How I got my first 100 users for each of my 24 startups:
John Rush@johnrush
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Jul 06, 2025
~5 min read
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How I got my first 100 users for each of my 24 startups:
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1. Cold emails:
- go for quality, not quantity
send to 20 people; if no reply, change the copy and resend. repeat until 2 replies.
- make it super short and include the outcome E.g. for @listingbott I'd send this "100 backlinks from relevant directories in one click"
- go for quality, not quantity
send to 20 people; if no reply, change the copy and resend. repeat until 2 replies.
- make it super short and include the outcome E.g. for @listingbott I'd send this "100 backlinks from relevant directories in one click"
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2. Social media DMs (Li, X, IG, FB, RD, etc)
- send 15 sec loom with an audit of their biz/site/profile...where the preview makes it obvious it's personalized.
- impress them with your quick effort
- e.g. for @seobotai it'd be: "SEO audit of their website"
- send 15 sec loom with an audit of their biz/site/profile...where the preview makes it obvious it's personalized.
- impress them with your quick effort
- e.g. for @seobotai it'd be: "SEO audit of their website"
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3. Free pilot.
- Offer people a free early adopter deal
- They get a free yearly plan for trying & give you feedback
- Often people find it cool to be approached this way, but make sure to start by explaining why you picked them to be your early adopter
- Offer people a free early adopter deal
- They get a free yearly plan for trying & give you feedback
- Often people find it cool to be approached this way, but make sure to start by explaining why you picked them to be your early adopter
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4. Podcasts.
- reach out to relevant podcast hosts and offer yourself as a speaker. If you go for smaller pods, they are short on guests, so there is high chance to get in.
- while being on the pod, demo your tool as a part of the talk, viewers actually love demos
- reach out to relevant podcast hosts and offer yourself as a speaker. If you go for smaller pods, they are short on guests, so there is high chance to get in.
- while being on the pod, demo your tool as a part of the talk, viewers actually love demos
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5. Webinars.
- Clickbat title (e.g. for @unicornplatform I'd go for "Master Landing Pages: Boost Conversions to 31% in Just 30 Minutes!"
- Create it as an event on Linkedin, invite your network and find one relevant influencer who would invite their network too, if u have none
- Clickbat title (e.g. for @unicornplatform I'd go for "Master Landing Pages: Boost Conversions to 31% in Just 30 Minutes!"
- Create it as an event on Linkedin, invite your network and find one relevant influencer who would invite their network too, if u have none
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6. ROI case study
- if u had at least 1 customer, create case study, where you convince the readers
- if u had no customers, be ur own customer. e.g., I was the first one to build a successful directory ( @allgpts_ ) using @unicornplatform . And it solved the distribution for me
- if u had at least 1 customer, create case study, where you convince the readers
- if u had no customers, be ur own customer. e.g., I was the first one to build a successful directory ( @allgpts_ ) using @unicornplatform . And it solved the distribution for me
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7. Communities on Slack & Discord
- find relevant communities
- join them and introduce yourself and the product in the Intro channel
- do it super short, like a tweet, so that people actually read
- when u attach the URL, remove the preview banner
- find relevant communities
- join them and introduce yourself and the product in the Intro channel
- do it super short, like a tweet, so that people actually read
- when u attach the URL, remove the preview banner
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8. Sponsor micro-newsletters
- find relevant newsletters below 10k subscribers
- it'll cost you a few hundreds dollars only
- the ROI from small newsletters is far better than from large ones
- find relevant newsletters below 10k subscribers
- it'll cost you a few hundreds dollars only
- the ROI from small newsletters is far better than from large ones
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9. Launch on @ProductHunt , @devhunt_ and other launchpads
- make sure you market your launch
- few weeks before launch, upvote other launches and DM them saying "cool product, I upvoted.."
- on your own launch day, DM them again just telling them you've launched too now
- make sure you market your launch
- few weeks before launch, upvote other launches and DM them saying "cool product, I upvoted.."
- on your own launch day, DM them again just telling them you've launched too now
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10. List on web directories, forums and marketplaces
- find your competitors, check their backlinks using ahrefs/semrush/ubersuggest
- see what web directories they are listed on
- list on the same and find more places to list by asking @grok
- (or @listingbott can do it for u)
- find your competitors, check their backlinks using ahrefs/semrush/ubersuggest
- see what web directories they are listed on
- list on the same and find more places to list by asking @grok
- (or @listingbott can do it for u)
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11. Launch free tools
- free chrome extenssion
- free AI generator
- free web directory
- free calculator
- use @wrapifai to build such tools using prompts if you dont wanna code them
- free chrome extenssion
- free AI generator
- free web directory
- free calculator
- use @wrapifai to build such tools using prompts if you dont wanna code them
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12. Cross promo
- find someone small(10-100 users)
- do a cross promo(newsletters, place links to each other, or in social media)
- since you and they both are struggling with growth, it'll be a win-win or at least won't make it worse
- find someone small(10-100 users)
- do a cross promo(newsletters, place links to each other, or in social media)
- since you and they both are struggling with growth, it'll be a win-win or at least won't make it worse
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13. Lifetime deals
- you'll have to give them huge discount
- the platforms take a huge cut
- the users who buy LTDs aren't super nice
- but you still move forward by doing this, so it's not bad
- you'll have to give them huge discount
- the platforms take a huge cut
- the users who buy LTDs aren't super nice
- but you still move forward by doing this, so it's not bad
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14. Reddit/Quora
- find relevant topics
- reply with your solution(dont use the link)
- people will ask for a link
- then place the link, or better just name the tool, so that they google it and find it there (high chance to be banned from reddit for links)
- find relevant topics
- reply with your solution(dont use the link)
- people will ask for a link
- then place the link, or better just name the tool, so that they google it and find it there (high chance to be banned from reddit for links)
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15. Find bad comments about the competitor
- enter the comments to share your solution to those problems
- dont do it to fellow bootstrappers, only do it to corporations and well funded startups (we must not hurt each other, we fight against the big guys)
- enter the comments to share your solution to those problems
- dont do it to fellow bootstrappers, only do it to corporations and well funded startups (we must not hurt each other, we fight against the big guys)
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16. Guest posts & Blogging
- hackernoon
- dev to
- medium
- hashnode
- and many other blogging platforms can be used to share your story. Try to go for smaller blogs, that tend to have fewer authors
- hackernoon
- dev to
- medium
- hashnode
- and many other blogging platforms can be used to share your story. Try to go for smaller blogs, that tend to have fewer authors
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17. Sponsor hackatons or small events
- find those with relevant audience
- pay around $500 to sponsor them
- ideally they should use your tool during the hackaton
- find them on social media, the small players usually respond
- find those with relevant audience
- pay around $500 to sponsor them
- ideally they should use your tool during the hackaton
- find them on social media, the small players usually respond
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18. Paid ads
- @tinyadz_ (my own ad network, for b2b). It works pretty well, it's in beta, give it a try
- I've tried ads on FB/Google/X and it never worked. Most likely I'm not good at making those banners, so make sure to hire someone who is great at banners if u go for it
- @tinyadz_ (my own ad network, for b2b). It works pretty well, it's in beta, give it a try
- I've tried ads on FB/Google/X and it never worked. Most likely I'm not good at making those banners, so make sure to hire someone who is great at banners if u go for it
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19. Introduce your product in social media every day until it goes viral.
See other viral product launch posts, copy their templates. Do it 100 days in a row and one day you’ll go viral (if you copy the viral templates).
Here is the prompt for grok:
See other viral product launch posts, copy their templates. Do it 100 days in a row and one day you’ll go viral (if you copy the viral templates).
Here is the prompt for grok:
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20. Run an AI SEO agent that generates articles for you every day on autopilot ( e.g. @seobotai ) or build those articles yourself using grok deep research and post them manually one by one (50 articles is a good start). Also make sure to grow your domain rating to at least 15.
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21. Buy a tiny free app that already had some users and channel those users into your product.
- gonna cost you around $1k-$10k
- works best if the audience totally overlaps
- gonna cost you around $1k-$10k
- works best if the audience totally overlaps
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22. Integrate products with each other
> there is "boost your DR" button in @seobotai that links to @listingbott
> all my agents are integrated natively into @unicornplatform
The end!
> there is "boost your DR" button in @seobotai that links to @listingbott
> all my agents are integrated natively into @unicornplatform
The end!
