How to Get Your First 100 Users

Getting your first 100 users is not a marketing problem. It's a talking-to-people problem.

I've helped multiple startups go from zero to real revenue. Two were YC companies, two were European startups. The pattern is always the same: the founders who get early traction are the ones who do things that don't scale, talk to people directly, and resist the urge to "build a funnel" before they even know who their user is.

Here's what works.

Go where your users already are

Your first users are not going to find you through Google. They're not going to see your Product Hunt launch. They're hanging out in specific places online, talking about the problems you solve.

Find those places. For developer tools, that's Hacker News, Reddit, Discord servers, Twitter/X. For B2B SaaS, it's LinkedIn, industry Slack groups, niche forums. For consumer, it's TikTok, Instagram, or whatever platform your audience lives on.

Don't post your landing page link and run. Participate. Answer questions. Be useful. Then when someone has the exact problem your product solves, mention it.

Your landing page matters more than you think

I've looked at dozens of startup landing pages. The most common problem: they explain what the product does instead of why someone should care.

Nobody cares about your feature list. They care about what changes for them. Lead with the outcome. "Get your docs live in 5 minutes" is better than "AI-powered documentation platform with real-time collaboration."

A few things that kill conversion:

• No clear call to action above the fold. If I have to scroll to figure out what to do, I'm gone.
• Generic hero copy. "The future of X" tells me nothing.
• Too many options. One CTA. One thing you want me to do.
• No social proof. Even early on, a quote from a beta user or a "used by 50 teams" line helps.

Launch in public

Build in public doesn't mean posting your GitHub commits. It means sharing the story of what you're building and why.

Write about the problem you're solving. Share a screenshot of a feature before it's polished. Tell people what you learned from your first 10 users. This creates an audience before you have a product to sell.

The best launches I've seen weren't on Product Hunt. They were founders who'd been talking about the problem for weeks, and when they finally posted "ok it's live," people were already waiting.

Ask for referrals, directly

Your first 10 users probably know your next 90. But they won't refer you unless you ask.

After someone uses your product and says something positive, ask them: "Do you know anyone else who might find this useful?" Most people are happy to help if you make it easy for them. Give them a link, a short message they can forward, something that takes zero effort.

What doesn't work at zero

• Paid ads. You don't know your messaging yet. You'll burn money testing copy instead of talking to users.
• SEO. It takes months. It's a great long-term channel but it won't get you to 100 users.
• Growth hacks. Anything that feels like a shortcut is probably a waste of time at this stage.
• Perfecting the product. Ship something rough, get feedback, iterate. Your first 100 users are not your final product's audience. They're your collaborators.

The pattern

Every startup I've worked with that got early traction followed the same rough sequence:

1. Found a specific community where their users hung out
2. Participated genuinely (not just spammed links)
3. Talked to early users one-on-one
4. Iterated on positioning based on what resonated
5. Asked those early users to spread the word

That's it. There's no trick. The founders who got to 100 users fastest were the ones who treated it like a conversation, not a campaign.

FAQ

How long does it take to get to 100 users?

It depends on your market, but for most B2B or dev tool startups, 2-8 weeks of focused effort is realistic. Consumer products can be faster or much slower depending on distribution.

Should I launch on Product Hunt?

Maybe, but not as your primary strategy. Product Hunt gives you a spike of traffic that usually doesn't convert into retained users. It's better as a credibility signal than an acquisition channel.

When should I start thinking about paid acquisition?

After you have a landing page that converts organic traffic at a reasonable rate (2-5%+ for B2B) and you understand your messaging well enough to write an ad that resonates. For most startups, that's after 200-500 users.

What if nobody is signing up?

Talk to the people who visited but didn't sign up. Add a way to contact you on the landing page. Ask in the communities where you posted: "I built X, it didn't resonate, what am I missing?" The feedback is more valuable than the signups at this stage.