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How to acquire your first 100 users

Your first 100 users rarely come from ads. They come from conversations, communities, and shipping where people already hang out. Here is the short version of the playbook I used to get hundreds (then thousands) of beta sign-ups without a Product Hunt or HN launch first.

What actually worked

1. Start with a waitlist - do not dump a vague product on a cold audience. Let people opt in so you have a focused list.
2. Add a share loop on Twitter - after signup, let serious folks share for priority access. High friction on purpose; it shows who is real.
3. Make sharing stupid-easy - pre-composed tweets (Click to Tweet) beat blank boxes every time.
4. Treat superfans like royalty - thank them, DM them, give them more. They are your early word-of-mouth engine.
5. Build in public early - share the thesis on a clean landing page before you have a polished MVP.
6. Roll invites in batches - trusted founder friends, then waitlist superfans, then full waitlist, then Twitter, then Indie Hackers / Product Hunt.
7. Pick one channel and stay there - for me that was Twitter. Find yours and ignore shiny objects early.
8. Treat beta like a real launch - reply to every email and tweet. Community from user #1 compounds.

These lessons skew B2C. B2B is a different motion (more outbound, warmer intros, longer cycles).

Full write-up with more color on Indie Hackers:

Actionable advice to acquire your first 100 sign-ups →