Most Reddit bans are not judgement calls. They are mechanical: a new account that posts a link in its first week, the same comment pasted into four subreddits, a promotional ratio that any moderator can see in thirty seconds. Avoid the mechanical reasons and you are left with the ordinary risk any member carries, which is small.
Here is what actually gets founders banned, and the habit that prevents each one.
A new account that promotes on day one
Reddit's spam filters and every moderator look at account age and history first. A three-day-old account whose second comment contains a link is removed before a human reads it, and often the account goes with it.
The habit: warm the account. For the first week, reply only where you can be useful and mention nothing. For the first month, no links and no product mentions at all. An account you have used for years starts further along, because history counts from the real creation date, but a fresh one needs the lane.
The ratio
Moderators do not read your comments one at a time. They open your profile and scan. If more than one in ten things you have written points at your product, you are a spammer in their eyes, and the removals start.
The habit: hold yourself to the 90/10 rule, per account, and count it honestly. Nine plain, helpful, product-free contributions for every one that mentions what you sell. If a promotional comment would tip the ratio, it waits.
The same comment in several places
Reddit's filters catch duplicate text across subreddits, and so do the people who read more than one of them. This is the fastest way to be reported.
The habit: one reply, one thread. If two threads deserve an answer, write two answers.
Ignoring the subreddit's rules
Every subreddit has rules in the sidebar and most of them cover self-promotion, links, minimum karma and minimum account age. They differ wildly: r/SaaS tolerates disclosed mentions, r/startups has a dedicated thread for them, many product subreddits forbid promotion outright.
The habit: read the rules before your first comment in any subreddit and again every few weeks. Where links are forbidden, do not include one. Where a minimum age applies, wait.
Hiding who you are
A reply that recommends a tool without saying you built it is, once discovered, the end of the account's credibility and often the account. Redditors are good at discovering it.
The habit: disclose, once, plainly. "I built this, so take it with salt" reads as honest and usually earns upvotes. Then say something useful, including a limitation or an alternative.
Nobody in the loop
Automation that posts without a person reading first is how one bad draft becomes a pattern before anyone notices.
The habit: approve before publishing, at least until you have seen enough drafts to trust the pattern. Then let similar ones through, but pull back the moment one looks wrong.
Voting, following, messaging
Any automation that votes, likes, follows or sends messages is manipulation in Reddit's terms and is detected well. It is also the thing that turns a warning into a permanent ban.
The habit: never. There is no safe amount.
What this looks like as a routine
A warmed account, replying a few times a day where it can help, mentioning the product only when a thread is asking for a tool, with a disclosure, inside the subreddit's rules, with a person approving. That is the entire safety model, and it is what Gorilla Desk enforces in software so you do not have to keep count. The design is published on the safety page if you want to hold us to it.