Your first users almost never come from the channel that will scale your company. They come from you, personally, doing things that don't scale: messaging people, showing up in communities, asking for introductions. That's normal and it's fine. The point of the first users isn't growth. It's learning what works.
This guide maps the main channels, what stage each one fits, and links to a detailed guide for each.
The three stages
| Stage | What you're doing | Typical channels |
|---|---|---|
| First 10 | Finding people with the problem, by hand | Your network, direct outreach, communities |
| First 100 | Repeating what worked for the first 10 | Cold email, communities, launches, partnerships |
| First 1,000 | Finding one or two channels that scale | Content and SEO, paid, referrals, product-led loops |
Don't skip ahead. Running ads before you know who your user is and what they respond to wastes money and teaches you very little.
Step 1: Know exactly who you're looking for
Before choosing a channel, write one sentence: "[Specific person] who [has this problem] and currently [does this instead]." For example: "Freelance designers who send 5+ invoices a month and chase late payments by hand in Gmail."
The more specific it is, the easier it is to find where these people already gather. "Small businesses" is not a user. "Independent bookkeepers with 10–30 clients" is.
Step 2: Pick channels that match the user
| If your users are… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Businesses with a clear buyer | Cold email and your first B2B customers |
| Developers | Marketing a developer tool |
| Active in online communities | Reddit and niche forums |
| Early adopters who like new tools | Product Hunt |
| Not yet reachable because the product isn't ready | Finding beta users |
Step 3: Do things that don't scale, on purpose
For the first users, personal effort beats any tactic:
- Message people one by one. A personal note to 50 people who clearly have the problem beats a post seen by 50,000 who don't.
- Onboard every user yourself. Get on a call, watch them use it, and fix what confuses them that day.
- Follow up with everyone who signs up and goes quiet. Ask what stopped them. Their answers are your roadmap.
Step 4: Measure which channel works
Track every signup's source, even in a spreadsheet: where they came from, whether they activated, and whether they paid. After 30–50 users the pattern is usually obvious. One channel brings users who stay and pay; others bring curious visitors who leave.
Once you know your best channel, work out what each customer costs to get from it, and compare that to what they're worth. See LTV to CAC explained.
Step 5: Turn users into paying customers
Users aren't the goal; paying customers are. If people sign up but don't pay, the problem is usually activation or pricing, not the channel. See how to turn free users into paying customers.
Channel guides
- How to use Reddit to get your first users
- How to use cold email to get customers
- How to launch on Product Hunt
- How to find beta users
- How to get your first B2B customers
- How to market a developer tool
- How to turn free users into paying customers
The most common mistake
Trying every channel at once, a little. Five half-hearted channels produce five inconclusive results. Pick one or two that fit your user, commit to them properly for four to six weeks, and judge them on whether they bring users who stay, not on how many visitors they bring.