So, you've developed an app or a SaaS and are grappling with the challenge of attracting your initial users. It's a common struggle, and the first 100 users are undeniably the toughest to acquire.
I've compiled insights from leading SaaS companies, outlining a set of actionable strategies. The key to gaining early-stage customers often lies in undertaking activities that aren't easily scalable. One prevalent mistake at the outset is an excessive focus on the future. This is a common scenario—I frequently observe founders yearning for virality and rapid scalability, envisioning massive success.
However, getting lost in these dreams can divert attention from what truly matters. In reality, a fledgling founder should concentrate on comprehending their customer base. Conducting research doesn't require a large user base; a handful of individuals is sufficient. Obtaining the first few dozen users is more feasible through manual actions—activities that, although not scalable, lay the foundation for sustainable growth.
Now, let's delve into some examples of these manual actions.
Massive following people on Twitter
This strategy proved instrumental in Suhail's efforts to launch Mixpanel, the analytics tool.
https://twitter.com/Suhail/status/1009454402048937986?embedable=true
Remember that you can follow up to 400 persons per day.
Start with an email newsletter
The concept is to curate a list of individuals who appreciate your content and then leverage this audience as a launching pad for your product. One of my favorite instances of employing this strategy involves Ryan Hoover's experience from a decade ago. He initiated a daily email newsletter featuring intriguing startups he discovered.
Over time, he cultivated a list of 170 highly engaged individuals. These recipients not only responded to Ryan but also expressed their enjoyment of his curated digests. This positive interaction sparked the idea to develop a product.
Enter the infamous Product Hunt. With the support of this initially small yet enthusiastic audience, the new website swiftly gained momentum, transforming into the premier social network for startup enthusiasts.
"The Collinson Installation"
Paul Graham writes:
"At YC, we use the term Collinson installation for the technique they invented. More diffident founders asked: 'will you try our beta?'. And if the answer is yes, they say 'great! We will send you the link'. But Collinson brothers weren't going to wait. When anyone agreed to try Stripe, we would say 'right then, give me your laptop!'. And set them on the spot."
Source: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html (must read btw)
Product forums
Zapier serves as a tool that seamlessly connects different applications, such as Salesforce with MailChimp or Dropbox with Google Drive.
Now, who constitutes Zapier's user base? That's right—the users of these diverse apps. Where do you find these users? Often, on the product forums of platforms like Salesforce, MailChimp, and others. And here's where the strategy unfolds.
Zapier's CEO employed a simple yet effective plan. He frequented product forums for companies like Dropbox, Salesforce, and Evernote, scanning for posts like: "I love MailChimp! It would be awesome if you had Wufoo Integration!" Capitalizing on these opportunities, he presented Zapier as a solution. While each link brought in only 10 visits, the traffic was modest. However, the CEO recognized that he was attracting the right customers—50% of these visitors signed up for the beta. A remarkable success rate!
The takeaway here is clear: targeted outreach is the key. You don't necessarily need a thousand customers to kickstart your venture; you just need the right 10.
Source: https://read.first1000.co/p/zapier
Direct sales
"Content marketing doesn't work nearly as well for a new product. Direct sales killed it." says Nathan Barry, the founder of ConvertKit.
While we all detest spam, there's an acknowledgment that, when executed correctly, it can yield results. The key lies in meticulous research before approaching a potential client, enabling a personalized and compelling offer. Let's compare two scenarios.
First scenario: "Hello, dear sir/madam! Your company has a decent website, but it could be better. Please buy my professional website speedometer tool."
Now, consider the second approach: "Hello, Alex. I learned about your company while watching your latest podcast show with James. You were discussing website performance extensively. Out of curiosity, I tested your website on my speedometer tool, and it only scores 18 out of 100. Want to know what exactly needs improvement?"
The difference is evident, isn't it? Nathan Barry introduces another intriguing concept called "concierge migrations":
"The biggest objection in the sales process for us has always been. 'But it's so much work to switch!'So we did the ultimate thing that doesn't scale and offered to switch them out of their ConvertKit. Totally for free. Yes. It costs us a lot of time and money, but the referrals and ongoing revenue give an incredible ROI."
Great tactic that works for the type of products that are hard to move from. For example, a website builder (my case 🙂).
Source: https://nathanbarry.com/2015-review/
Keyword in domain name
The next strategy is truly ingenious, and it's surprising that more people aren't utilizing it nowadays. This gem dates back to 2013 when the team at Doordash aimed to validate the demand for quick food delivery. Despite having limited resources for marketing, they came up with a brilliant plan.
Their approach was to target individuals in Palo Alto searching for food delivery on Google. Doordash strategically chose the domain name "PaloAltoDelivery.com," anticipating that the domain would secure top positions in Google searches for the keywords "Palo Alto delivery." Essentially, the keyword became the domain name, and it proved to be a highly effective move.
Source: https://read.first1000.co/p/case-study-doordash
I personally employed a similar strategy with success. My side project, uigenerator.org, has generated over $20,000 in profit since 2022, with the majority of the traffic originating from Google. You can probably guess the keyword.
Moreover, just a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine used the same tactic to garner free traffic from Google. He created a website, allgpts.co, which now ranks at the top for the "all gpts" keyword.
So, yes, the "keyword in domain" trick remains a viable and potent strategy.
This post was originally an 𝕏 thread which was then flavored with memes and turned into a YouTube video. Originally published here.