting product-market fit. Use it to grow recognition and shorten demo cycles, then layer paid channels and retention work to scale further.
Operational shortcuts and prompts 🧩
Romàn uses a few clever shortcuts that any solo builder can copy. These are low friction and high ROI.
Pat: Any AI prompts or hacks you use?
Romàn: Record your story by voice to ChatGPT, then ask it to translate, tighten, and amplify the interesting parts. Ask for a headline, a TL;DR, and three alternative openings. Use the TL;DR as the subreddit post title and the expanded version as the body. For comments, draft a few templated replies that are factual and invite follow-up questions.
Example prompt Romàn runs: "I’m a founder who paid $1,250 to five LinkedIn creators to promote my SaaS. I’ll record the details. Turn the audio transcript into a Reddit post that shows the experiment, the metrics, and a clear conclusion. Keep it conversational and add a short TL;DR for the top."
Final takeaways and who should copy this 🏁
Roger would say: this is a credit card-free growth loop you can test tonight. It leans hard into storytelling, low-cost automation, and community dynamics. It works best if you can ship something that actually solves a problem and if you’re willing to iterate publicly.
Pat: What advice would you give to your younger self?
Romàn: Advertise the way you want to be advertised to. He’s motivated by stories about founders who shipped something odd and won. So he builds posts that read like those stories: clear, honest, and with enough detail to be useful. Also, rip the band-aid off—post more and iterate faster.
Use the AI-powered launch system for creators as a framework: record the story, clean it with AI, seed early engagement, and respond to every interaction.
FAQ ❓
How many Reddit accounts should I create?
One per browser profile is sufficient. Romàn uses three accounts across three browsers. Avoid creating a new email plus a new Reddit account simultaneously—Reddit flags that as suspicious.
How do I avoid getting banned?
Warm the account for 7–14 days by commenting and upvoting. Use profile privacy features like hiding your feed. Follow subreddit rules and avoid outright promotional language in the post body. Show proof when claiming numbers.
What should I post if I have no traction yet?
Share the problem you’re solving, an early experiment, or a specific lesson. Post about work-in-progress, rejections, or what you tried and what failed. Small, honest stories get traction if they’re specific and useful.
How important is the first 10 minutes?
Crucial. Early upvotes and comments determine whether the post will surface. Organize a small group to seed the first 10 votes and a few comments to show engagement.
Will Reddit alone get me to $10k MRR?
Unlikely as a sole channel. Reddit is excellent for early validation, customer feedback, and initial signups. Use it to shorten sales cycles and get your first 10–100 customers. For sustained scaling, layer paid channels and retention strategies.
What’s a simple AI prompt I can use tonight?
Record the experiment or event by voice, transcribe, then ask ChatGPT to "turn this transcript into a Reddit post with a one-line TL;DR, a catchy title, and three different intros." Use the TL;DR as the title and the cleaned copy as the body.
Parting note 🔍
Romàn’s playbook is repeatable: pick a story, clean it with AI, warm accounts, seed early engagement, and prove claims. It’s not shiny marketing theater. It’s a disciplined content-engine plus a handful of operational rules. Solo builders who copy that method will get fast feedback, early customers, and cheap reach—exactly the things you need before you spend money to scale.
This article was inspired by this amazing video How I Used Reddit to Build a $34K/Month SaaS. Check out more from their awesome channel.