How 50 startups got their first users

They got the first 10 users from personal networks, then posted on Hacker News, which produced 300 deployments within days. A small paid Twitter push and steady community work took them to 1,000 users.

Reported: 10 users from personal networks; a couple dozen from outreach; 300 deployments within days of a Hacker News post; about $2,000 on Twitter promotion; 1,000 users by May 2020

“We reached 300 deployments within a couple of days – five weeks after we started building.”

Word of mouth, Cold outreach, Launch platforms, Paid ads Hacker News posthog.com, James Hawkins, June 2024

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

After the first customers came from his network, he hosted regular Clubhouse rooms and launched a 25% affiliate program. That grew the base to 100 to 200 customers in a couple of months.

Reported: 2 to 3 Clubhouse rooms a week; 25% affiliate commission; 100 to 200 customers within a couple of months

“Within a couple of months, this grew our customer base between 100–200 customers.”

Word of mouth, Social media, Partnerships indiehackers.com, Matthew Pierce, 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

A solo founder built a tool for lawyers with his lawyer brother as the first user. Further users came by word of mouth, reaching about $90 MRR.

Reported: About $90 MRR

“Right now spreading of the word is mostly through word of mouth.”

Word of mouth wasp.sh, Erlis Kllogjri, February 2023

Airtable ran an invite-only alpha where users could refer others, growing slowly to about 100 users over two years. The founders studied a small nonprofit team closely rather than chasing volume.

Reported: About 100 alpha users over roughly 2 years; an early 10 to 15 person nonprofit team

“It was invite-only, but you could refer other people, so that helped us get some organic growth, but not a ton”

A waitlist, Word of mouth review.firstround.com, Andrew Ofstad, December 2022

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

A Product Hunt launch brought roughly 3,000 users in a few days. Champions inside companies and a $5 referral credit carried growth from there to 20,000.

Reported: About 3,000 from Product Hunt; 3,000 to 20,000 through champions and referral credits

“First ~3k came in from Product Hunt on launch day + 1-2 days after.”

Launch platforms, Word of mouth Product Hunt lennysnewsletter.com, Shahed Khan, May 2020

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

After testing with friends' companies, Slack opened a preview request form backed by press coverage. It drew 8,000 requests on the first day and 15,000 within two weeks.

Reported: 8,000 invite requests on day one; 15,000 within 2 weeks

“On the first day, 8,000 people did just that; and two weeks later, that number had grown to 15,000.”

Press, A waitlist, Word of mouth lennysnewsletter.com, Stewart Butterfield, May 2020

The founders invited former PayPal coworkers, who invited their own friends. That gave Yelp roughly its first 1,000 users.

Reported: About 1,000 users within two degrees of the founders' network

“two-degrees out we probably got to 1k or so users”

Word of mouth lennysnewsletter.com, Russel Simmons, May 2020

The first five clients of this outbound sales agency were startups sharing their coworking space. Referrals and a merger with a training business then carried them toward 100.

Reported: 5 customers from a coworking space; referrals took it to 7, then 25; a merger brought about 200 leads

“some of the other entrepreneurs in the co-working space we shared needed help with outbound sales.”

Something else, Word of mouth, Partnerships propellercrm.com, Collin Stewart, July 2019

Paid search proved far too expensive for this collaboration tool, so the team leaned on press and existing users. Referrals ended up bringing about 80% of the first 100 paying customers.

Reported: AdWords cost €240 to €300 per test user; about 80% of the first 100 customers came from referrals

“almost 80% of our first 100 customers came through referrals.”

Word of mouth, Press reddit.com