SaaS Customer Acquisition: 12 Tested Ways to Get Your First Users
SaaS customer acquisition kills more apps than bad code ever will. Twelve tested channels, and the three-month grind most founders quit before.
𝟭𝟮 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗮𝗮𝗦 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘇𝗲𝗿𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲.
𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀. 𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
12 tested ways to get your first users. Every single one.
𝟭. 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖 𝗢𝗡 𝗫
→ Post progress, new features and hurdles as they actually happen.
→ Trust compounds, and the audience arrives before the product is ready.
𝟮. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗟𝗬 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘
→ Pick 20-30 US accounts your buyers already follow, notifications on.
→ Taplio built its early traction by replying faster than anyone else.
𝟯. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝟭,𝟬𝟬𝟬-𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗥 𝗗𝗠 𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗗
→ Collect 1,000 prospects with Claude, then message every one personally.
→ Superhuman onboarded its earliest users one at a time, by hand.
𝟰. 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗨𝗦 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛
→ Post about the problem your product solves, not the product.
→ A small relevant audience beats a large irrelevant one.
𝟱. 𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗗𝗜𝗧, 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗣𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚
→ Answer questions in the subreddits your buyers already live in.
→ Promote once and you are finished there.
𝟲. 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗛𝗨𝗡𝗧 𝗟𝗔𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗛 𝗗𝗔𝗬
→ Line up early free users to show up on launch morning.
→ Notion won Product of the Month there back in 2016.
𝟳. 𝗔𝗣𝗣 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦
→ List everywhere: backlinks and organic reach, done once, paying forever.
𝟴. 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗘𝗬 𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧𝗦
→ Post the build story where early adopters go looking for one.
𝟵. 𝗛𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗥 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦
→ Comment usefully and technical buyers find you without a launch.
𝟭𝟬. 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗧-𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗘𝗗 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛
→ Use AI to find people posting the exact complaint you solve.
→ Then write one message that references their actual post.
𝟭𝟭. 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗡𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗥𝗢-𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗟𝗨𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗥𝗦
→ Small niche creators, real reviews, prices a founder can actually pay.
𝟭𝟮. 𝗣𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖
→ Buffer ran 150 guest posts in nine months to over 100,000 users.
→ Slowest channel on this list, and the only one that keeps paying.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀.
Build = the easy half.
Distribution = the hard half.
Months one to three = the grind.
Most founders quit right there.
Commit to all twelve for three months. If you still have no customers, email me and I will buy your first subscription.
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