Getting the first users:how to do it in the most efficient way
I’m building a co-pilot for go to market activities. How do I go about getting my first customers outside of my warm network ? Is it true that the first actual customer is the hardest to get then it becomes much easier?
I’m at a similar stage with a niche music-tech product. What worked surprisingly well for me was very targeted direct outreach rather than trying to reach a large audience.
I’ve managed to get a few paying customers this way without paid advertising. The difficult part now is figuring out how to turn that manual process into something repeatable.
I’m starting to think the first customers are less about scale and more about understanding exactly why someone is willing to pay.
I'm at a very similar stage with my own product. Building it turned out to be much easier than figuring out where the first real users are.
One thing I'm trying now is going much narrower instead of posting the product everywhere: finding people who have already talked publicly about the exact problem I'm solving, understanding what they're using today, and only reaching out when there's a genuine fit.
It's slower than broad promotion, but I'm hoping the conversations will be much more useful than getting a bunch of low-intent clicks.
Still early, though, so I'm very curious to see what ends up working for you.
Thank you Irene for you comment. If you want i can be a tester for your extension and you can be a user for mine. Have a look at my profile.
I've already launched my extension for a bookmark manager web app so it's already tested, but thanks maybe in the future when I'll introduce new features! I'd be happy to help you for your one.
Thanks, have a look at www.uselaunchpilot.com
The "first is hardest then easier" belief is half true. It's not that acquisition mechanically gets easier. The first customer gives you two things you lack: proof, and the exact language they used for why they bought. Extract those and the second is easier, you sell with a buyer's words not your guesses. Don't, and it's as hard.
"Outside my warm network" is the right instinct, wrong frame. First customers come from narrow, not broad. Find one person with one painful GTM problem your tool nails today, solve it by hand if you have to. One deeply solved use case beats a hundred cold pitches.
And the mirror: you're building a GTM copilot and asking how to do GTM. That's your opening, however you crack your own first customer IS your product's core use case.
What's the sharpest pain your copilot solves that a founder would feel this week?
Thank you for your reply. The issue is that I find platform like PH, Reddit and others mostly used by founders who want their own products to be used and don't have time or desire to use other products. They want validation for their startup and not others. So the questions is, in specific, how can you reach real users?
You've spotted something real, but it flips the other way once you name your own buyer: who is your ICP? A GTM copilot's user IS a founder doing go-to-market. So "these platforms are full of founders" isn't your problem, it's your market standing right in front of you. You're not in the wrong room. The people are in the wrong mode.
They're there in "validate my thing" mode, not "try your thing" mode. But scattered through Reddit and IH every day are the same founders in a different mode: "how do I get my first users," "which channel actually works," "my launch flopped and I don't know why." Every one of those posts is your buyer describing your product's exact problem out loud, unprompted. That's not a crowd to broadcast to, it's a queue of individuals to help one at a time.
So you don't pitch the room, you answer the person. Solve one founder's specific GTM problem in a reply so well they ask what you used to think that through. Which, notice, is the exact motion your copilot is supposed to power, you doing it by hand is both your first-customer channel and your live demo.
"Reach real users" was the wrong target because it implied broadcast. The move is narrow: find today's founder posting a GTM problem you can nail, and nail it in public. Which subreddit or IH thread has someone asking a GTM question you could answer better than anyone right now?
Thanks for your message and for sharing your idea. , do you think paid marketing works better, even with small budget? Getting users without budget is very time consuming and the outcome is uncertain.
Title: Solopreneur dev building an MVP: How do I find my first 5 test users without a marketing background?
Hey everyone! I'm a developer building my first SaaS product.
Where I am right now:
Validation: I validated the initial problem manually by scouring Reddit posts, Twitter, and Quora where people were complaining about [insert specific problem/niche].
Current Goal: I'm in the building phase and need 5–10 real users to test the actual workflow and give early feedback.
Where I'm stuck:
I tried posting on Twitter using hashtags like #buildinpublic and #saas, but I mostly got radio silence or responses from non-target users (mostly other dev founders). Because I come purely from a software background, outbound marketing and user acquisition are brand new to me.
My questions for the community:
What are the best non-spammy ways to reach out directly to users whose pain points I found on Reddit/Quora?
How did you get your very first 5 hands-on testers when you had zero audience?
Would love to hear any tactics or frameworks that worked for you!
Hello, send me a message to my website I will join you
Half true. The first customer is the hardest, but what actually gets easier afterwards is your pitch, not the market — you stop guessing which sentence lands. What worked for me outside the warm network: go where the complaint is already being typed. Search the exact pain phrasing your co-pilot removes, find the threads where people describe it in their own words, and answer the question properly with no link. Do that for a week and the people who want more will ask you what you're building, which converts far better than a cold pitch and doesn't burn the community. Two rules that saved me time: pick one narrow ICP so a stranger can self-identify in one line, and offer to do the job manually for the first three (concierge) instead of selling access to software — you learn what the co-pilot must automate and you get paid references. Also count "conversations started", not signups, in week one; signups from a broad blast teach you nothing, while ten real conversations usually produce your first buyer.
Do you think IH or similar platform bring you users? Wha exactly would you to get the first 10 users?
Same seat I'm in, so here's the actual plan rather than theory. IH does bring users, but not from the post itself. It brings them from the replies. My first 10 is not a paid channel: one problem thread here (the real question, no URL), one Show IH, a handful of free directories, then I reply the same day to anyone who talks. That's it. Pricing so you can judge the math: 7-day free trial then $9/mo, founding year $48 for the first 100. If it stays at zero I change the channel, I don't buy more volume.