Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#11

Post by codingdave » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 1:26 PM UTC

If you built this for yourself, then you are your entire market. Either you like it and it is good, or you don't and it is not.

But if you built this to sell to others, you skipped the most important step: Researching the market to know what people want. Your first users come from your research - you call the people who you talked to and say: "I built it."

If you skipped that step, you are just throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping it sticks. Fun for builders, not reliable for actual success.

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#12

Post by RockieYang » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

rdegges wrote: post #3

I've built quite a few projects from 0 -> business over the last 20 years, and I think the fundamentals are still true today. First rule: if you're building the product solo, is it something you're the target user of? I've always felt like the biggest "cheat code" for building successful products is just making them for people like you. I know that goes against a lot of lean startup methodology (talk to users, etc.),…

Well said.

I truly believe that the product will be better if the author is the first targeted user.

> AI coding tools moved the ceiling.

I'd say AI coding tools raised the floor, not the ceiling. Building a product with great UX is still difficult and demands constant attention to detail.

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#13

Post by NarcisMirandes » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 2:42 PM UTC

I am also in a similar situation. This is something I try to learn. Those are some sources that has been useful to me:

- How to get your 100 users. Sam Altman. Oct 3, 2024. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da7z-RcS6dM

- 50 Founders Share How They Got Their First Customers. YCombinator. Aug 9, 2023. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZp5j5hvn9I

- How to Get Your First 10 Customers. YCombinator. Jun 22, 2026. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBivfgOvuE&list=WL

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#14

Post by pickleglitch » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 3:52 PM UTC

6 days and 3 posts? What did you expect to get out of that? Some people spend years building an audience. I don't know why you would think you can do it in 6 days with barely any effort.

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#15

Post by cocabadger » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 3:59 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#16

Post by deadcatfound » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:08 PM UTC

PaiDxng wrote: post #7

Your first hundred users probably won’t come from crowded feeds; for a trading-risk tool, I’d recruit ten traders manually and watch where they hesitate before chasing reach.

This is the most useful thing anyone's said to me in this whole thread. I've been chasing reach when I have zero signal on whether the thing is even usable by someone who isn't me and close non-quint friends.

-Chris

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#17

Post by deadcatfound » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:11 PM UTC

bruce511 wrote: post #9

deadcatfound wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you so much for the feedback. Marketing is my weakest aspect in this project. I've tried the grass roots organic approach, but I think I need to start venturing out of my comfort zone. -Chris

Marketing is the hard part. Ideas are trivial. Code is easy (and now with AI trivial.) Most humans do the easy part first. It's the most fun. Lots of people can play a guitar. Only a tiny fraction market enough to make any money. If you want success (in anything) learn (and do) the hard part first. Every product idea starts with 3 basic questions; A) who is this for? B) how do I reach them. Prove it by getting 10 nam…

[dead]

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#18

Post by deadcatfound » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:12 PM UTC

NarcisMirandes wrote: post #13

I am also in a similar situation. This is something I try to learn. Those are some sources that has been useful to me: - How to get your 100 users. Sam Altman. Oct 3, 2024. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da7z-RcS6dM - 50 Founders Share How They Got Their First Customers. YCombinator. Aug 9, 2023. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZp5j5hvn9I - How to Get Your First 10 Customers. YCombinator. Jun 22, 2026. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBi…

Saving all of these, thank you. The Sam Altman "do things that don't scale" idea is basically the opposite of what I've been doing lol

Super useful!

-Chris

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#19

Post by deadcatfound » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:14 PM UTC

RockieYang wrote: post #12

rdegges wrote: post #3

I've built quite a few projects from 0 -> business over the last 20 years, and I think the fundamentals are still true today. First rule: if you're building the product solo, is it something you're the target user of? I've always felt like the biggest "cheat code" for building successful products is just making them for people like you. I know that goes against a lot of lean startup methodology (talk to users, etc.),…

Well said. I truly believe that the product will be better if the author is the first targeted user. > AI coding tools moved the ceiling. I'd say AI coding tools raised the floor, not the ceiling. Building a product with great UX is still difficult and demands constant attention to detail.

"Raised the floor, not the ceiling" is a better way to put it than I did, I'm stealing that. And you're right about UX being the hard part that didn't get easier.

Thank you! This gave me a lot to chew on moving forward.

-Chris

Re: Ask HN: I built it and nobody came. What got you your first users?

#20

Post by deadcatfound » Fri, Jul 17, 2026, 7:15 PM UTC

codingdave wrote: post #11

If you built this for yourself, then you are your entire market. Either you like it and it is good, or you don't and it is not. But if you built this to sell to others, you skipped the most important step: Researching the market to know what people want. Your first users come from your research - you call the people who you talked to and say: "I built it." If you skipped that step, you are just throwing spaghetti aga…

Honestly it's a bit of both. It started as something for me and a few colleagues, and they actually use it day to day, so I skipped the "research what people want" step because the first users were just us. This is the honest truth.

-Chris