Getting the first users is harder than building the product
One thing I've noticed while building indie products: getting the product live is often the easy part.
Getting the first 10–50 people to actually discover it is much harder.
You can build a solid SaaS, launch a useful tool, spend weeks improving the landing page, and still have almost nobody discover it.
The problem isn't always the product.
It's distribution.
Founders end up posting the same launch message across Product Hunt, X, Reddit, directories, and communities, hoping someone notices. Most of those posts disappear within hours.
I wanted to build something more focused on the discovery side.
So I'm building IndieNeed.com — a place where founders can submit their products and get them in front of people who are actively interested in discovering new products.
The idea is simple:
Submit your product
Explain what it does and who it's for
Let people discover and explore it
Give early products another channel for visibility
I'm still working on it and trying to figure out what would make this genuinely useful for indie founders rather than just another product directory.
For founders who have launched a product recently:
What has been your hardest part so far — building the product, getting users, or getting people to discover it?
I'd especially like to hear what you've tried for distribution that actually worked.
One thing I'm finding interesting is that the best early users aren't necessarily the people who respond to "try my product" posts. They're usually people who are already describing the exact problem you're solving.
We're experimenting with this for a website-feedback product — specifically looking for freelancers/agencies who regularly go through client revision cycles. The difference in response is pretty noticeable when the conversation starts from the pain rather than the product.
Curious what signals you've found most useful for identifying those people early?
I'm definitely finding distribution harder than building the product. I'm preparing to soft launch a running-focused SaaS right now, and I'm trying to avoid just posting the same launch message everywhere and hoping it sticks. I'm especially interested in the distinction between getting initial attention and finding people who actually become active users. Have you found any particular communities or distribution channels that brought you users who actually stuck around, rather than just clicks/signups?
The directory becomes valuable only when it solves discovery for buyers, not visibility for founders. I would choose one buyer intent, such as small teams looking for a specific workflow tool this week, curate a short recurring set, and require a concrete use case plus proof. Measure qualified outbound clicks and reported trials, not product submissions. If founders get attention but no activation, the supply side is growing while the marketplace is not.