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10 easy ways to get your first 10 signups in 10 minutes

So you just built something. Awesome! You're excited. But you want other people to be too. Then it dawns on you...🧐

Nobody has any idea what you're working on...😱

It's going to be okay 🥲we felt this way at Driveway.app, so we wrote this post to help you get over the initial hump of sharing what you built.

  1. Pick up your phone and start calling friends 📞

It's the oldest trick in the book! Who are the people you could call right now and you know they'd pick up? They'd probably also help you get signups. I don't know your product and I don't know your customer - but having someone signup for your product is nice - having someone get someone else to signup for your product is extra nice.

  1. If you don't want to call start texting 💬

Do you have a favorite group text? Again, if you can't talk to your friends about your product, it'll be hard to talk to strangers about your product. Some people are faster to respond to texts than others, but ten minutes is plenty of time to write that-perfect-text - just be sure to encourage people to copy, paste, and share with people they think might be interested.

  1. Do an email bcc blast 📧

The amazing thing about email bcc is you can reach out to hundreds of people without them knowing who or how many other people you reached out to. Be careful - if you do this too often you'll get marked as spam - but it's perfectly fine for getting your first batch of signups. Again - make your email a shareable asset so that you can help your audience help you.

  1. Start replying to people on Twitter 🐦

I get it. Twitter is a cruel, dark place. That's why it's important to acknowledge that unless you have a large following, the best way to get in front of users is on other people's tweets. A single tweet on a trending tweet thread, or a single reply from the right influential thinker, can get 10-50 signups no problem.

  1. Network on LinkedIn 💼

LinkedIn isn't about thought leadership - it's about networking. The posts that do best are from the people who are most networked. A lot of LinkedIn engagement is reciprocal - so start liking and commenting on other people's posts - when you post too you'll see them return the favor.

  1. Post beautiful photos on Instagram 📸

This isn't my cup of tea - I work in B2B SaaS - but if you have a consumer product, especially a physical one, Instagram is one of the best marketing channels of this generation IF you have high-quality photos. Don't be afraid to do research on how to best photograph your product - each photo is an asset you can get leverage from over a long period of time and across a wide variety of platforms.

  1. Go deep on Reddit karma 🕳🐇

By going deep, I mean ingratiate yourself to the community. Each subreddit is run by a few influential power houses. The platform is literally built around karma, so going out of your way to offer people advice goes a long way. Don't be afraid to post across a variety of subreddits to find your audience.

  1. Find champions in Discord communities 🤖

Discord is an awesome platform for community engagement. You can find good Discord servers on Reddit or Twitter, usually being shared by moderators or influencers. Discord is a great way to take a large audience and find 1:1 connections since direct messages are at the core of the product.

  1. Spend free Google Ad credits 💸

Yes, Google does offer FREE ad credits for new Google Workspace accounts. You'll have to pay for Google Workspace but it's probably about time you got the company email address too. We got $250 in credits which got us about a dozen signups no problem. Just be sure to research your keywords and pause your campaign when you're done.

  1. Go outside and start talking to people 🏡

There - I said it - go outside! Easier said than done these days :) If you're not in New York or another major city, it might be hard to find ten people in ten minutes. All you need to find is one person who can find you ten people. Don't be afraid to start conversations in grocery stores, parks, bars, etc. I once coincidentally met the founder of a competitor product who convinced me to pivot!

Okay - so maybe some of these will take longer than ten minutes...my point is what are you waiting for? You built the product - that's the hard part. Sharing what you've built can be scary, but the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

So, don't read another IndieHacker post :) - block out that ten minutes and go tell the world about what you're doing! You might be surprised what you learn and the support you find :)

Happy building!

  1. 2

    What are your tips for reddit? I've never really used the product.

    1. 2

      Reddit can be tricky - some sub-reddits won't allow you to link to your blog without paying (ehem* I'm looking at you r/GrowthHacking ;))

      A couple ways to get around this:

      • "hey check out this quiz my team made!" Hugo.team just did this on the r/productivity subreddit, brilliant
      • you can do comparison posts, best example of this is fibery vs productboard. Good for SEO
      • I also see some employees just engage in comments
      • lastly with reddit be sure to cross-post across sub-reddits. Why not!
      1. 1

        thanks for the shoutout, our social team gets a ton of value by posting on reddit!

  2. 2

    Go outside and start talking to people 🏡

    This one might not be great advice in the middle of a pandemic haha

    1. 1

      Hahaha I used to loooove doing this. Starbucks was perfect. Or a mall. Now it's a little scary 😅 I did see someone try this in a park though! Hopefully one day soon 🤞

  3. 1

    Getting the actual karma on Reddit is quite hard. Karma farming isn't what it used to be. This raised the question: How to get Karma on Reddit

  4. 1

    Contacting people on email is actually a good suggestion. Thank you!

    1. 2

      What I love about email is it gives me a tooooooon of leverage.

      Writing an email takes time, but I can be fairly confident about how many people will read what I write, and each additional email I add doesn't really cost me much.

      Just watch unsubscribes!

  5. 1

    Here, kind sir, take my upvote.

  6. 1

    Just started our own newsletter and find these sorts of posts super helpful! Thanks :)

    1. 2

      Thank you! Not sure if you're using a product for the newsletter - I've been running our newsletter out of email bcc and we started to get hit by spam haha so I'm looking at SendGrid (used for product emails) vs Mailchimp. What's the newsletter about? Happy to check out :)

      1. 1

        Hi there! We use ConvertKit for our distribution and landing page. They have setups for products too, which is nice. Our main website is with shopify (we also are working on some digital products for small businesses/family businesses).

        You can sign up for our newsletter at: https://deepdive.cool (would be amazing if you signed up!)

        And check out previous issues at: https://sandboxtransitions.com/blogs/the-deep-dive-newsletters

        1. 2

          Hahah I just subscribed and I LOVED the landing page after submission :) excited to read

          Will check out ConvertKit! We're using Webflow now.

          1. 1

            I've been looking at ConvertKit & SendGrid too, got tried of MailChimp over the course of time but overall excited to see how ConverKit can help with scaling.

            1. 1

              What didn't you like about Mailchimp? Our engineer recommended SendGrid but Mailchimp is what I've used back in the day.

              Btw! We're hiring part-time and full-time designers and engineers, and I noticed you are both! haha if you're not looking at this time no worries figured I'd mention.

              1. 1

                Hi, I've been using Mailchimp over time since about 2015 and when it comes to certain customization features & overall what you're able to do within the newsletter can seem a bit restrictive at times. 😕 .. I would fully agree with SendGrid though.

                Perfect timing actually too, I am actually looking for new opportunities currently & interested in hiring more. I'll go ahead and can send you a DM on Twitter.

          2. 1

            Oh wow, thanks so much!! Make sure you check your spam or Promotions Tab (in gmail) and open the confirmation email with the confirmation button in it. Otherwise you won't ultimately get added. So pumped, thanks again! :)

            1. 2

              Found it and confirmed! Looking forward to it :)

  7. 0

    This comment was deleted 3 years ago.

    1. 1
      1. Shamelessly plug a shady product under a useful indie hackers post.
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