Reddit is brutal to beginners

I'm new to Reddit. I joined because I'm looking to build a tool that uses community threads and voting, so I figured I need to familiarize myself with the world. It's also a tool that helps people discover legit ways to make money that are matched to their skill, interests, and resources.

What better place to learn about the user than on reddit in places like r/sidehustle and r/beermoney etc.?

I obviously can't post in many places because I need Karma.

So I tried getting karma by commenting on posts. This didn't really gain any traction.

So I was like hey, lets try to differentiate and add serious value. So I created a google sheet that documents 500 sidehustles across like 30 datapoints like how much it costs to get started, if it can be done remote, how long it takes to make a profit, how easy it is to start, etc.

I tried posting it and it got taken down as spam.

So I tried to comment it. Taken down.

So then I commented that I created this spreadsheet. That actually got a lot of attention and I started getting hundreds of DMs asking for it. When I started sending the spreadsheet, Reddit flagged me for spamming DMs. Like bruh.

So then I just left Reddit for a bit. But today I came back and I tried something different. I found I could post on r/smallbusiness. My background is in business and I have a decent amount of experience at a tech unicorn, investment banking, starting my own consulting business, taking over a tech-enabled service business, scaling and selling it.

I was like okay, to get karma, why don't I share my story then do an AMA. I thought people may find my story interesting. I'll comment with some value add from my experience and that should help my reputation.

So I made a post about my journey and at first it went well. People were asking questions, I was answering them.

Then the tides totally shifted against me lol. Someone else looked at my very recent and shitty reddit history and said that I must be lying. Then it just became a game of everyone trying to pick my story apart and call BS.

As someone who has worked their ass off and has been trying to add value to people's lives and do research on a tool that I think will also add massive value to people's lives, I found this very frustrating.

Can someone PLEASE help me learn to navigate this ecosystem?

Thanks to those of you who help.

For those who want to troll, undermine and doubt me, bring it on haha