How i got 1000 users in a month with $0

[mauddib]

About a month ago, I launched my side project and has grown to over 1000 users. It’s an AI stock bot that sends alerts based on Reddit sentiment. It’s a free product so my marketing budget was a big fat $0.

Here’s how I hustled with a $0 budget and got my first 1000 users.

1. Get your first 10 users - cold DMs. This part sucks. “Do things that don’t scale”. But it’s the quickest way to get started and directly talk to your users. The goal isn’t to get to a million users instantly but to talk intimately with a small set of users, see what they like/don’t like about your early version, and iterate based on feedback. For example, my first set of users helped me beta test & tune my AI bot’s summaries. In the beginning, it would try to summarize everything, which resulted in bad alerts.
2. Get your next 100 users - share helpful content in communities. This one seems obvious but find small, active communities where your users hang. For me, it was small subreddits (

 

[fiorina]

@mauddib very nice tips. i agree with point #2.
what do you recommend to manage the 'free daily email newsletter' part?

 

[mauddib]

@fiorina I started using beehiiv and it's been great, no complaints

 

[outpouring]

@mauddib +1 for beehiiv

 

[mauddib]

@outpouring Great tool at a reasonable price!

 

[lucyt25]

@mauddib How did you turn beta testers into buyers?

 

[mauddib]

@lucyt25 I didn't personally turn beta testers into buyers for my current product but it should be pretty simple - if people are finding value, they should be happy to pay.

 

[lucyt25]

@mauddib I find that’s the case for B2B but not B2C.

 

[mauddib]

@lucyt25 yeah that's true. B2C audience is a little more flakey.