Launching a new SaaS product is exciting, but reaching that critical milestone of 100 users can feel daunting. How do you convince the first few dozen people – beyond friends and family – to give your product a shot? Don’t worry. In this guide, we’ll walk through actionable steps to help solo founders, early-stage startups, and growing teams (especially in Australia) win their first 100 users. We’ll keep it friendly, honest, and jargon-free – just like Appomate’s style – so you can confidently apply these strategies even if you’re not a marketing expert.

Why the First 100 Users Matter: These early users are more than just numbers – they’re your co-creators and champions. They’ll give you invaluable feedback, tolerate bugs, and spread the word if you make them feel valued. In 2025, word-of-mouth and community reign supreme, with peer recommendations outweighing traditional marketing by 16:1. That means acquiring users organically is more important (and cost-effective) than ever, especially as paid ads have become very pricey (customer acquisition costs have jumped 10x since 2020!). The good news: by focusing on the right users and strategies, you can build momentum without burning a huge budget.

Ready? Let’s dive into the step-by-step plan to get your first 100 SaaS users – and set a solid foundation for many more.

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer and Validate the Problem

Before anything else, zero in on your ideal customer profile (ICP) and make sure you’re solving a real problem. Trying to target “everyone” will stretch your resources thin. The most successful startups almost always start laser-focused on a niche. In fact, one analysis found that the median successful B2B startup focused on one customer segment for its first 500 customers before expanding – that focus gives you a beachhead.

Identify Your Niche: Who are the people most desperate for the solution you offer? Be as specific as possible. For example, instead of “small businesses,” maybe it’s “Australian boutique digital agencies that need simpler project tracking,” or instead of “consumers who like fitness,” maybe “millennial professionals in Sydney who want 10-minute at-home workouts.” If you built the product to solve your own pain, start with people like you.

Talk to Real Prospective Users: Nothing beats direct conversations for validation. Try to interview 10-20 people in your target demographic. Ask open-ended questions about their workflow or pain points – “What’s the hardest part of doing X?” or “How do you currently solve Y, and what frustrates you about it?”. Listen more than you talk. Your goal is to confirm that the problem you solve is urgent and important to them (and to uncover any tweaks your product might need). This early user validation ensures you’re not building in a vacuum.

• Founder Tip: Don’t be shy – people generally love to be asked for their opinions. You can reach out via LinkedIn, industry forums, or local startup communities (like the Aussie Founders Club on Slack or Startup Victoria’s network). Frame it as wanting feedback, not a sales pitch.

Create a Simple Persona Snapshot: Based on these chats, write down a profile of your ideal early adopter. Include things like:

1. Role/Title – e.g. “Growth marketer at a fintech startup”
2. Key Problems – e.g. “Spends hours consolidating analytics reports”
3. Current Solutions – “Uses Google Sheets and manual reports”
4. Pain Points – “Hates the time wasted and risk of errors”
5. Motivation Level – “Actively seeking an automation tool now.”

The more specific, the better. This persona will guide all your outreach efforts so you’re talking to the right people with the right message. As one founder insightfully put it, “If you can define your ideal customer in one sentence, you’re ahead of the game”.

Step 2: Craft a Compelling Value Proposition and Landing Page

Once you know who you’re targeting and what they need, craft a clear value proposition that speaks directly to them. In other words, be able to answer: “Why should they try your product?” – in one or two punchy sentences.

Keep It Simple and Benefit-Oriented: Avoid jargon or grandiose promises (“revolutionary synergy platform” – nope!). Instead, use the formula: “We help [target audience] achieve [desired outcome] without [big pain]”. For example: “We help solo accountants automate their client reporting without writing a single line of code.” This instantly tells a potential user if your product is for them and why it’s valuable. Don’t worry if it sounds very straightforward – clarity beats cleverness here.

Set Up a Basic Landing Page: You don’t need a full fancy website, but you should have at least one page online that explains your product, highlights your value prop, and includes a call-to-action (like “Sign up for free beta” or “Join the waitlist”). There are easy builders like Wix, WordPress, or Carrd if you’re not technical. Key things to include on your page:

• Headline and Subheadline: Your one-sentence value proposition up top, then a brief supporting line or two.
• Problem & Solution Summary: A few sentences or bullet points on the pain point and how your SaaS solves it.
• Hero Image or Mockup: Show a screenshot or illustration of your product in action if possible.
• Call-to-Action Button:g. “Get Early Access”, “Start Free Trial” – something that lets interested folks sign up or request access.
• Contact/Signup Form: At minimum, collect emails of people interested. This doubles as your early user waitlist – which can be gold.

Build Trust from Day One: As a brand-new product, you have zero social proof – so find ways to create credibility. Even small elements help. For example, add a human touch by including a founder’s note or team photo (“Hi, I’m Alex, I built this to solve X problem for people like you”). If you have any early testimonials or quotes from beta users, showcase one. Or mention any credibility markers you have (“Built by two ex-Atlassian engineers” or “500+ tasks completed by beta users so far”). The goal is to make visitors feel like your startup is legit and they won’t be wasting their time giving it a try. Remember, early adopters are taking a leap of faith, so ease their mind with transparency and authenticity.

• Founder Tip: Consider using a waitlist if you’re not ready to open the floodgates. This can actually create FOMO. Australian design startup Canva did this brilliantly – they launched in 2013 to a 50,000-person waitlist by hyping up the value and exclusivity[6]. You can let people sign up to “request an invite,” then onboard groups gradually. This not only builds anticipation, it gives you time to iron out issues.

Step 3: Leverage Your Network and Do Founder-Led Outreach

When you’re just starting, the founder (that’s you!) is the best person to find and recruit early users. Don’t wait for people to stumble upon your product – get out there and invite them in. This hands-on approach is often called founder-led sales or founder-led marketing, and it’s how many great companies got their start.

Start with Who You Know: Make a list of friends, former colleagues, LinkedIn contacts, and mentors who might either be potential users or know some. Shoot them a personal message about what you’ve built. Be genuine and humble – for instance: “Hey Sam, hope you’re well! I’ve been working on a new tool to help accountants automate reporting. I remember you mentioning how tedious monthly reports were. Would you be open to trying it out and giving me honest feedback? Totally understand if not!” This doesn’t come off as salesy; it comes off as someone seeking help/input. Even if your direct contacts aren’t the right users, they might refer you to someone who is.

Cold Outreach (Targeted): Once you exhaust people you know, consider reaching out cold to individuals or businesses that fit your ideal user profile. This could mean emailing the founder of a small company who tweeted about the problem you solve, or messaging members of a relevant Facebook/LinkedIn group. Keep it short and personal. Mention something specific about them to show it’s not spam, then a one-liner about your solution and an invite. For example:

“Hi Maria, I saw your post in ‘Sydney Startups’ about struggling with team task management. I’m building a new SaaS that might help – it automatically consolidates tasks from different tools into one view. If you’re open to it, I’d love for you to be one of our early beta users (free of course) and tell me what you think.”

Expect that many people won’t respond – that’s okay. The ones who do will be worth their weight in gold. Even a handful of enthusiastic beta users can give you momentum.

• Founder Tip: Don’t outsource this early user acquisition to a marketing agency or salesperson. Talking directly to your first users teaches you so much about their needs and how to improve your product. Plus, potential users often trust hearing from a founder. As Atlassian’s co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes noted, they avoided hiring salespeople in early days and instead focused on building a product so good that “who needs sales people when your product can sell itself?”[7]. While your product might not sell itself yet, you can do the selling by conveying your passion and listening to users.

Attend Local Startup Events or Meetups: In Australia, tapping into local networks can give you a boost. Check out meetups in cities like Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane related to your industry. Networking events, hackathons, or startup incubator meetups (like those by Stone & Chalk or Fishburners) are great places to mention what you’re working on and find a few interested beta users. Hand out a business card or just get their email to follow up. Keep it informal and more about learning what people need than a hard sell.

Step 4: Launch on Product Hunt and Other Startup Platforms

Your personal network is a great start, but to reach beyond it, go where startup enthusiasts and early adopters hang out online. There are several platforms specifically meant to showcase new products – and people browsing these sites want to discover the next cool thing. A well-executed launch on these platforms can jumpstart your user count virtually overnight.

Figure: Launching on startup platforms like Product Hunt, BetaList, and AppSumo can put your SaaS in front of thousands of early adopters eager to try new tools.

Product Hunt – “The Big One”: Product Hunt is a community where new tech products are posted and upvoted daily. Getting featured here can drive huge traffic. Plan your Product Hunt launch strategically. Post on a Tuesday or Wednesday (those days get the most activity. Prepare attractive visuals (screenshots or a demo video), and write a catchy tagline that clearly states what your product does. Engage with every comment during launch day – thank people, answer questions, gather feedback. Also, mobilise your network beforehand: kindly ask friends, existing users, and social followers to support your Product Hunt post with an upvote or comment in the first few hours. A successful Product Hunt launch can yield hundreds of signups and significant buzz (one founder reported 1,800 site visits in the first week from a launch).

BetaList & Other “Coming Soon” Sites: If you’re pre-launch or in beta, sites like BetaList and Launching Next list upcoming startups to an audience of early adopters. These won’t drive as much traffic as Product Hunt, but they’re easy wins for a bit of exposure. Submit a short description and your landing page; interested users can sign up to your waitlist. Think of it as free advertising to people actively looking for beta products.

AppSumo: If your product is B2C or prosumer-focused and you’re willing to offer a lifetime deal or heavy discount, AppSumo can be a powerful channel. AppSumo features software deals to a huge audience of small business owners and entrepreneurs. Offering a one-time paid deal (say, a lifetime license for a low price) in the early days can get you a surge of users and revenue. The trade-off is these users pay less (or nothing, if you do a freebie) – but in return you get word-of-mouth and feedback. AppSumo even helps promote products that convert well. This tactic isn’t for everyone, but some SaaS founders credit it for helping them reach a critical mass early on.

Hacker News (Show HN): Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) has a “Show HN” tag where founders share their projects. The HN community is more tech-savvy and blunt with feedback, but it’s worth trying if your product appeals to techies. When you post, title it “Show HN: [Your Product] – [Quick benefit]”. In the text, briefly explain what it does, who it’s for, and crucially, ask for feedback. Example: “Show HN: TaskBot – a tool to automate simple tasks for developers. Built this to scratch my own itch. Looking for feedback on the UI and which integrations to add next!”. If it resonates and makes the HN front page, you’ll get a flood of traffic and very candid feedback (thick skin recommended!).

Indie Hackers and SaaS Forums: Indie Hackers is a community of bootstrapped founders sharing their progress. Write a post about your journey building the product, why you built it, and that you’re looking for early users and feedback. Personal, story-driven posts (with a link to your product at the end) tend to do well. Likewise, share in relevant subreddits (e.g. r/startups, r/SaaS) and online forums – but be genuine and transparent, not spammy. Many communities have rules against pure self-promo, so a good approach is to be an active member first: comment on others’ posts, answer questions, contribute value. Then when you share your own product, people recognize you and are more receptive.

• Founder Tip: Time your launches appropriately. If you can, line up your BetaList, Product Hunt, and other announcements around the same timeframe to create a splash. Also, make sure your product is stable enough to handle new users – even if it’s an MVP, fix any glaring bugs in your signup or onboarding flow before a big launch day. You don’t want hard-earned visitors to bounce due to a preventable error.

Step 5: Engage with Niche Communities (Reddit, Slack, Facebook & More)

Beyond the major launch platforms, much of your first 100 users will likely come from niche online communities. Find where your target audience congregates – whether that’s a subreddit, a LinkedIn group, a Discord server, or a specialised forum – and become an active, helpful member there. This is a slower burn strategy but incredibly powerful because you’re building relationships and credibility.

Reddit: Reddit has communities (subreddits) for almost every interest. Seek out subreddits related to the problem you solve. For instance, if you have a developer tool, check out r/devops or r/programming; if it’s a fitness app, maybe r/fitness or r/bodyweightfitness; for B2B SaaS, r/startups and r/EntrepreneurRideAlong are popular. Important: Don’t join and immediately start plugging your product – Redditors smell marketing from a mile away. Instead, spend a couple of weeks commenting, answering questions, and contributing genuinely. When you do share your product, frame it as “I made this thing that might help with [problem] – would love feedback”. Some subreddits even have specific “Feedback Friday” threads or rules for promo. By engaging the right way, Reddit can drive excellent early traffic. One SaaS founder noted that relevant subreddits were a great place to find pain points and casually mention their tool when it truly addressed someone’s question.

Slack & Discord Communities: There are hundreds of Slack/Discord groups for professionals and hobbyists. For example, NoCodeDevs, Designership, Indie Worldwide, or local ones like Aussie Founders Club Slack, all host folks who love trying new products. Join a few that align with your industry. Contribute to discussions and see what problems people talk about. When appropriate, you can mention your product or even ask if anyone wants to beta test it. Often, Slack communities have a channel for #launch or #shameless-plugs – use those. Pro tip: If you see someone in the community express a problem that your SaaS can solve, DM them (politely) offering them free access to try your solution. Position it as you’d love their feedback since they clearly understand the problem.

Facebook & LinkedIn Groups: Don’t overlook these. Facebook, in particular, has a group for everything. Examples: “SaaS Growth Hacks”, “Startup Melbourne”, “Digital Marketers Australia”, etc. Search for keywords and you’ll find active communities. Similar drill – share valuable content or answers first, build some presence, then share your product story or a limited-time invite. Many group rules allow self-promotion only on certain days or threads, so check the guidelines.

Online Maker Communities: Websites like Product Hunt Makers, Dev.to, or Hashnode (for dev products) are spaces where builders share progress. “Building in public” is a trend where you regularly update a community on your journey (e.g., “Week 4: I have 20 users, here’s what I learned…”). This not only keeps you accountable, it generates interest. People love to follow along a founder’s story and will root for you – and often become users out of goodwill and curiosity.

• Founder Tip: The key with communities is to give more than you take. If your only posts are “try my app!”, you’ll be ignored or even banned. But if you’re the founder who’s always helping others (“That error you’re seeing, I encountered it last month – here’s how to fix it…”) then when you do share your product, folks are far more inclined to support you. It’s about building relationships, not one-off advertisements.

Step 6: Offer Early-Bird Incentives and Beta Access Perks

To encourage those fence-sitters to jump in early, consider offering special incentives for early adopters. People love feeling like they’re part of something exclusive, especially if they’re getting a great deal. Plus, a smart incentive can turn your early users into evangelists.

Founding Member Deals: A popular approach is a limited-time lifetime deal or discount for your first batch of users. For example, you might offer “Lifetime access for $99 for our first 50 users” or “50% off your subscription for the first year if you join the beta program.” This rewards early users for taking a chance on you. It can also inject a bit of revenue early on (helpful if you’re bootstrapped). Ensure that whatever deal you offer makes sense financially, but remember these early users are also giving you feedback and social proof, which is invaluable. Many successful SaaS started with a cheap lifetime plan for initial users, then switched to subscription later on – early users felt happy they got in early, and the company got testimonials and word-of-mouth boost.

Beta Tester Badges & Influence: If your product is in beta, involve your beta users deeply. Give them a badge or status like “Founding Member” on their profile. Invite them to a private Slack or forum where they can talk directly to you and each other. People love being insiders. You can also give beta users influence on the product direction – e.g., “Vote on what feature we should build next” or “Beta users get to unlock this feature first”. This makes them feel invested in your success. One tactic is to send a personal thank-you note or even swag (like a sticker or T-shirt) to your first cohort of users – a little appreciation goes a long way to turning users into champions.

Referral Incentives: Even at user #10 or #20, start thinking about referrals. Build a simple referral program where early users get rewarded for bringing in their friends. It could be extra features, an upgrade, or even a gift card. The classic example is Dropbox’s referral program, which gave both the referrer and the friend an extra 500MB of storage. This simple tweak led to astronomical growth – Dropbox users doubled every 3 months and achieved 3900% growth in 15 months largely thanks to referrals! You don’t need to engineer something complex from day one; even a manual referral approach can work initially. For instance, tell your beta users “If you invite someone and they sign up, email me and I’ll extend both of your free trial periods by 2 months.” Make it easy and beneficial on both sides (reward the inviter and the new user). People are 4 times more likely to try a product if referred by a friend, because trust is built-in. Leverage that.

Figure: Dropbox’s famous two-sided referral program offered extra free storage to both referrers and invitees, turning happy users into a viral growth engine. Early SaaS startups can adapt this idea on a smaller scale to get their first users through word-of-mouth.

• Founder Tip: Scarcity and exclusivity can be powerful. Phrases like “Only 10 spots left in our private beta!” or “Join the founding members list (closing soon)” can nudge people to act. Just use these ethically – you want genuine early adopters who stick around, not someone who signs up just because of FOMO and never engages. Always ensure that the value of the incentive is aligned with something that enhances their experience of your product (like more usage, more features, or just a feeling of VIP status).

Step 7: Partner with Influencers or Complementary Businesses

Sometimes, getting to 100 users means piggybacking on someone who already has your audience’s attention. This doesn’t require huge celebrity endorsements; often, micro-influencers or niche content creators are more approachable and effective for startups. Also, think about collaborations with businesses that serve the same audience in a non-competing way.

Micro-Influencers and Industry Experts: Identify a few individuals who have trust and following in your product’s domain. It could be a YouTuber who reviews SaaS tools, a blogger in your industry, or even a well-known professional on LinkedIn. For example, if you built a marketing tool, maybe a marketing podcast host or a growth hacker on Twitter with 5,000 followers could be ideal. These micro-influencers often have highly engaged audiences and are more likely to give you a shoutout or try your product if it aligns with their content. Reach out with a friendly pitch: be upfront and offer them something of value – a free account, an affiliate commission, or even co-creating content (“Would love to have you guest-post on our blog, and we can feature your business too”). Emphasize why you think your product fits their audience. Many will ignore you, but a few might respond. All you need is one decent mention to get a nice bump in signups. For instance, Canva famously brought on Guy Kawasaki as their chief evangelist, who with his industry credibility helped triple Canva’s user base in just two months. While you likely can’t land a tech legend like Guy in your early days, even a local industry figure or a niche influencer can drive dozens of sign-ups through a recommendation.

Cross-Promote with Complementary Startups: Are there established products or services that target a similar user base but aren’t competitors? Team up! Perhaps you built a project management SaaS – you could partner with a time-tracking app or an invoicing app targeting the same small businesses. This could be as simple as doing a joint webinar, guest posting on each other’s blogs, or agreeing to mention each other in your newsletters. Both parties benefit by exposing each product to the other’s audience. Early on, your “audience” might just be an email list of 50 people – that’s fine. It’s the collaboration and association that can lend credibility and a few new users. Don’t hesitate to reach out to other founders; many remember what it was like in the early days and are happy to support a fellow founder.

Local Partnerships: Since we’re focusing on the Australian market, consider local influencer angles. Is there a popular Aussie tech newsletter or startup podcast you can get featured in? (For example, Startup Daily or a local tech news site.) Can you attend a virtual demo day by an incubator like Startmate and show off your product? Australia has a tight-knit startup community – if you get a few influential people to say “Hey check out this new Aussie SaaS”, you’ll gain trust faster among Australian users than an unknown foreign tool might. Use that hometown advantage!

• Founder Tip: When you do get any press or influencer mention, make the most of it. Share it on your social media, put logos or quotes on your landing page (“Featured on Startup Daily” or “So-and-so (Marketing Influencer) called us ‘a game-changer for small biz’”). This creates a virtuous cycle – new visitors see those and trust you more, increasing the chance they’ll sign up. Social proof is cumulative.

Step 8: Listen to Feedback and Iterate Quickly

As you start picking up those initial users through the steps above, remember your job isn’t done once they sign up. In fact, the real work begins: keeping them and learning from them. The faster you improve your product to fit what users want, the easier it will be to attract the next 100 and beyond (because your product will inherently become more recommendable). Iterating based on feedback is one of your unfair advantages as a startup – you can deliver changes and personal touches that big companies can’t.

Implement Feedback Loops: Set up ways for users to easily give feedback. This could be an email after their first week asking “How’s it going? Anything confusing?”, an in-app chat widget, or a quick Google Forms survey. You can even personally reach out to early users and hop on a 15-minute call to hear their thoughts. Yes, not everyone will respond, but those who do are giving you gold. Look for common themes: Are multiple users asking for a certain integration? Did two people get stuck at the same onboarding step? Tackle those issues fast. For example, if several users say the setup is too hard, maybe create a quickstart guide or simplify that flow in your next update.

Engage and Delight: One thing that sets successful startups apart is how they treat early users. Be exceptionally responsive – if a user emails with a problem, reply promptly (within hours if you can) and keep them in the loop on a fix. If a feature request is reasonable, try to build it and surprise them – “Hey Jane, you mentioned exporting data – we just added that in!”. This level of attentiveness not only prevents churn, it turns users into loyal fans. A great example is Slack in its early days: Stewart Butterfield and his team famously replied to every piece of user feedback and even thanked users publicly for suggestions. Slack’s early users felt heard and became evangelists, powering Slack’s word-of-mouth growth. You can create that same kind of personal touch. As a small Aussie SaaS, you can deliver a friendliness and personal care that big U.S. competitors maybe don’t – lean into that.

Measure What Users Do: Keep an eye on usage patterns. If 100 people sign up but only 20 actually use the product more than once, you might have a activation problem. Figure out where the others dropped off – was it at account creation, first login, first data input? Use analytics or even manual checks. Then reach out: a polite nudge email like “Noticed you didn’t get to try X feature – need any help?” can re-engage some, or at least learn why they lost interest. Treat every departed user as a lesson, not a failure.

Iterate Your Messaging Too: Sometimes the issue isn’t the product, but how you’re communicating it. If you find people aren’t quite understanding the value, revisit your value proposition and onboarding. Try different headlines, or emphasize a different pain point that seemed to resonate during your user interviews. You can A/B test landing page copy even with small traffic. Continuously refine how you explain your product until people consistently say “Ah, I need this” rather than “So, what does it do exactly?”.

By iterating rapidly based on feedback, you not only improve your chances of retaining users, you also generate goodwill. Early users love to see their input having a direct impact (“They actually built my suggestion!”). That makes them more likely to stick around, tell others, and be patient through the early hiccups. Remember, these first 100 users are your partners in building something great, not just customers.

Conclusion: Grow Your SaaS with Grit, Focus and Community

Getting your first 100 SaaS users won’t happen by accident – but you can do it with a mix of hustle, smart targeting, and genuine engagement. Let’s recap the journey:

• Start Small & Focused: Identify a specific niche and problem you solve. It’s better to have 100 users who really need your product than 1,000 who kind of care. As the saying goes, nail a niche before you go broad. This focus also makes your marketing easier and more cost-effective.
• Be Your Own Chief Evangelist: In the early days, you are the marketing engine. Leverage your network, reach out to people directly, and share your passion. Users respond to authenticity and founder stories much more than slick ads. As one growth expert put it, many startups fail by “fighting 2025 wars with 2020 weapons” – but by building relationships and community, you’re using timeless tactics that still work wonders.
• Go Where Your Users Are: Whether it’s Product Hunt, Reddit, Slack groups, or local meetups, immerse yourself in the communities your potential users inhabit. Offer value first, then present your product as a solution to a problem they’ve voiced. This consultative approach builds trust, and trust is everything when you’re new.
• Incentivise and Encourage Sharing: Give people reasons to join early (exclusive deals, being part of a beta group) and reasons to invite others (referral rewards). Your early adopters can become a volunteer marketing team if you enable them. Recall that 92% of people trust recommendations from friends over any ad – so turning one happy user into two, two into four, is a compounding strategy to reach 100 and beyond.
• Learn and Improve Continuously: Treat every user interaction as an opportunity to improve your product and messaging. Iterate quickly based on feedback. When users see a product getting better week by week, they get excited to be on the journey with you. They’ll stick around and even re-engage those who lapsed.

Finally, keep a positive, resilient mindset. Hitting 100 users might take longer than expected – or you might get there quick and then hit a plateau at 200. Either way, remember that even huge companies like Atlassian, Canva, and Slack started with a handful of users and a ton of uncertainties. What set them apart was consistent execution and listening to users. You’ve got this! Every single user you win is a victory and a learning. Celebrate the small wins (your 10th user, your first referral signup, your first user from outside your city…). These wins add up.

And you’re not alone on this journey. If you need guidance, feedback, or an extra pair of hands to accelerate your SaaS growth, that’s exactly what we love doing at Appomate. ?

Ready to supercharge your SaaS user acquisition? Reach out to Appomate for a friendly chat. We’ve helped founders in Australia take their products from MVP to thousands of users, and we’d love to help you too. Whether you need a growth strategy session, technical support, or just some advice over coffee, we’re here to empower you to get further, faster. Contact us today and let’s hit that 100-user milestone together!