The first hundred users rarely come from one big moment. They come from a dozen small, slightly awkward conversations. Here's a checklist we've seen work for SaaS founders launching on a budget.
Users 1–10: people you know
- Ask five people who have the problem to use it while you watch.
- Fix the three things that confuse them.
- Ask each of them who else has this problem.
Users 10–50: communities
- Pick two communities where your users hang out and become a useful member before you post.
- Share a lesson, not a link. The link goes in your profile or at the end.
- Launch on a weekly board so there's a place to send people to vote and comment.
Users 50–100: repeatable channels
- Write one genuinely helpful article targeting a long-tail search.
- Build a small free tool related to your product.
- Ask happy users for a short testimonial and put it on your homepage.
Write down where every new user came from. By user 100, you'll know which channel to double down on.