He Built a $50K/M Agency in 6 Months Using Reddit

Six months ago, Paul Xue was a burned-out software developer pivoting into marketing. 

Today, he’s the founder of Karmic Buzz, a Reddit-first marketing agency doing $50K in MRR. With over 25 million Reddit post views and 500+ accounts under management. His team helps brands earn trust and customers on the most underrated platforms on the internet.

I sat down with Paul to figure out how the heck he did it, and what he thinks the future of marketing looks like in this AI obsessed world we’re headed for. 

1. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Paul, and I run Karmic Buzz. We help brands repurpose content and distribute it organically across Reddit. We help businesses build trust, generate long-term brand awareness, and generate leads. 

2. What’s your backstory?

I was a software developer who saw the AI wave coming. I wanted to pivot into something more future-proof and more human-facing. Marketing felt like the right direction. And like a lot of devs, I knew how to build, but not how to sell.

At the same time, I’d been on Reddit for nearly 20 years. I noticed three trends: 1) Reddit threads ranking in Google, 2) LLMs citing Reddit in answers, and 3) my wife (not a Redditor) using Reddit for product reviews. That was the sign. I had the platform expertise, and there was a clear demand.

3. How did you get your first customer?

Shoutout Tribe. Tribe was actually one of my first clients, and other members helped me shape the offer and test early services. I had no idea what Reddit marketing even meant at first, so it was a lot of trial and error.

I also started posting on X and LinkedIn about what I was learning. Just sharing my journey starting to work.

4. What’s worked to attract and retain customers?

Referrals and content. 90% of our business comes from one of those. No cold outreach yet, although I probably will soon. But when you’re in a hot market like Reddit marketing, you can get away with inbound for a while.

For retention, it’s responsiveness. Fast replies to emails and DMs, no black holes. We’ve had really low churn, and when clients do pause, it’s usually because they’re shifting focus, not because we underperformed.

5. How’s the business doing today, and do you want to see it in the future?

Things are good! We’re at $50K MRR today with 35 clients and 10 more onboarding. We’re projecting $70K in the next 30 days.

The goal is $1M ARR by year-end. Q4 is a hot time for marketers, so we’re trying to double the business by November. It feels doable.

6. Any “oh shit” moments?

Oh yeah. After my first 10 clients, I hit a wall. I couldn’t keep up with the workload and didn’t hire fast enough.

By May, I was overloaded, and clients weren’t getting the value they deserved. Eventually, I brought in help. Now, I’m back in the same situation, but with enterprise clients. My plan is to land 10 enterprise accounts before hiring someone to own that segment.

Same playbook, different level.

7. What do outsiders usually not understand about Reddit marketing?

People think Reddit = immediate leads. But Reddit isn’t built for direct response.

You’re planting seeds for future brand consideration. People come to Reddit to research, not to buy. The goal is to show up in the right threads, build mindshare, and win trust so when they are ready to buy, they remember you and not your competitor.

8. Any Favorite tools in your stack?

We use Gummy Search to track Reddit trends and subreddits. It’s our research engine. We also use N8N heavily to automate a lot our business through agents and workflows.

We used to run ops in Notion, but they banned us (long story). So now we’re fully off that platform.

9. Are there any influential books or content that helped you?

Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell was huge for me.

I used to think I needed a CTO to automate everything. But really, I needed to find one task I could delegate. Start from the bottom. Offload execution. That’s what helped me break through.

10. If you had to start a new business today, what would it be?

Honestly? I’d start this one again.

We’re still early to Reddit. But if I had to add something new, I’d pair Reddit with AI search optimization, helping brands rank in AI-generated results as SEO fades. The search landscape is changing fast, and there’s a ton of demand for it right now.

11. What’s your best advice for other entrepreneurs?

Simplify.

We overcomplicate things early on. Simplify your offer. Simplify your execution. Don’t try to automate what you haven’t done manually yet. And do things that don’t scale.

Final Takeaways

1. Reddit is becoming the new SEO, and LLMs are using it to train their. Smart founders are getting ahead of it.

2. You don’t need cold outreach right away when your market is hot and your content is consistent. Choosing the right offer and market is extremely important. 

3. Don’t try to automate things right away. Learn to do things manually, delegate with small tasks first, and then find ways you can automate.

4. $50K MRR in 6 months is possible when you have a great offer, a hot market, and specialized knowledge.