How founders got their first 10 users

Someone shipped a Notion template and the launch went quiet. No spike, no replies. So they dropped the link into two small Discords, and the first ten users came out of those two threads. They stuck around, too, because what the template wrote already sounded like them. Builders keep asking us where the first ten actually come from, so we started collecting stories like that one. Here are eight, and most of them didn't start with a launch post.

Every story below is a public post on X from September or October 2026, linked so you can read it in the founder's own words. The numbers are theirs and we haven't checked them. A few aren't exactly "ten users" (one is twenty, one is downloads, one is the first hundred) and we say so where it matters. We're early ourselves. When this was written, Get100Users had zero visits from an outside referrer and zero orders, so read this as notes from people a few steps ahead of us.

Eight first users and where they came from

  1. 1. Two small Discords. @PSCommanderz, a Notion template. The launch was quiet. So they posted the template link in two small Discords, and the first ten users came out of those threads. Why those people stayed is the useful bit: what the template wrote already matched their voice. A small room, and a product that sounded like the room.
  2. 2. Reddit, before any video. Jimmy Mass (@jimymass), SpacePlanner. These days 224 people out of 14,270 answers say they found SpacePlanner on Reddit, which is a small slice. But before any video, Reddit is where his first users came from, with $0 in ads. He says the posts that worked all looked alike. The one that flopped was a single post copied to five subreddits on the same day, and it got 0 to 3 upvotes in each. His summary: "Reddit doesn't hate self-promotion. It hates copy-paste."
  3. 3. Instagram DMs. @griffstacks, BOOTH. His first 20 real users, and he's clear about what it wasn't: not ads, not a launch post. He DMed people who post photo dumps on Instagram and asked if they wanted to try it. That's twenty rather than ten, but the move is what matters. He picked people by what they already post, which tells you more than a follower count does.
  4. 4. One Reddit post. @LeonardoCurtone, FeelMyMac. No big audience, no launch campaign, no ad budget, he says. He posted the app on Reddit, people tried it and shared feedback, and it snowballed into 1,500+ downloads in the first 24 hours, with the first paying customers in there too. To be fair about it, those are downloads, not people who came back next week. Still a strong first day, and it started with one post. (If Reddit is your room too, here's how to post there without getting removed.)
  5. 5. Replies under other founders' posts. Samuel Jefroykin (@Sam4Jef). His first ten came from one niche thread, the kind that piles up under other founders' build in public posts, where people say what they tried and why it didn't stick. Not from a launch. The way he puts it: "The demand is already written down."
  6. 6. Chrome Web Store and SEO. Kimi Nguyen (@kimindiehacker). One short reply: her first users came from the Chrome Web Store (she calls it CWS) and SEO, and "X didn't close them." Not a lot of detail. It's still the one story here where people found the product by searching for it in a store.
  7. 7. The App Store, after three things flopped. Sahil Malhotra (@sahilmalhotra_), FitCam. He tried AI-generated content, Reddit and cold DMs, and none of it got him a single download. What worked was App Store Optimization: finding the keywords his users search for and putting them in the app name and subtitle, and on the screenshots. He also mentions a watermark on exported videos that put the app in front of more people. His post is about the first 100, not the first 10. It's also the only one here where Reddit and DMs did nothing.
  8. 8. Fitness forums. Nick Spitsyn (@nick_spiz), Treadmill Pro. "For us it was just reaching out to people in communities where the problem was obvious." For Treadmill Pro that meant fitness forums. It's two lines long and might be the most reusable sentence on this page.

What we take from it

Line them up and the launch post barely shows. BOOTH says outright it wasn't one. Sam's ten came from a reply thread. The Notion template did launch, and nothing happened until it went into two Discords. Even FeelMyMac, the loud one, was a single Reddit post and not a campaign.

What keeps coming back is how small the rooms were. Two Discords, one niche thread, some fitness forums, a handful of Instagram accounts picked by what they post. Nick's phrase fits all of them: places where the problem was already obvious, so nobody had to be convinced it exists.

The other half is being findable. Kimi got her first users from the Chrome Web Store and search. Sahil's Reddit posts and DMs got him zero downloads. App Store keywords got him users. If your product lives in a store, the store works like a community, just one where people type instead of talk.

Jimmy's flop is the warning label. One post, five subreddits, the same day, almost nothing anywhere. Every story that worked here was written for one room at a time.

What to try this week, for $0

  1. Find two small rooms, not twenty. A Discord or subreddit with a few hundred people who already have the problem beats a big general one. The community finder can suggest some for your niche. Read the rules, then post once in each, written for that room.
  2. Read the replies under other founders' posts. Find build in public posts in your niche and read the replies where people say what they tried. The X search builder writes searches that turn these up. Reply when you can actually help, and skip the link.
  3. DM ten people picked by what they post. BOOTH went after people who post photo dumps. Don't pitch. Ask if they'd want to try it. Ten is enough to tell whether the ask lands.
  4. Fix the words in your listing. If you're in the Chrome Web Store, the App Store or any marketplace, write down what your user would type to find something like yours, and put those words in the title and the first line of the listing.
  5. Write down where each of the first ten came from. Do it the same day. Once two of them came from the same place, go back there. The free launch tracker has a column for it.

Want help finding your two small rooms?

The first 10 indie builders get a free launch plan from us: the rooms where your users already hang out, threads that show the problem, and posts written in their words.

Apply for free launch help →

Rather skip the queue? There's a $9 launch map: eight rooms, their posting rules and one draft you can post. You pay once by card, and we email you within 24 hours.

FAQ

Where do the first 10 users usually come from?

In the eight stories we collected, from small places: two Discords, Reddit, Instagram DMs, a reply thread under other founders' posts, fitness forums, the Chrome Web Store plus SEO, and the App Store. Eight stories is too few to rank channels. What they share is a room where the problem was already obvious.

Do I need a launch post to get my first users?

Not going by these. BOOTH and Sam both say their first users didn't come from a launch, and the Notion template's launch was quiet until the link went into two Discords. FeelMyMac is the exception, and even that was one Reddit post rather than a campaign.

Do downloads count as users?

They count as a start. FeelMyMac's 1,500+ downloads in 24 hours is a real number, but a download isn't someone who comes back next week. When you count your first ten, count people who used it more than once or told you something about it.

What should I try this week to get my first 10 users?

Pick two small communities where the problem is obvious and post once in each, written for that room. Read the replies under build in public posts in your niche. DM ten people chosen by what they already post. If you're in an app store or the Chrome Web Store, put the words your users search for into the listing. Then write down where each new user came from.

Keep going

Next: how founders got their first paying customer (eight more stories), finding beta testers, where your users hang out, finding your first users on X, launching on Reddit without getting removed and the bigger picture in how to get your first 100 users.