Week 1: 0 paying users, lots of distribution learnings

It has been 5 days since launch. Here is an honest update. **What happened:** - 0 paying users - Free demo has been used (can not share exact count yet) - Submitted to G2, SaaS Hub (approved), AlternativeTo (pending account age), CloudSecList newsletter, Screaming in the Cloud podcast - Published 8 articles on dev.to (aws/iam/security content) - Posted on X, Reddit karma building, 5 GitHub PRs to awesome-aws lists **What I learned:** Distribution is slower than I expected. Getting in front of AWS engineers who care about IAM means going to where they already are: r/devops, dev.to AWS tag, HN (pending). The spray-and-pray approach does not work. Every channel needs a specific angle. The "no signup" demo was the right call. When people share it on Reddit they say "just paste it and try it" — that frictionless entry point gets more organic shares than anything else I have done. **What is working:** - Dev.to articles are getting organic traffic from search - Reddit karma building (u/shieldlyio) — slow but genuine conversations **What is not working:** - HN account too new to post Show HN (blocked by karma gate) - X engagement is low — security founders seem to follow but not engage - LinkedIn company page blocked on mobile ID verification **Next week:** - Product Hunt launch (different week from Show HN) - Post remaining dev.to articles (posts 9-11) - Fix the HN problem (personal account with karma needed) Revenue target for end of month: 1 paying user. That is the only number that matters right now. Code 90Off2M still live — 90% off first 2 months, Pro from $1.90/mo if anyone here wants to try the paid tier and give feedback.