Writing code was easy. Getting the first 100 users? Not so much. (Here is my 2026 launch guide)
As a self-taught developer, I spent months building my MVP. I tested every feature, fixed every bug, and deployed it. I expected traffic. Instead, I got complete silence.
I quickly realized that for solo founders, building the product is only 20% of the battle. The other 80% is distribution. If you don't have a massive marketing budget, you have to rely on high-authority platforms to get those crucial foundational backlinks and initial eyeballs.
I spent the last few weeks researching exactly where bootstrapped founders should be submitting their projects to actually move the SEO needle.
Instead of keeping it to myself, I compiled it into a Guide. Here are 3 of the highest-impact spaces that actually work right now:
- Product Hunt: Still the gold standard, but you need a clean video demo and a community discount code to really gain traction.
- f5Bot: Incredible for capturing the leads on Reddit, Hacker News and more platfroms, enable it ASAP to get the leads faster.
- Targeted Subreddits: (Specifically /r/sideproject and /r/alphaandbetausers). Don't spam; offer your tool as a free solution to existing problems to get early beta testers.
The reality is, finding all these links, formatting descriptions, and doing the manual submission grind takes days. Every hour spent filling out forms is an hour away from writing code.
If you want to see the complete, ultimate guide on where to promote your startup (and why manual link building is a necessary evil), I published the full list here:
https://listmy.site/blog/where-to-promote-your-startup-in-2026
If you'd rather skip the manual grunt work entirely, my project, List My Site, handles the submission process to 100+ high-DR directories for you.
This really hit home.
Building the product feels like a clear checklist, but figuring out where those first users come from has been the biggest learning curve for me.
Out of all the directories and communities you tried, which one brought the highest-quality users rather than just the most traffic?
Solid guide. One thing I'd add that bit me hard: before you pour effort into distribution, make sure you can actually measure it. My first week post-launch I was convinced I had zero traffic — turned out GA4's Consent Mode was defaulting to denied with no banner, so it logged nothing. Real people were visiting; my dashboard said "no users."
If your analytics is silently broken, you can't tell which channel is working, so you optimize blind and start doubting a product that's actually fine. Quick gut-check: open GA4 Realtime and confirm your own visit shows up before you judge any channel.
The bit I would add for mobile utilities: start with the threads where people already describe the exact workflow, not with broad launch/showcase posts. For Kinetic Override I’m seeing much better signal from narrow searches like no-root Android auto clicker / macro recorder / repeated taps than from generic Android-app promotion. The comment almost writes itself when the pain is that specific; otherwise it reads like a pitch.
This is gold. Going through the exact same thing with StockMolt — AI trading bot leaderboard. Built the product in weeks, distribution is a whole different game. Saving this guide.
You should definitely check out https://listmy.site/blog/saas-seo-strategy
Solid list, and the "distribution is 80%" point is the one most builders learn too late. One thing I'd add that sits upstream of all of it: before you pour effort into directories and PH, make sure the page you send that traffic to captures intent, not just emails. A bare "join the waitlist" box gives you a number. The same box plus one question ("what are you hoping this solves for you?") tells you who signed up and why, which is what makes your eventual launch email convert instead of getting ignored.
Directories and f5Bot get you eyeballs. The thing that turns eyeballs into your first real users is knowing something about each person before you email them, so I'd treat signup as a tiny survey, not just a capture.
Disclosure: I build a tool for exactly this (Lighthouse, lighthouse.build) - a waitlist with a question or two on signup so the list stays segmentable later. But you can do the same with a Tally form wired to a sheet. The mechanism matters more than the tool. Good luck with List My Site.