How to get your first 100 SaaS users

The seven channels, in order

• 1. Direct outreach to people you interviewed

  Everyone you spoke to during validation is a warm lead. Personal, specific, one at a time. Expect a twenty to forty percent reply rate, far higher than any cold list.

• 2. Communities where you are already a member

  Answer questions for two weeks before you mention the product. The account history is what makes the mention acceptable.

• 3. Directories and category listings

  Slow to start, permanent once live. A listing in a categorised, indexed directory keeps returning visitors long after a launch post is buried, and the backlink helps your own pages rank.

• 4. Search, starting with comparison and alternative pages

  People searching for an alternative to a known tool are already in market. These pages convert several times better than generic top of funnel content.

• 5. Integration and partner pages

  If you connect to a popular tool, list yourself in its marketplace and publish an integration page. Intent from these pages is unusually high.

• 6. Content that answers a job, not a keyword

  Templates, calculators and checklists get shared and bookmarked. Thought leadership posts do not.

• 7. Launch platforms

  Useful for a spike and social proof. Plan for the traffic to disappear within two days and for the leftover value to be the backlink and the badge.

Track cohort, not clicks

Record where each of the first hundred users came from and whether they activated. By user forty a pattern appears, and it is usually not the channel you expected.

Double the effort on whichever two channels produced activated users, and drop the rest without sentiment.

FAQ

Should I pay for ads at this stage?

Rarely. Ads amplify a converting funnel. Before product market fit they mostly buy expensive confirmation that the funnel does not convert.

How long should the first hundred take?

Six to twelve weeks of consistent effort is normal for a niche B2B tool.