Your First 100 Users – Smart, scrappy growth tactics that still works in 2025
You don’t need thousands of followers, a paid ad budget, or a viral launch to get started. You just need your first 100 users.
In 2025, the channels may have evolved, but the mindset hasn’t changed: your earliest users come from hustle, not headcount. They come from scrappy growth tactics that feel more like conversations than campaigns.
Start With the Inner Circle (You Already Know Them)
Your first 10–20 users? They’re likely one warm DM away.
Reach out to:
- Former colleagues
- LinkedIn contacts
- Past clients
- Community peers in Slack groups or forums
Don’t pitch. Ask for input. Frame it as:
“I’m building something for [specific user]. Can I show it to you and get your thoughts?”
People love to help builders. If they see value, they’ll convert. If they don’t—they’ll give you gold in the form of honest feedback.
Make a Waitlist That’s Not Boring
A waitlist alone won’t attract users—but one with urgency and incentives will.
Use a tool like Beehiiv or Tally to create a simple sign-up page. But go further:
- Explain why early access matters
- Offer a bonus: early feature requests, 1:1 onboarding, discount
- Gamify it: unlock faster access by sharing with friends
You’re not collecting emails—you’re collecting anticipation.
Cold Outreach That Converts (If You Personalize It)
Cold messages still work in 2025. But templates don’t.
Use tools like Apollo.io or Instantly to find leads who look like your ideal user. Then write like a human:
“Hey Sam, I noticed you run a remote team and often post about hiring challenges. I’m testing a tool to simplify async hiring—want early access?”
Personalization turns strangers into beta users. Even 10 replies from 100 sends is a win at this stage.
Show Up Where Your Users Already Hang Out
You don’t need to go viral on Twitter—you need to go narrow on communities.
Examples:
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Building for designers? Hang out in Designer Hangout.
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Targeting early-stage founders? Share learnings in Indie Hackers.
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Selling to HR leaders? Answer questions on PeopleHum or specialized HR subreddits.
Don’t drop links. Offer value, tell stories, ask questions, and share your journey. Links can follow.
Bonus tip: turn your product into a case study and share how you’re using it. That’s startup inception, and it works.
Turn Feedback Into Referrals
After your first 20–30 users are onboard, you’ve got your best channel: referrals.
But here’s the secret—don’t just ask, engineer it.
Ways to do that:
- Ask users for testimonials you can reuse on social/email
- Give away referral rewards: lifetime access, merch, exclusive features
- Build viral loops into the onboarding (“Invite 3 friends and unlock X”)
At FoundersMax, we guide founders in designing these loops—because nothing scales faster than people telling others, “You’ve got to try this.”
Tools to Help You Hustle Without a Budget
- Loom: Record walkthroughs of your MVP to send in outreach.
- Figma: Mock up features fast, no code needed.
- Carrd: Build simple landing pages in minutes.
- Posthog: Track usage and activation of your early users.
- Loopp: Hire AI engineers or builders to prototype fast.
Your first 100 users don’t come from performance marketing, they come from being useful, visible, and human.
It’s not about scaling—it’s about listening, adjusting, and getting real people to care.
Once you’ve got them, everything gets easier: investor conversations, case studies, traction slides, and even word-of-mouth. But you only get there by showing up first.
And if you need help figuring out how to talk to those users, where to find them, or what to offer, FoundersMax can help you co-build the path to traction.
Your next user might be one message away. Go send it.
