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

560 points amanchanda | 9 comments | 13 May 25 08:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.484s | 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)

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nicooo ◴[13 May 25 13:03 UTC] No.43972479[source]▶
I’ve had success twice using targeted social media outreach — specifically by joining relevant subreddit discussions and commenting on YouTube videos where my target audience was already active.

Instead of simply promoting your service right away (it often feels spammy), I recommend genuinely engaging in conversations until the right opportunity comes up.

I ended up turning that process into its own product: https://sparkflow.ai/

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1. conductr ◴[13 May 25 13:06 UTC] No.43972513[source]▶
This is inception level promotion, I’m not even mad at ya lol
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2. gardnr ◴[13 May 25 13:12 UTC] No.43972568[source]▶
Is this comment part of the grift?
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3. pc86 ◴[13 May 25 13:52 UTC] No.43973011[source]▶
I don't think it's a grift in the negative sense but this is absolutely a marketing comment. They're doing exactly what they say to do in the comment. They're on HN where at least some of their target market is. They have a product that is relevant (right down to the headline/CTA). They didn't just post the link but put it at the end of an informational comment.

10/10 meta-promotion IMO

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4. morkalork ◴[13 May 25 13:57 UTC] No.43973050[source]▶
Maybe, maybe amanchanda is too.
5. ◴[13 May 25 15:56 UTC] No.43974328[source]▶
6. conductr ◴[13 May 25 16:15 UTC] No.43974539{3}[source]▶
They also likely were involved in the the original question getting posted so they could provide that answer which is what makes it an entirely fabricated grift
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7. nicooo ◴[13 May 25 16:30 UTC] No.43974713{4}[source]▶
I was not involved in the original comment and not planning to publicly talk about my service until it's live, but the opportunity was too perfect to miss.
8. pc86 ◴[13 May 25 18:20 UTC] No.43976013{4}[source]▶
You need evidence to reasonably say they were "likely involved" and I don't think "it's conceivable that it happened that way" really counts as evidence.
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9. conductr ◴[13 May 25 22:46 UTC] No.43978617{5}[source]▶
Debatable I suppose but I don't feel I do. That's what likely means - I feel I have enough suspicion, the coincidence is too strong, the stars too much in alignment...

Hard to recreate but at the time I commented it was also the top comment with only a few others and it was on the front page. I've been a HN'er for a while and this is a rare situation to say the least if it's not a setup. I'm not willing to die on the hill and would gladly admit I'm wrong, I just see it as very suspicious forum spam as the most likely scenario