How to get your first 100 users
Most first users come from a handful of rooms and a few honest messages, not from a launch day. Type what you built and who it is for. Get the places to post, three first messages and the free directories for your kind of product. Free. No signup. It runs in your browser.
Try an example:
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How this works (and what it isn't)
It matches the words you type against a list of audiences, then picks the rooms we have tagged for those people and for your kind of product. The messages are drafts with your words filled in. The directories are the free ones that suit your product type.
It is a starting point, not a promise that every room will love you. Rules change and every community has its own. Read each room's sidebar and recent posts before you write anything, and answer a few questions there before you link your own thing.
Go deeper with where your users hang out, the free launch directories, the launch post generator and the Reddit launch guide.
FAQ
How do I get my first 100 users for a SaaS?
Start with one narrow group of people who already have the problem, then post where they talk, not where builders talk. Answer questions in those rooms for a few days, then share what you built as a plain story with a free way to try it. Write to the first 20 users by hand and ask what almost made them leave.
How do I get my first 100 users for a mobile app?
Get a few real people on a TestFlight or Play Store test build before you launch, because store listings do not send traffic on their own. Post a short screen recording in the rooms where your users already complain about the problem, and ask for testers rather than downloads. Then fix the first-run screen, since most installs are lost in the first minute.
How do I get my first 100 users for a Chrome extension?
The Chrome Web Store listing is your storefront, so the name, the first screenshot and the first reviews matter more than any launch post. Ask your earliest users for an honest review. Then post a 10 second clip in extension subreddits and in the room of the people whose workflow it changes.
How do I get my first 100 users for an AI tool?
Say what the model does, what data stays private and what fails, because people in these rooms have seen a hundred wrappers. Offer a free run on their own input so the result is the pitch. Post in the rooms for the job (support, writing, research) before the general AI rooms, which are crowded.
How do I get my first 100 users for a newsletter?
Swap recommendations with newsletters your readers already read, since that is the cheapest source of subscribers. Post useful notes on Substack Notes or your own platform, list the newsletter in a few directories, and put your best past issue where people can read it before signing up. Reply to every new subscriber for the first month.
How do I get my first 100 users for a marketplace?
Pick one side first, usually supply, and do things by hand until it works. Find 10 sellers or providers yourself, list their items for them and bring the first buyers in from one small niche room. A thin marketplace with one city or one category beats a wide one with nobody in it.
Is the finder free?
Yes. There is no signup and no account. The only optional step is the email box, which sends a copy of your plan to your own mail app and adds you to the weekly newsletter.
Where does the list come from?
It is a hand kept list of rooms, tagged by audience and by product type. It runs in your browser, and nothing is sent except an anonymous usage beacon and, only if you ask, your email to the newsletter. It is a starting point, so read each room's rules before you post.