Stop cold-pitching influencers. There's a smarter way to distribute your SaaS.
Getting your first 500 users without an ads budget is the wall every indie founder hits. Cold influencer outreach gets ignored. Platforms like Modash cost $150/month before you even pay the creator.
About a month ago we launched Aproov (link below)
Founders offer lifetime access or revenue share. Creators — people who talk about tech tools on X, newsletters, YouTube — apply to what genuinely interests them. Both opt in. Content gets published. No cash upfront, no agency, no spam.
Our first cohort is now closed.
Something we didn't predict: many founders are also joining as creators. They have audiences on X who are other builders — exactly the people who buy and share SaaS tools.
One thing that's clear: a newsletter with 800 subscribers in the right niche outperforms a TikToker with 80k every time.
Now opening the second cohort.
🧑💻 Founders — if you've hit the post-launch wall with zero budget, this is for you. What would make you trust the first match enough to hand over a lifetime account?
🎙️ Creators — 500 followers or 50,000, if you talk about tech or SaaS on X, a newsletter or YouTube. Founding creators get priority matching and a permanent badge. What deal structure works for you — LTD, revenue share, or cash?
Curious what the smarter way is dropping a comment before seeing the full post, but the cold-pitch approach is obviously broken. We've been trying to figure out distribution for an AI research tool and the channels that actually work seem wildly product-specific. Is your alternative community-based, content-based, or something else entirely?
It's content-based but with a twist. Instead of you finding and pitching creators, creators come to you. Founders list what they're offering (lifetime access, revenue share, or cash), creators apply to what genuinely interests them. Both opt in. For an AI research tool specifically, the right creator isn't necessarily someone with a big following — it's someone whose audience are researchers or knowledge workers who'd actually use it.
What channels have you tried so far for the research tool?
Thank you for your response. While it might not be a completely new idea, it seems like a great way to make business easier and scale it further. Also, the fact that it doesn't simply judge based on follower counts makes it feel much more trustworthy. I am curious about the specific method you use to find the right creators, rather than just looking at whether their follower numbers are high or low.
Currently, I am utilizing platforms like Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, Medium, PeerPush, and Crunchbase. However, since each of these communities has a different founding purpose, it feels like the approach needs to be tailored for each specific product. I would love to know how your service analyzes and evaluates these different platforms that I mentioned.
The way we match is based on what the creator actually talks about and who their audience is. A newsletter writer with 800 subscribers covering AI tools for researchers is a better match for your product than a tech YouTuber with 100k subscribers who reviews everything. That newsletter will generate more qualified leads than posting on PH among 100 other AI tools launched the same day.
The channels you're using — PH, IH, Medium — are great for awareness but conversion drops because the audience is everyone. What works better is a creator with a concentrated, specific audience, even if it's small. In your case, about AI agents in business.
Btw, what's the one thing you'd want to find on day one if you joined, after we open the second cohort? What would make it a no-brainer for you?
That completely makes sense. The "niche relevance over sheer volume" approach is exactly what early-stage startups need. You hit the nail on the head regarding broad launches they bring in a lot of traffic, but the intent and conversion rates are usually low because the audience is too general.
To answer your question, the ultimate "no-brainer" for me on day one would be Deep Audience Persona Filtering (or Matching).
Since our tool is specifically designed for Product Managers and early-stage Founders who hate spending weeks on manual competitor research, I wouldn't just want to look for "tech creators." I'd want to instantly find creators whose audiences actively struggle with product validation, market research, or strategic planning.
If I could log in on day one and immediately see a curated list of creators mapped to those specific pain points along with their actual engagement rates or past conversion metrics that would be an instant buy for me.
Really looking forward to the second cohort!
Lily, some of what you described is already in there — the matching goes by niche and audience type, not follower count. After the match, its you who decide the go/no-go decision. The deeper persona filtering layer is noted and on the roadmap. Thanks a lot for your input. Looking forward having Business GPT in our radar!! Grab a spot here if you haven't: https://aproov.es/
Curious: what's your current approach when you have no distribution budget? And for creators here — do you prefer lifetime access, revenue share, or cash when a founder reaches out?