What do you recommend I do to get my first users?
Borja DR
28 replies
For a B2B Saas startup
Replies
Vaibhav@vaibhavdwivedi
What's your niche? Can you write a paragraph about your ideal user? That would make it easier.
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@vaibhavdwivedi Sure! My ideal users are marketing managers at mid-sized tech companies (with 100-500 employees) who frequently run experiments like A/B tests, landing page tests, and new feature launches.
@borja_diazroig Great, that's the first step. Now, identify where you can expect to find such people. My guess would be LinkedIn groups.
Acquiring your first batch of users is critical in the early stages of product development. Here are some practical strategies that, combined with your front-end development and project experience, can help you quickly attract early users:
1. Start with Your Existing Network
Personal Network: Begin by promoting your product to your personal and professional network (friends, colleagues, clients, industry contacts), and use their feedback to refine it.
Social Media: Share your product’s story and development process on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, WeChat, etc., to let people know what you're working on and attract interested users.
2. Build a Pre-launch Waiting List
Set up a simple landing page on your website to capture potential users’ email addresses for a pre-launch notification. Keep them engaged with regular email updates and notify them when the product goes live.
3. Engage in Relevant Communities and Forums
Online Communities: Actively participate in forums like Reddit, Product Hunt, Hacker News, and Stack Overflow. Share the story behind your product and its vision—don’t just self-promote, but offer value.
Developer Communities: If your product targets developers, engage in communities like GitHub, Dev.to, and Stack Overflow to showcase your work.
4. Launch on Product Platforms
Product Hunt: When launching your product, showcase it on Product Hunt to attract a lot of early users and feedback. Leverage your Product Hunt account (and Karma) to support other creators, which can build credibility before your launch.
BetaList and Betapage: These platforms focus on early-stage product exposure and can attract early adopters.
5. Content Marketing and Sharing Your Experience
Technical Blog: Write blogs that share your technical solutions, challenges, and ideas throughout the development process. This not only showcases your expertise but also attracts developers and potential users in your domain.
Development Logs and Case Studies: Regularly publish development logs or case studies showing progress and results from your product.
6. Promote Through Partnerships
Partnerships: Look for companies or developers that complement your product and engage in co-promotion. For example, if you're developing a front-end tool, you could collaborate with back-end developers or design tool companies.
Joint Launches: Collaborate with an industry influencer, blogger, or developer to promote your product through their channels and tap into their user base.
7. Offer Incentives
Early User Rewards: Offer special discounts or exclusive features to the first 100 or 1,000 users, encouraging early registration and product trial.
Referral Program: Create a referral program that rewards users for inviting others to try your product.
8. Look for Offline Opportunities
Industry Events and Hackathons: Attend relevant tech conferences, industry events, or hackathons where you can showcase your product to enthusiasts and professionals.
Local Startup Events: Participate in local startup events where you can share your product with other entrepreneurs, gaining feedback and potential users.
By following these strategies, you can effectively gain your first loyal users and further refine and promote your product based on their feedback.
You can launch your product here, which will give you at least some users—whether they're your target audience or simply enthusiasts interested in what you're building. This will provide valuable feedback on your product’s current stage. Another way to acquire your first customers is by creating outreach campaigns targeting the ICPs and personas that are the right fit for your product. Personalized messaging will help you connect with potential customers. Lastly, you can share your product with your LinkedIn network, which can also help you gain early customers.
@rupal_saini thank you for your recommendations! For sure we will launch our product using PH :)
How many users do u need?
Really depends on your product. In our case we go for a lead magnet to increase visibility and draw attention within our target user group.
@borja_diazroig sure thing!
As our presentation tool works with Figma, we are initially looking for users who are Figma-savvy and ideally use it for presentation design.
That’s why we built a presentation slide library for Figma - in form of a Figma plugin - that consists of 100s of slides. The plugin is free, but we ask users to submit their email after a certain amount of usage. This way we are able to collect leads and promote our core product.
I also want to know this
Depends on what stage you're in, but some ideas: 1) Reach out to your network, friends & family to get initial testers for feedback. 2) Post on relevant online communities, subreddits, forums etc to find your target audience. 3) Create content (blog posts, videos, social media posts) to attract people interested in your product area. 4) Run targeted ads if you have budget. 5) Do direct outreach to potential customers. Focus on where your users hang out and provide value! The # of initial users depends but aim for at least 100-200 to start getting good data & feedback. Keep hustling!
@matthewdavidharris Great tips, thank you! Leveraging your network and posting in online communities are definitely key strategies. Creating content and running targeted ads can also help attract the right audience. I'll aim for that 100-200 user mark to start gathering solid feedback. Thanks for the encouragement—I'll keep hustling!
For your first users, start with your network - friends, family, colleagues, etc. Get them to try your product and give feedback. Then do some targeted outreach to potential early adopters in online communities related to your product space. Consider doing a Product Hunt or Hacker News launch to get more visibility. The number of initial users depends on your product but aim for at least 100-200 to start getting meaningful data and insights. Quality of early users who really need your product is key, vs just quantity.
Sunrise: Guided Journaling & Mindfulness
LinkedIn cold-emails are great!
@the_han_kim it seems I will need to get a subscription to Linkedin Premium... Thanks for your help!
Focus on building relationships with your target businesses, leverage LinkedIn, offer free trials, and attend industry events to attract your first users!
@rahulparmar2405 all answers agree, relationships are key! Thanks for your help
Do Keywords Research relating to the kind of product or services you're selling using SEO Keyword research tools. Then you will get the terms and phrases your desired prospects are searching for, So then you can satisfy their queries with the current issues they are facing with your type of product or services then you recommend yours to them. One quick tip go to online forums like comment and on those bad reviews and recommend yours to them. After getting any client make sure you check on them and ask them about their experience with your product and also ask them about something you can improve to make them have a good experience with your product.
hope this helps.
Attend local meetups or events where you can talk about your product and meet potential users in person.
@bailey__richardson thanks Bailey! Any tips on tools/webs to find local events? Ive used meetup in the past but maybe there are others
The partnership with influencers or bloggers who can help spread the word to their followers.
@holden_horton That's true! However, it’s especially challenging in the B2B space, particularly when you're just starting out with limited resources. Do you have any tips?
You should run a small advertising campaign to reach a broader audience and attract your first users.
@davis_adams reaching our B2B audience with Paid is difficult given our limited resources... but we will try! Thanks Davis