←back to thread

Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?

560 points amanchanda | 7 comments | 13 May 25 08:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.951s | source | bottom

I am building a B2C AI SaaS with $50/month price. How would you go about getting with first 100 users and then the next 500 users.

What we are currently doing: 1) Cold outreach to power users - to convert them into affiliates. 2) Cold outreach to individuals who have target ICP communities. 3) SEO for more long term (not for the first 500)

1. 999900000999 ◴[13 May 25 09:22 UTC] No.43971096[source]▶
Find a way to make it free to start.

This is how Firebase, Supabase and friends work.

Getting 100 people to sign up for a free service is still work, but significantly less.

replies(2): >>43971207 #>>43971402 #
2. amanchanda ◴[13 May 25 09:42 UTC] No.43971207[source]▶
We have a free version. For now, we have kept it invite-only. Question is TOFU.
3. CrulesAll ◴[13 May 25 10:20 UTC] No.43971402[source]▶
Making it 100X harder to get them to pay for it subsequently. "If you’re good at something, never do it for free" - Joseph Joker MBA JD.

If not, then you are in the ad business.

replies(3): >>43971885 #>>43973309 #>>43975103 #
4. sillystu04 ◴[13 May 25 11:55 UTC] No.43971885[source]▶
To play devil's advocate, many successful developer focused companies have gone down this route successfully. Neon, Cloudflare, Firebase, Github and many more have all made free tiers work.

I suspect there's a special dynamic for developers. I'm usually more willing to try out new things on personal projects, but I also don't like paying for things on personal projects. At work I don't care how much things cost, but I'll definitely advocate for tools that worked well on personal projects.

5. 999900000999 ◴[13 May 25 14:21 UTC] No.43973309[source]▶
Supabase doesn't even require a credit card, but your data goes poof in 60 days if you don't pay.

Ideally you want your tools to be so easy to use, clients just switch onto a paid plan when they want to get serious.

6. hluska ◴[13 May 25 17:00 UTC] No.43975103[source]▶
Many successful companies that we’ve all heard of have free tiers. They offer free tiers because it works. They’re certainly not in the ad business.
replies(1): >>43976510 #
7. CrulesAll ◴[13 May 25 19:12 UTC] No.43976510{3}[source]▶
Many people win in a casino. Forget the majority who do not. Competing on price, unless you are Toyota or Google, is a low probability move.