How AfterHour grew on the back of Reddit Community

Kevin Shu, known as "SIR_JACK_A_LOT" on Reddit, turned $35,000 into $8 million in just 21 months through stock trading and leveraged his Reddit success to build a thriving trading platform.

In 2020, Kevin started sharing his trading positions and strategies on Reddit's /r/wallstreetbets forum. His daily trade screenshots and transparent strategy built a loyal following.

When another Redditor created /r/TheRaceTo10Million, Kevin joined as a moderator.

The Magic of 25,000 Subscribers

Reddit's algorithm favors subreddits with more than 25,000 subscribers.

Once Kevin's community crossed this threshold, posts started appearing in trending feeds with 100,000+ views and reached wider audiences through forum feeds and trending feeds.

This organic growth proved crucial for the community's success. The community currently sits at over 100,000 subscribers.

The Genesis of AfterHour

Kevin noticed 2 key limitations on Reddit:

• Users couldn't get alerts when specific traders posted (so you can't copytrade)

• Reddit's mobile app de-emphasized usernames (so you never know if the post came from a smart trader or just a random user)

These gaps inspired him to create AfterHour, a social trading app.

The app allows users to:

• Connect their brokerage accounts

• Share verified portfolios

• Engage in copy trading

• Join real-time trading discussions

AfterHour now manages over $300 million in shared verified portfolios.

Smart Reddit Marketing Strategies

Currently, AfterHour gets 80% of its users from Reddit.

1. Strategic Popups

New subscribers to /r/TheRaceTo10Million see a popup invitation as soon as they join AfterHour.

The link on Join The App, points to https://afterhour.app.link/race, uses deep linking technology to redirect users to either:

• App store listing (mobile users)

• Website (redirects to https://www.afterhour.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=marketing) with UTM parameters (desktop users)

2. Personalized Sticky Comments

Kevin posts and pins comments from his personal account /u/SIR_JACK_A_LOT instead of using the automoderator bot.

Turns out, automated comments by Reddit's automoderator bot get collapsed by default on mobile apps. These stickied comments are pinned to the top of every post so anyone who reads the post sees them first.

This approach feels more authentic since Reddit users are naturally skeptical of corporate messaging.

3. Moderation Tools

Kevin uses Reddit's moderation tools to send automatic welcome messages to new subscribers, manage community engagement, and maintain community standards.

Reddit's moderation hierarchy works top-down, with top mods having power over lower mods. This is how Kevin got to be the top moderator as the Redditor who originally created /r/TheRaceTo10Million abandoned it.

Kevin's success stems from understanding Reddit's unique culture and building genuine connections with users. His story shows how authentic community building can transform into a massively successful generational app.

This is a playbook straight out of Greg Isenberg's Unbundling of Reddit.

Hat tip to Kevin Xu for sharing the insights on Jason Levin's podcast.

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Rabbit Holes

1. Monk Like Discipline: What It Really Takes To Win by Sam Ovens

2. Proof You Can Do Hard Things by Nat Eliason

3. Business is Like Surfing by Justin Jackson

Until next time!

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