How to get your first users for a new app or SaaS

Early on you are not trying to grow. You are trying to learn whether people understand what you built, can get through signup, and reach the moment where the product is useful. Twenty-five people who sign up and tell you what they think will teach you more than a thousand visitors who bounce without a word.

That changes where you look. You need people who will actually create an account and answer a question, so channels that bring curious, engaged people beat channels that bring the most traffic.

1. Your own network. Message 20 people one by one, not a group post. Ask for a signup and one honest reaction. Expect about half to follow through.
2. Communities where your users already are. Subreddits, Slack and Discord groups, forums and Facebook groups for your niche. Read the rules, join the conversation first, and share when it genuinely answers someone’s problem.
3. Builder communities. Places like r/SideProject, Indie Hackers and maker groups on X are full of people who like trying new products and giving feedback. Great for testing onboarding, weaker if builders are not your customers.
4. Launch sites. Product Hunt, BetaList and smaller directories can bring a burst of visitors. Results vary a lot: Product Hunt now features only a small share of launches. See our comparison of launch options.
5. Reciprocal user clubs. Communities like FirstUsers.club where builders sign up for each other’s products in a structured way, so every member gets a guaranteed number of real signups and answers to their question.
6. Content that answers one question well. A short guide, a free tool or a template that solves a small version of the problem your product solves. Slow to start, but it compounds.
7. Direct outreach. Find 50 people who clearly have the problem (job titles on LinkedIn, posts asking for help, reviews of competitors) and write to them personally.

Days 1–2: make signup and the first minute work

• Write one sentence that says who the product is for and what it does. Put it at the top of your landing page.
• Go through your own signup on a phone. Remove every field you do not need.
• Decide the one question you most want answered (for example “What almost stopped you from signing up?”).
• Add a simple way to know who signed up and where they came from (UTM tags or a referral code per channel).

Days 3–7: reach 50–100 people directly

• Send 20 personal messages to people you know who fit the audience.
• Post in two communities where your audience is, with a genuine ask for feedback rather than a pitch.
• Join a builder community or a reciprocal signup club to get a guaranteed batch of real signups.

Days 8–14: talk to the people who signed up

• Read every answer to your question the day it comes in.
• Watch where people drop off: signup, onboarding, or the first real use.
• Fix the biggest problem, then ask the next group the same question and compare.

• Signup completion: of the people who clicked through, how many finished signing up?
• First value: how many reached the moment your product is actually useful?
• Comeback: how many came back on their own within a week?
• The words they use: copy their exact phrases into your landing page.

Do not judge the idea on the first 25 alone. Judge your onboarding on them, fix it, and then look at whether the next group sticks around.

FirstUsers.club is a club for builders. You join a 5-week cohort of 30 builders and sign up for 5 members’ products each week through tracked links. In your launch week, at least 25 members sign up for your product and answer the question you choose. Every signup is matched to the email or phone used and confirmed by you or automatically by your site. Basic costs $10, or you can earn a free entry.

It is best for getting real people through your signup and honest feedback fast. Members are fellow builders, so if your customers are, say, dentists, use it to fix onboarding and then go find dentists.