Zero paid users. Here's what I'm doing to find the first ones.
I built an AI meal planner called MealThinker. You talk to it like a person. It knows your kitchen, tracks what's expiring, plans your meals, logs nutrition, saves recipes, and handles your shopping list.
Live on web and iOS. Built it as a solo founder. Zero paid users so far.
Here's what I've tried:
- Emailed my food blog newsletter (2,000 subs). 13% open rate. 6 clicks. Ouch.
- Launched on Product Hunt today. Crickets so far.
- Submitted to a bunch of product directories.
- Started posting on social media. Fresh accounts with no followers so it feels like yelling into the void.
The building part was fun. The "get people to actually use it" part is a different beast.
Anyone else in this stage? What actually worked for you to get your first paying customers?
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2k → 6 clicks is a big signal. That usually means the email promise isn’t matching what people care about.
What was the core outcome you emphasized in the email?
The email focused on the "5pm staring at the fridge" problem and vegetables going bad. Then listed features: remembers your preferences, suggests meals from your pantry, plans a day or week.
Looking at it now, it was pretty feature-heavy. Didn't really nail a specific outcome beyond "no more decision fatigue."
What would you have led with?
Yeah, I think your reflection is spot on. The email explains what the product does, but it doesn’t anchor the reader on one clear win.
I’d probably lead with a single, concrete outcome and let everything else support that. For example:
2.“Stop wasting groceries. Plan meals automatically from what you already bought.”
3.“Know exactly what you’re cooking tonight by 9am no 5pm fridge staring.”
Once someone buys into one of those outcomes, the features make sense as proof, not the headline.
This is really helpful, thank you.
You're right - I was explaining what it does instead of selling the outcome.
"Stop wasting groceries. Plan meals automatically from what you already bought."
That one hits. Going to rewrite my landing page and next email around that.
Appreciate the clarity.