How I'd Get My First 100 Users (If I Had to Start Over Tomorrow)

The hardest users to get are the first 100. After that, you have social proof, word of mouth, and enough data to know what's working. But those first 100? You're selling from zero. No reviews, no testimonials, no brand recognition.

Here's what I'd do if I had to start from scratch tomorrow. No ad budget, no existing audience, no connections.

The first 10: Direct outreach

Forget growth hacks. Your first 10 users come from talking to people one-on-one.

Step 1: Find 50 people who have the problem your product solves.

Where to find them: - Reddit threads about the problem - Twitter/X posts complaining about the problem - Facebook groups for the industry - LinkedIn posts from people in the role you're targeting - YouTube comments on tutorials about the manual way of doing the thing you automate

Step 2: Send 50 personalized messages.

Not copy-paste. Personalized. Reference their specific post/comment/tweet. Show that you understand their problem. Then mention your product.

The template that works:

"Hey [name], I saw your post about [specific problem]. I actually built something that [solves that exact problem]. Would you be open to trying it out? Happy to give you free access for the first month - I'm looking for early feedback."

Expected conversion: 10-15% response rate. Of those who respond, about half will try it. Of those who try it, about half will become paying users. So 50 messages ≈ 3-5 paying users.

Do this twice and you have your first 10.

Users 10-50: Community farming

Once you have 10 users, you have something more powerful than any ad: happy customers who can vouch for you.

Strategy 1: Be genuinely helpful in 3-5 communities.

Pick the communities where your customers hang out. Not to promote your product - to be helpful. Answer questions. Share knowledge. Become a recognized name.

When someone asks "is there a tool that does X?" and your product does X, you can mention it naturally. This works because people trust community members, not advertisements.

Strategy 2: Create content that solves adjacent problems.

If you built a tool for freelancer invoicing, write a guide about "How to Chase Late Payments Without Being Awkward." If you built a tool for restaurant reviews, write "The Complete Guide to Improving Your Google My Business Ranking."

This content attracts people who have the BROADER problem, not just the specific one you solve. They find your blog post through Google, find it helpful, and discover your product.

Strategy 3: Partner launches.

Find someone with a newsletter or audience in your niche. Offer them a free account, an affiliate commission, or simply a genuine product they can recommend to their audience. One newsletter mention to 5K subscribers can bring 20-30 signups.

Users 50-100: Systems that compound

At 50 users, you should be seeing patterns. You know where your best users come from. You know what messaging resonates. Now you need systems, not hustle.

SEO plays that work for indie products:

Write comparison pages: "[Your Product] vs [Competitor]". People searching for competitor alternatives are the highest-intent buyers on the internet. They already know they need a solution - they're just deciding which one.

Write problem-specific landing pages: "Best [solution] for [industry]". Target long-tail keywords where you can actually rank. "Best invoicing software for freelance photographers" has way less competition than "invoicing software."

Create a free tool or resource related to your product. A calculator, a template, a checklist. Something useful that ranks on Google and exposes people to your brand.

The email sequence that converts:

Every new signup should get a 3-email sequence:

1. Day 0: Welcome + one clear action. "Here's the one thing to do first to get value from [product]."
2. Day 3: Social proof. "Here's how [customer name] uses [product] to [achieve result]."
3. Day 7: Offer help. "Need help getting set up? Reply to this email and I'll personally walk you through it." (This one is magic. The personal touch at scale.)

The referral mechanic:

Ask every happy customer one question: "Who else do you know who might find this useful?" Then make it easy for them to share. A referral link with a mutual benefit (1 month free for both) works well.

The channels that DON'T work for first 100

Let me save you some time:

Product Hunt. Useful for a one-time spike, but the users are other founders, not your target customers (unless your product is FOR founders). Most PH traffic bounces immediately.

Paid ads. At 0-100 users, you don't know your messaging, your audience, or your conversion funnel well enough to make ads profitable. You'll burn money testing hypotheses you could test for free.

Press/media. Nobody covers a product with 30 users. Don't pitch journalists. They'll come to you after you have traction, not before.

Viral mechanics. Your product isn't going viral at 50 users. Don't build invite-only access or waitlists or social sharing buttons. Build something useful and get it in front of people one at a time.

The real timeline

Here's what this looks like on a realistic calendar:

• Week 1-2: Direct outreach. Get 5-10 users.
• Week 3-4: Community participation. Start creating content. Get to 15-25 users.
• Week 5-8: Content starts indexing on Google. Partner launches. Referrals from early users. Get to 40-60 users.
• Week 9-12: SEO traffic starts trickling in. Email sequences are converting. Word of mouth kicks in. Get to 100 users.

Three months. No ad spend. No growth team. Just a solo founder putting in consistent effort on the things that work.

The first 100 is the hardest. But it's also the most important, because every user you acquire through direct effort teaches you something about your market that no amount of planning can replicate. By the time you hit 100, you'll know your customers better than any competitor who acquired theirs through ads.

That knowledge is your real moat.