Getting Your First 100 SaaS Users: The Unglamorous Truth
Building a SaaS is only half the battle; attracting users requires strategy. Start with 10 early adopters through waitlists or direct outreach, then scale to 100 via cold email (the hard way) and indirect traffic like Product Hunt, Alternatives, and niche platforms. Skip paid ads until you hit 100 users. Success demands manual work, personalization, proper email infrastructure, and relentless consistency.
Why User Acquisition Matters More Than You Think
Building is only half the equation
Creating an amazing product means nothing if you cannot attract users to it. Today's market is extremely competitive, and users will not magically appear—it takes deliberate strategy, focus, and sustained effort to stand out.
Define your target user before writing code
Identify a specific problem affecting a particular group of people, then develop a solution for them. Without a clear ideal user profile, no amount of effort will connect you with the right people or help you know who to target at all.
The First 10 Users: Your Foundation
The first 10 are the most critical
Of your initial 100 users, the first 10 are your most valuable. They provide early feedback, validate your idea, and become your first product advocates and allies—more valuable than a waitlist alone.
Direct contact is your only channel at this stage
Reach out personally via email or DMs on social networks where your target users are active. The cost is zero since you do all the work yourself. If you have a waitlist of 100+, this step is straightforward.
How to find your first 10 if you lack a waitlist
Use Reddit communities where people share products seeking feedback, or search manually for your ideal users. Offer free lifetime access in exchange for specific, actionable feedback on whether your product solves their problem.
Treat early users as partners, not just testers
Stay in touch with your first 10 users, make them feel part of the process, and increase the likelihood they will share updates and become advocates. They are your eyes and ears for what needs improvement.
From 10 to 100: The Hard Path (Cold Outreach)
Cold outreach is the unglamorous but essential step
Directly contact your ideal users before they show interest or know you exist. This feels awkward initially, but overcoming that discomfort becomes a competitive edge—most founders get stuck here, giving you an advantage.
Build a targeted lead list
Leads are contacts of potential clients who might be interested in your solution. Create a list using three methods: manual Google and social searches by role/industry/location, platforms like Product Hunt, or lead generation tools like Apollo.io, Instantly AI, or Drippy AI.
Personalize every email as if writing to one person
Generic messages sent to thousands end up in trash. Include the recipient's name, company, or a detail showing you know them. Address their main problem and how you solve it. Keep it short, be friendly and direct, and avoid introducing yourself first.
Create a follow-up strategy
A single email rarely works. Send friendly reminders a few days later; if no response, provide more value like success stories or data. Make your final email direct, asking if you have the right person or if you should contact someone else.
Configure email infrastructure before sending anything
Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC correctly to prevent delivery problems. Warm up your domain by sending emails gradually so email providers do not flag you as spam. Never use your main domain—use secondary domains like mail.domain.com or completely new domains.
Common mistakes that kill cold outreach
Avoid overly long emails (nobody reads them), sending generic non-personalized messages (ignored), and failing to prepare infrastructure or warm up your domain (direct path to spam). These are the fastest ways to destroy deliverability.
Set a daily goal and embrace the numbers game
Send a manageable number of emails per day (e.g., 50-70) and repeat consistently. Most people will not respond, but this is normal—it is a numbers game. Out of every 100-150 contacts, someone will be intrigued. These users have genuine interest and provide better feedback than other channels.
From 10 to 100: The Easy Path (Indirect Traffic & Backlinks)
Launch on Product Hunt for massive backlinks
A Product Hunt launch provides a high-reputation backlink and drives significant traffic. From one launch, you can earn approximately 50 backlinks on other blogs and websites, plus many third-party pages feed off Product Hunt.
Other launch platforms worth your time
Beyond Product Hunt, platforms like Metalist, Indie Hackers, Hacker News, Startup Base, and Micro Launch offer launch opportunities. Be cautious—many copy Product Hunt but lack meaningful traffic. Focus on those with proven audience engagement.
List on review sites like G2 and Capterra
These platforms offer free, quality backlinks. List your product, leave a great review, and include keywords describing the problem you solve. This builds SEO value and credibility.
PeerList: the underrated developer platform
PeerList is a social network for developers with similarities to Product Hunt, Reddit, and X. Create a developer profile, verify your networks, and link your Product Hunt releases (Peerlist does this automatically). Releases are only available on Mondays, so plan accordingly.
Side Projector: use strategic pricing for visibility
Side Projector is a marketplace for digital projects. Publish your project with an extremely low or extremely high price—these extremes are the filters most users apply. The goal is not sales but traffic and backlinks.
Alternatives: the highest-intent traffic source
Alternatives specializes in listing alternatives to existing products. Find your competitors and list your solution as a viable alternative, highlighting the problems in their product that yours solves. Users here are actively seeking better solutions, making them highly interested.
After 100: Scaling and Long-Term Growth
Do unscalable things first, then automate
In the initial phase, manual work is essential and better for getting your project running. Once you hit 100 users, you can start thinking about automation, processes, and more advanced strategies like SEO and paid ads.
Prepare SEO in parallel, even early on
SEO takes 6 months to show results, so it is not effective for reaching your first 100. However, prepare it in parallel: add a blog, create content around use cases, explain why users should choose you over competitors, and detail your solutions for your ideal user.
Skip paid ads until you have 100 users
Paid advertising is not effective for your first 100 users. Focus on organic channels first. Once you have validated your product and built a user base, then explore paid ads as a scaling channel.
Consistency and value are your long-term drivers
If you are consistent and your idea has genuine value, it is almost impossible for your user base not to grow over time. The hard work in the first 100 users pays dividends as you build momentum.
Notable quotes
No matter how incredible what we build is, it's pointless if we don't attract users. — G Bascunana
If you overcome the initial discomfort of cold outreach, it becomes an advantage. Others get stuck and don't enter the market as strongly. — G Bascunana
Do not use your main domain. If you do, you'll mess something up and end up tagged as spam. — G Bascunana
Action items
- Define your ideal user profile and the specific problem they face before any outreach begins.
- Create a landing page with a waitlist to capture interested early adopters.
- Identify and personally contact your first 10 users via email or DMs, offering free lifetime access in exchange for feedback.
- Build a lead list using manual searches, Product Hunt scraping, or lead generation tools like Apollo.io (250M contacts), Instantly AI, or Drippy AI.
- Set up email infrastructure: configure SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and use secondary domains (not your main domain) for cold outreach.
- Warm up your domain gradually before scaling cold email campaigns to avoid spam filters.
- Write personalized cold emails that include the recipient's name/company, address their specific problem, and keep the message short.
- Implement a follow-up sequence: initial email, reminder after a few days, value-added follow-up, and final direct ask.
- Set a daily cold outreach goal (50-70 emails) and maintain consistency; treat it as a numbers game.
- Launch on Product Hunt to gain approximately 50 backlinks and significant traffic.
- List your product on review sites (G2, Capterra), PeerList, Side Projector, and Alternatives to build backlinks and reach targeted users.
- Plan a PeerList release for a Monday to maximize visibility.
- After reaching 100 users, begin building SEO content: blog posts, use-case pages, and competitor comparison content.
- Avoid paid advertising until you have validated your product with at least 100 users.