I built a free FCA firm checker in 4 weeks — struggling with distribution (0 → 10 customers)

The distribution problem for niche compliance tools is different from regular SaaS and it trips people up for a specific reason: your users only feel the pain at very specific moments. Someone checks FCA registration when they are about to onboard a new financial partner, not as part of their regular workflow. That means you are not building a habit, you are building a rescue.

That changes how you find them. Cold outreach and broad SEO are slow because you are not catching people at the moment of need. What works faster is being present in the places where the triggering situation happens: compliance forums, fintech founder communities, financial advisor groups. Not to promote the tool but to be the person who actually knows this space. When someone posts "how do I verify if a firm is FCA authorised" you answer helpfully and the link to FirmTracer is the obvious next step, not a pitch.

450 impressions daily with 10 customers also suggests the landing page or the first-use experience is losing people. For compliance tools specifically, users need to trust the data before they rely on it. Showing where the data comes from, how fresh it is, and what the error rate looks like tends to unlock conversions much more than redesigning the UI.

We went through the same thing building a tax tool for a specific niche. The moment we stopped trying to reach everyone and started showing up in the exact communities where the pain occurs, the conversion rate improved significantly. The audience is small but they talk to each other.

Distribution is the hardest part and nobody warns you about it before you build. What's working for me (slowly):

1. Free tools that solve a single problem and rank on Google — no login required, just pure value with a soft CTA.
2. Blog content with real SEO keywords, not just "look at my product" posts.
3. Reddit — but only experience-based posts, never linking your product. Most subreddits will nuke any self-promotion instantly.
   The biggest lesson: build for Google, not for Reddit. SEO compounds, Reddit posts die after 48 hours

450 impressions with zero spend is decent but the bigger question is whether "faster FCA lookup" is something anyone will pay for. Compliance teams already have the official register and most do these checks rarely enough that speed alone isn't a pain worth solving. Before grinding on distribution, have you talked to even 5 compliance officers about what their actual workflow looks like and where the real friction sits?

450 impressions/day after 4 weeks with zero marketing budget is actually a solid signal. That means your SEO instinct is right and Google is already picking up what you built.

The remote selling challenge is real but honestly less of a barrier than it feels. I sell B2B from the UK to companies all over the world and most of my early customers never met me. What worked: writing content that targets the exact problem your buyer is searching for. Things like "how to check if a firm is FCA regulated" or "FCA enforcement history lookup." Those are high-intent searches from people who already need what you built. No cold outreach required.

The other thing I'd try: find compliance consultants and fintech lawyers on LinkedIn. They're the ones doing FCA checks every week for their clients. A free tool that makes their workflow faster turns them into evangelists. One post tagging a few of them with a case study showing how many violations you found in a well-known firm could get you your first 10 users.

You've built something useful in a space where the default experience (the FCA register itself) is painful. That's the whole game. Keep going.

The "distribution is harder than building" realization is one of the most common (and painful) lessons in SaaS. You've got a solid product with real utility — the challenge now is entirely about putting it in front of the right people at the right moment.

A few things that have worked for us selling a niche SaaS tool remotely: First, SEO content targeting the exact queries your users already search. You're already getting 450 impressions/day — that's a great sign. Double down on long-tail content like "how to check if a firm is FCA regulated" or "FCA enforcement history lookup." Those people are already looking for what you built. Second, instead of cold outreach to compliance professionals directly, try reaching the adjacent community — compliance consultants, fintech founders, legal bloggers. One mention from someone they already trust is worth 100 cold DMs. Third, consider a "powered by FirmTracer" embed or widget that compliance firms could put on their own sites. That turns every user into a distribution channel.

The remote selling challenge is real but actually less of a barrier than it feels. We're building an AI ad creative SaaS and most of our early users came from people we never spoke to — they found us through content, tried the free tier, and converted. For niche B2B tools, trust comes from the product experience more than the sales call. Your 450 daily impressions are the seed — the question is how to turn those into signups with a really compelling free experience and clear CTAs.