Ask HN: How did you get your first users with zero audience?
Solo developer, no audience, no network, no community presence.I've shipped working products (open-source) but every distribution channel has a cold start problem. you need traction to get traction. Even posting about your work requires reputation you can only build by posting.
For those who built something with no existing audience to launch to: what specifically worked to get your first real users? Less interested in theory, more in "I did X and it actually moved the needle."
27 comments
If you have no one to launch to, who are you building for? How did you validate your idea?
The answer depends on what you are building and who you are building it for. The default approach is a little crowded, a little spammy. No one likes someone who joins a community just to self-promote.
More and more, my approach has been to build customer streams instead of finding them one by one. Don't sell to restaurants, sell to those who sell to restaurants. This has served me well.
The answer depends on what you are building and who you are building it for. The default approach is a little crowded, a little spammy. No one likes someone who joins a community just to self-promote.
More and more, my approach has been to build customer streams instead of finding them one by one. Don't sell to restaurants, sell to those who sell to restaurants. This has served me well.
this line is absolute gold. but how do you apply this logic if the product is b2c or just doesn't have a clear "middleman" seller in the loop?
Two that worked better than posting:
Meetup talks. Small audiences but the post-talk conversations are where the first users come from. A single talk does not much but giving 5 talks in the same scene is a network. You don't need a big stage, local user groups are enough.
Niche with a search-volume problem but only 1-2 existing solutions. You stop competing for attention and start getting found. Harder to pick than it sounds, most "niches" are either dead or already crowded, but when it works you skip the audience-building step entirely.
Meetup talks. Small audiences but the post-talk conversations are where the first users come from. A single talk does not much but giving 5 talks in the same scene is a network. You don't need a big stage, local user groups are enough.
Niche with a search-volume problem but only 1-2 existing solutions. You stop competing for attention and start getting found. Harder to pick than it sounds, most "niches" are either dead or already crowded, but when it works you skip the audience-building step entirely.
Oh, I’ve been struggling with exactly this recently while trying to show people my open-source AI agent engine. I built it based on my own pain points, primarily for myself—but I really believe in the architectural approach and would love to get genuine feedback from the community.
It’s incredibly hard to break through the noise right now. We’ve been discussing “attention inflation” a lot on HN lately in the context of recruiting and open-source PRs, but it absolutely exists in distribution too. When everyone is overwhelmed by a flood of content, getting even 10 real developers to look at your repo feels much harder than actually writing the code.
"attention inflation" is the right name for it. The skills for building and the skills for getting attention are almost completely disjoint :), and you usually can't optimize both at once.
Just looked at zymi-core. Event-sourced + auditable is the right shape for an agent engine. replay and audit are what make autonomous behavior actually debuggable. and "asks before anything destructive" reads like someone who's lived with the consequences of autonomy.
*Heading offline for military training next week, back early June. will clone it then and come back with real feedback, not a drive-by star!
Just looked at zymi-core. Event-sourced + auditable is the right shape for an agent engine. replay and audit are what make autonomous behavior actually debuggable. and "asks before anything destructive" reads like someone who's lived with the consequences of autonomy.
*Heading offline for military training next week, back early June. will clone it then and come back with real feedback, not a drive-by star!
Use your AI to flood comments
/s
/s
Heh, that would be the fastest way to get ban, not feedback :)
Consider your experience up to now as an education.
The hard part is not building a working product. The hard part is finding people to use it.
Yes, building the working product is the fun part. Yes it's the part that overlaps your current skill set. Stop doing it.
Instead of building products, go find customers. It doesn't matter what they want, you can build anything, what matters is they have pain and are looking to pay to make it go away.
That initially means going out to talk to people. Ask about their lives. Find pain. Ask about how much they'd pay to make that pain go away.
The paying part is serious. No one likes tables that rock at the restaurant. But no one pays for a solution- you just push something under the rocking leg.
I know, I know, you just want to code, the customers should just find you, leave cash, and leave. Alas, you and everyone else. That's unfortunately not how it works.
The hard part is not building a working product. The hard part is finding people to use it.
Yes, building the working product is the fun part. Yes it's the part that overlaps your current skill set. Stop doing it.
Instead of building products, go find customers. It doesn't matter what they want, you can build anything, what matters is they have pain and are looking to pay to make it go away.
That initially means going out to talk to people. Ask about their lives. Find pain. Ask about how much they'd pay to make that pain go away.
The paying part is serious. No one likes tables that rock at the restaurant. But no one pays for a solution- you just push something under the rocking leg.
I know, I know, you just want to code, the customers should just find you, leave cash, and leave. Alas, you and everyone else. That's unfortunately not how it works.
The sad truth is perseverance and staying up-beat. Most launches are received with dead silence.
My favorite definition of a startup is: "a group of people trying to survive long enough to get lucky".
Keep on pushing, listen to subjective feedback, don't try to automate distribution early.
I use https://z2one.co to help draft and track my distribution plans - I really enjoy building but when it comes to distribution I feel overwhelmed.
My favorite definition of a startup is: "a group of people trying to survive long enough to get lucky".
Keep on pushing, listen to subjective feedback, don't try to automate distribution early.
I use https://z2one.co to help draft and track my distribution plans - I really enjoy building but when it comes to distribution I feel overwhelmed.
Definition of a startup: "a group of people trying to survive long enough to get lucky"
This is a good one!
This is a good one!
:)
Another one which is pretty deep imo. "startup: a team building not a product, but the thing that will tell them what the product should be"
Another one which is pretty deep imo. "startup: a team building not a product, but the thing that will tell them what the product should be"
I think the reality is no one really knows. You’ll hear things like post on socials, blog/content marketing, build a presence on Reddit…
But to me it seems like the lottery. You try enough things, in enough of the right places, for long enough and eventually something sticks and you get some traction. Most people don’t stick with it long enough to find something that connects for them though.
Ideally you’re working on a product where you already have some legitimacy, thus avoiding the cold start problem.
But to me it seems like the lottery. You try enough things, in enough of the right places, for long enough and eventually something sticks and you get some traction. Most people don’t stick with it long enough to find something that connects for them though.
Ideally you’re working on a product where you already have some legitimacy, thus avoiding the cold start problem.
Only read further if you did not validate the idea with a group of people first but solved it because you had that problem.
I did the same and now just 2 weeks back I started reaching out to people to try the tools which is now a product and the thing which helped me convert many of them were reaching out to them on linked in and talking about my own problem with them, I have gotten 35 users as of yet with this approach in the last 2 weeks.
I did the same and now just 2 weeks back I started reaching out to people to try the tools which is now a product and the thing which helped me convert many of them were reaching out to them on linked in and talking about my own problem with them, I have gotten 35 users as of yet with this approach in the last 2 weeks.
I have the same problem. What I am trying so far:
- Build things for me. I try to solve my own problem. Then, I show it to friends. If it works for me, it could also be helpful to people like me. I built something very basic, I show it to people who could have the same problem, and incorporate suggestions. Iterate fast. In the worst case, I build something that was useful to me.
- I listen to someone else's pain. But I should have the same or similar problem, and I know or guess I can solve that. I build an MVP and show it to him/her. The same process as before.
- Build things for me. I try to solve my own problem. Then, I show it to friends. If it works for me, it could also be helpful to people like me. I built something very basic, I show it to people who could have the same problem, and incorporate suggestions. Iterate fast. In the worst case, I build something that was useful to me.
- I listen to someone else's pain. But I should have the same or similar problem, and I know or guess I can solve that. I build an MVP and show it to him/her. The same process as before.
I'm here to find the answers too. I’ve made two apps so far. I made a Discord community and had my friends try them, and they kept adding their friends, so now on the Discord server I have around 20 people, and a few more outside it. Out of these, I found only one guy who fits the ICP (ideal customer profile). But this Discord thing works mostly through friend-to-friend chains, which is slow. I plan to use Reddit and later on influencer marketing. But yes, I have 0 funding, so I’ll start low and then build from there. Still not sure if this is the best way to go.
Start small!!
* Set a short goal of 10-20 users * List/Share your product across BetaList, Product Hunt, Reddit, etc., * Build relevant audience/lead list using Apollo,lemlist,smartreach or smartlead --> send product pitch from your email * Go to communities(Quora, Reddit, Hacker News,etc.,), identify users discussing about the problem you're solving and reach out/comment
* Set a short goal of 10-20 users * List/Share your product across BetaList, Product Hunt, Reddit, etc., * Build relevant audience/lead list using Apollo,lemlist,smartreach or smartlead --> send product pitch from your email * Go to communities(Quora, Reddit, Hacker News,etc.,), identify users discussing about the problem you're solving and reach out/comment
Post to HN/PH/reddit, buy niche newsletter or podcast ads, cold emails. Build domain authority with authentic backlinks.
For me, I volunteered to teach something for free and help people.
They were more than happy to write me testimonials.
They were more than happy to write me testimonials.
coming from non-SF environment hits hard honestly, building reechy.cam/collections and been wondering the same thing