Marketing
How to get your first 100 users
The first hundred users come from doing things that do not scale. I have got them the slow way and tried to skip it, and skipping it does not work.
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Go where they already are.
Find the forum, subreddit, Discord, WhatsApp group or club where your people already talk. One post in the right room beats a hundred posts into the void.
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Ask for feedback, not downloads.
People resist being sold to and enjoy being consulted. Asking what is wrong with your thing gets you a user and a fix at the same time.
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Message people individually.
Thirty personal messages will out-perform a broadcast to three thousand. It is slow, and it is the job at this stage.
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Give it to twenty friends and watch them use it.
Sit beside them if you can. The place they hesitate is the thing to fix, and they will never write that in a review.
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Make the first thirty seconds obvious.
Most people leave before they understand it. If it needs an explanation, the explanation belongs in the product, not in your launch post.
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Ship one thing a week and say so.
A visible cadence turns curious people into returning people. It also gives you something honest to post about.
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Find the one person with a room.
One newsletter writer, club secretary or group admin who likes it is worth more than any amount of posting. Ask them directly and make it easy to say yes.
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Answer every message.
At this size you can, and it converts. The person who got a reply from the maker tells other people.
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Do not buy ads yet.
Paid traffic on a product nobody has retained just teaches you how much it costs to lose people. Fix retention first.
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Count properly.
Downloads flatter you. Track how many came back on day seven. That number is the one that decides whether you have anything.