Sam Altman, then President of Y Combinator (2017), shares 4 ways for startups to get their first 100 users.
“Many people believe that once they launch a website and tell one person about it, it will instantly take off like wildfire. In reality, that’s rarely the case.
There are four common strategies for getting your first 100 users. I’ll go through them roughly in order—from best to worst.
1. Reach Out to People You Already Know
You can start by emailing people you already know and asking them to become your first customers. Call in favors from anyone you can think of: someone you took a class with, an old friend from high school—anyone.
If it’s a paid product, make sure to actually charge them. This is important because people are often too nice and inclined to do you favors. Charging them ensures that their feedback reflects genuine user experience, not just goodwill.
2. Research and Contact Potential Users
Another effective strategy is to research people who might be a good fit for your product and reach out directly—by email or another channel—to ask them to try it.
Conversion rates here are typically low (around 2–3%), so you’ll need to contact many people. You can send targeted messages such as:
“Hi, I just made this new product and I’d really appreciate it if you’d try it out.”
Most people like being helpful and will at least take a look.
3. Use Social Media, Forums, and Press
You can also use social media, Hacker News, forums, or press coverage to get attention. However, if you choose this as your growth strategy, you need a way to make it ongoing, not just a one-time burst.
Many founders get a single round of attention and then try to repeat it, only to find that journalists lose interest unless something has changed.
A good example of doing this well is Airbnb. They made press and publicity an ongoing process—constantly coming up with creative stunts and ideas. At one point, they even mailed journalists giant boxes of cereal to get noticed. Their persistence kept the buzz going, but this approach takes significant effort.
4. Buying Ads
Finally, the laziest and least impressive strategy is to simply buy ads on Facebook or Google and drive traffic to your website.
This is not recommended. I don’t know of any successful startup that achieved meaningful early growth this way. I’m including it only because it’s the first idea most people try—but it rarely works.”