How 50 startups got their first users

A solo developer shipped a paid iOS app and relied mainly on App Store keyword optimization, with some Reddit posts. It passed 1,000 downloads and briefly reached the Top 10 in its category.

Reported: 1,000+ downloads; about $700 revenue at $0.99; 170,000 impressions; Top 10 in Entertainment

“the main source of traffic and customer acquisition has been App Store search through ASO.”

App Store search, Communities indieniche.substack.com, Igor, March 2026

He launched a powerlifting web app on the same day across Reddit, Discord, Indie Hackers, Twitter and Hacker News. Niche subreddits and Discord servers brought 85 of the first 100 users, while Twitter and Hacker News brought none.

Reported: Reddit 60, Discord 25, Indie Hackers 15, Twitter 0, Hacker News 0; 100 users in the first week

“Reddit was by far my best launch platform, giving me 60 out of my first 100 users.”

Communities, Launch platforms Indie Hackers Hacker News indiehackers.com, Alexander Chen, September 2023

They launched on Product Hunt on Christmas Day and promoted the launch across Slack, Discord and Telegram groups and forums. That produced 500 customers in three days.

Reported: 500 customers in 3 days

“Our efforts paid off and we got our first 500 customers within 3 days!”

Launch platforms, Communities Product Hunt indiehackers.com, Leo Baishun, September 2023

A post in an app enthusiast community brought the first 10 customers. Apple then featured the app as an Editor's Pick and App of the Month, pushing it past 100.

Reported: First 10 from one community post; Weekly Editor's Pick and App of the Month; 100+ customers

“it was chosen as the Weekly Editor's Pick. Shortly after, it was named App of the Month, propelling us to over 100 customers.”

Communities, Word of mouth, App Store search indiehackers.com, Wang Legolas, September 2023

Vanta sold SOC 2 preparation to fellow startups through the Y Combinator network, landing Lattice early. Around 20 companies were paying before the product had been through a single audit.

Reported: About 20 paying startups before the first SOC 2 audit; inbound grew from 1 to 2 or 3 customers a week

“Around 20 startups were already paying Vanta to streamline the process of SOC 2 preparation”

Communities, Word of mouth review.firstround.com, Christina Cacioppo, August 2023

He launched an interactive demo tool on Hacker News and Reddit, then personally followed up with every user and shipped their feedback fast. That produced 340 signups and 10 paying customers.

Reported: 340 signups; 10 paying customers; 70 upvotes on Hacker News; 70 upvotes on r/SideProject

“The users who saw me implementing their feedback trusted me and became my first paid customers.”

Launch platforms, Communities, Word of mouth, Cold outreach Hacker News news.ycombinator.com, Koushik, November 2022

He grew an email list from a YouTube and forum audience plus cheap Facebook lead ads, then launched an ebook to it. Day one brought 34 sales and $1,359.66.

Reported: Prelaunch list of about 2,500; Facebook ads at $5 a day and $0.25 to $0.60 per lead; 34 sales at $49.99 for $1,359.66 on day one

“In the first day of launching, I sold 34 eBooks for $49.99 each, earning $1359.66.”

Communities, Paid ads, A waitlist dougie.io, Doug, August 2022

The founders built in public with updates on Indie Hackers, their blog and Twitter, which brought all early users and 60 active beta users by the paid launch. Blog posts reaching the Hacker News front page then drove the traffic spikes.

Reported: 60 active beta users and $64 MRR in the first paid month; 2,500 visitors in a day from a blog post on Hacker News; later 25,000+ in a day

“We had 60 active beta users at this point, and some decided to stick around and pay for our service too.”

Communities, Content marketing, Social media plausible.io, Marko Saric, June 2022

The founders built lists of hundreds of prospects from Product Hunt and Twitter and cold-emailed them asking for feedback, and shared progress publicly. A Product Hunt launch later doubled the user base.

Reported: 184 users and $64 MRR by October 2020; about 1,500 users before Product Hunt; doubled to about 3,000 after

“We scanned Product Hunt and Twitter and made lists of hundreds of prospects and started doing cold outreach, asking for their feedback.”

Cold outreach, Communities, Launch platforms, Social media Product Hunt blog.tally.so, Marie Martens, October 2021

Hoover started Product Hunt as an email list for friends in the startup community and invited people personally. It had 30 users on day one and 100 a week later.

Reported: 30 users on day one; 100 by the end of the first week

“By the end of the week, we had 100 users and felt ready to share Product Hunt with the world.”

Communities, Word of mouth lennysnewsletter.com, Ryan Hoover, May 2020

The founders of a shared-house chores app posted on Reddit asking for feedback instead of promoting it. The threads drove 1,000 users within three weeks of launch.

Reported: 1,000 users in about 3 weeks; posts drew 105 and 58 comments; 3,000 downloads

“Don’t promote things on reddit. Think of it as a platform to get feedback.”

Communities smartcompany.com.au, Jules Malseed-Harris, March 2014

The studio built a social following before launch and pitched app review sites. Reviews in AppAdvice, Pocket Gamer and App Spy drove most of the 1,000+ launch-day downloads.

Reported: About 5,000 Facebook fans and 3,000 Twitter followers before launch; 1,000+ launch-day downloads; 300 a day afterwards

“The reviews the studio scored in AppAdvice, Pocket Gamer and App Spy contributed to the vast majority of its downloads”

Press, Social media, Communities indiegamegirl.com, Ryan Martin, March 2014

The founder of an AI investing chatbot skipped big subreddits and posted in small subreddits, mid-sized Discords and Facebook investing groups, plus direct messages. This reached 1,000 users in a month without spending money.

Reported: 1,000 users in a month on a $0 budget; subreddits under 10,000 members; Discords around 5,000 members

“For me, it was small subreddits (<10,000 members), medium sized discords (~5,000 users), and Facebook investing groups.”

Cold outreach, Communities reddit.com

The founder sent hundreds of manual messages offering demos, ran outbound with an 11% reply rate and wrote a LinkedIn post that converted 30 paying customers. Referrals added 18 more on the way to 100 in four months.

Reported: 100 customers in 4 months; 11% reply rate on outreach; one LinkedIn post led to 30 paying; 18 from referrals

“I manually messaged hundreds of individuals offering demos. This landed our next 10 customers.”

Cold outreach, Communities, Social media, Partnerships mucker.com, Gaurav Bhattacharya

A Hacker News launch of an LLM prompt playground brought over 6,000 visits and about 80 signups but no paying customers. The founder concluded HN tests curiosity, not fit.

Reported: 6,000+ visits; about 200 tried it; about 80 signups; 0 paying customers from the launch

“HN validates curiosity, not fit. Treat it as an attention test, then prove activation on a narrower ICP.”

Launch platforms, Communities Hacker News reddit.com

He answered sales questions on Quora, which brought the very first customer. A later Product Hunt launch produced 600 signups in two days.

Reported: First customer via Quora; 600 signups in 2 days from Product Hunt

“used Quora to land his very first customer, and launched on Product Hunt to get 600 signups in two days”

Communities, Launch platforms Product Hunt saasclub.io, Oleg Campbell