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Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

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Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#161

Post by d0liver »

ednite wrote: post #149

For my SaaS, the first 100 users were almost too easy. I partnered with a company sitting on thousands of clients and offered my tool—free—to just 10% of their list. But I didn’t sell features. I asked what their clients hated most, then built a fix for that. One well-placed feature, and the doors swung open. Real users, real feedback—and we’re still building on that foundation. Then there’s my blog. A creative sandb…

Also, I subscribed to your blog. Content looks interesting, but asking for a name during sign up is a little off-putting.

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#162

Post by r0b05 »

mvkel wrote: post #153

Interview 20 people who -could- be customers, but not pitch them. Get their honest take on what sucks about their current solution/process. Ask for their expertise. Build the thing that emerges from the 20 interviews. Not the thing they ask for, but the thing they truly need. Craft a solid pitch from the common themes of the 20 interviews, focused on being a painkiller, not a vitamin. Go to the place where you found…

This is a really cool litmus test.

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#163

Post by s1mon »

If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading the Mom Test book [0]. It talks a lot about product market fit, as well as how to get your first customers in order to build the right product.

The Path to First SaaS Customers via The Mom Test:

1. Talk to 10–30 people who might face the problem.

2. Don’t mention your idea—dig into their experiences instead.

3. If the pain is real, pitch only after confirming they care.

4. Look for commitment—not compliments.

5. Build just enough to turn their problem into a usable product and keep iterating.

[0] https://www.momtestbook.com

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#164

Post by outcoldman »

I mean, this is the whole state of the industry.

If you wrote something nice (you believe it could be valuable to user) - and tried to show it here in Show HN - you will get close to 0 upvotes.

If you build something excellent (unique, wow factor, etc) - you will get the votes. But this is going to be an exception.

The question is, how the OP got 228 points (at the time) on this "Ask HN" topic? Obviously the OP is working on SEO, and probably has ability to upvote their topics (fake users, large follow base on X, Mastodon or Emails)?

And to answer your question. The best place to get your first 50/100 users is to show them at the place where your users hang out. Reddit? Obviously it is getting harder, because a lot of subreddits don't allow self-promotions. So ads, if you are lucky enough and your users don't block ads. And the best place is to actually use the Marketplaces/AppStore where your users are going to search for a solution. App Store in case of Apple, Google Store in case of Android.

I have found the best way is to actually keep your own newsletter, and respect the users, don't post there too much, only post, when you see you can offer something valuable. I have about 2000 users in my newsletter, and that helps to get first 100 users of my new products/apps.

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#165

Post by phlsa »

When I built my little side project (B2C iPhone app, not a SaaS [1]), I documented the development process on LinkedIn with short "developer diary" videos. That has led to a good amount of engagement at launch, which briefly lifted the app into the top-paid section on the App Store for a short time. That was enough to reach the first 100 users within a few days.

Since it's a side project, I haven't worked on the app in a while, but recently picked up development again. So if you have any ideas or suggestions, they are very welcome.

[1] https://apps.apple.com/app/dorepeat-checklists-todos/id15615...

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#167

Post by curiousigor »

2YwaZHXV wrote: post #148
curiousigor wrote: post #139

Built a free product ( https://heymeta.com ) to solve my own problem and posted it here on HN and Reddit as well as Product Hunt (that was in 2018 when it was still relevant). Currently getting 15k/unique/month (it has dropped a bit less, but steadily getting up after the rewrite and bigfixes). When the website doesn't have sponsors, I promote my other free macOS tool ( https://dockey.publicspace.co ) (with a donatio…

https://www.heymeta.com/sponsor/ returns a 404 currently... is that expected?

It shouldn't and doesn't for me at the moment. Is this still the case on your side?

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#168

Post by ednite »

d0liver wrote: post #154
ednite wrote: post #149

For my SaaS, the first 100 users were almost too easy. I partnered with a company sitting on thousands of clients and offered my tool—free—to just 10% of their list. But I didn’t sell features. I asked what their clients hated most, then built a fix for that. One well-placed feature, and the doors swung open. Real users, real feedback—and we’re still building on that foundation. Then there’s my blog. A creative sandb…

How hard was it to get the partnership? Was that cold outreach, too?

Not cold—more like soft outreach. It happened at a social event through mutual friends. Classic “So, what do you do?” convo. I said software dev. They said, “Ugh, we use this tool—it’s garbage.”

I listened (an underrated superpower), realized I could actually fix the problem, and suggested a meetup. One Zoom meeting later, we had the foundation of a partnership.

Honestly, it could’ve been any event. Just show up, be sincere, and listen more than you pitch.

I’ve always been an introvert—still am—but I’ve learned to be a functional extrovert when it counts- Good luck and don’t give up!

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#169

Post by rikkipitt »

curiousigor wrote: post #157
rikkipitt wrote: post #53

I'm 40% through getting my first 100 users for https://www.kruh.ltd . So far, I've only added a "banner" announcement on two of my products and mentioned it at the bottom of newsletters to their subscribers. It's taken a couple of months to get this far. I will probably launch in two phases of cohorts. I.e. in blocks of 50.

“Kruh” means bread in Slovenian, so “making bread” with the product seems fitting :D

It also means circle in Czech and sounds like crew. When I happened upon the word, I was very proud of myself! I'm usually not great at naming projects.

Re: Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

#170

Post by csomar »

ednite wrote: post #159
adammarples wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

an idea might be providing a link to the blog

Lol...I was trying to avoid the classic shameless plug… but since you twisted my arm—it’s over at mindthenerd.com. Just getting started, but I'm having fun with it. Really appreciate you asking!

I am more interested by the SaaS and the partner that did free reach?
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