How I Got My First 100 Users for Propheseer

Hey Indie Hackers,

I'm the solo founder behind Propheseer (https://propheseer.com/), a unified API that pulls together real-time data from prediction markets like Polymarket, Kalshi, and Gemini. If you're building trading bots, research tools, or anything that needs clean, normalized prediction data (think election odds, crypto events, or sports outcomes), it saves you from juggling multiple APIs and keys. One endpoint, one key, done in 5 minutes instead of hours.

I launched Propheseer about a month ago as a side project while working my dev job. The goal was simple: make prediction market data accessible for anyone who doesn't have time for messy integrations and learning individual marketplaces. Fast forward 2 weeks after launch, and I've hit 100 active users: all organic, no ads, no budget. Here's the honest breakdown of what I tried, what bombed, and what actually moved the needle.

Spoiler: It wasn't some viral hack; it was consistent, targeted grinding in the right places.

-- The Early Days: Bootstrapping and First Attempts --

I built Propheseer because I was tinkering with a personal trading bot and got frustrated with the fragmented APIs. I like using and monitoring them, and see swing trades happening all the time by "insiders" but normalizing data across them? Nightmare. So I created a wrapper that aggregates 2,400+ markets into clean JSON, with WebSockets for real-time updates and even auto-arbitrage detection.

First users? Me, and some personal friends. But to scale to 100, I needed a plan. I started with the usual suspects:

-- What Didn't Work (And Why I Wasted Time on It) --

Trying to do too much in the first iteration. I launched with a clear, core MVP suite of offerings, not trying to account for everything. I wanted a few things that worked very well, and listen to the people who were using it.

-- What Actually Worked: The $0 Tactics That Delivered --

I shifted to "build in public" and community-first approaches. Here's what got me from 5 to 100 users in under 8 weeks:

- Hacker News (Show HN): This is me writing here now, if you are reading this, then its working :)
- Twitter/X Build-in-Public Thread: I work for a crypto company that offers prediction markets. I have an already active community of people I engaged with to target my product directly too. This was by far my biggest reach advantage. Leverage what you already have an are good at is the key.

Total cost: $0. Time investment: ~10 hours/week on outreach.

-- Results and Metrics --

- Signups Breakdown: 72 from X, 28 from personal connections and networking
- Retention: ~45% still active after a week thanks to quick wins like easy docs and free tier.
- Feedback Loop: Users suggested features like more filters (e.g., by category), which I added fast.

-- Lessons Learned --

- Value First: Don't sell; solve problems in conversations. People convert when they see immediate utility.

- Niche Communities Rule: General places like LinkedIn suck for this, I didnt even consider posting there. Dive into specifics like r/predictionmarkets where pain points match your product and X where this content thrives.
- Consistency Over Virality: No one post exploded, but stacking small wins added up.

If you're grinding to 100 users, try these and adapt to your niche. Propheseer is free to start (no pricing yet, just sign up for an API key). If you're into prediction markets or building dev tools, hit me up in comments for tips or beta feedback.

Cheers, ruhroh

Founder, Propheseer