How I Found the First 100 Users for Indie10k

Every beginner indie founder dreams of “100 users.” It sounds small — but it’s everything. It’s proof. It’s momentum. It’s the difference between building in a vacuum and building with feedback.

Here’s how I did it for Indie10k., step by step.

1. Start With 5 Real People

Before chasing strangers on Reddit or Product Hunt, I found five humans who’d actually benefit from what I was building.

Indie10k helps indie developers grow their SaaS through daily actionable tasks. So my first five users? Indie founders who already struggle with focus and consistency.

I DM-ed them personally:

“Hey, I’m testing a daily growth gym for indie devs. You get one small actionable task each day. Want to try it for a week and tell me what’s broken?”

No forms. No landing page funnels. Just real conversations and direct feedback.

Those first 5 are gold — because they’ll tell you what nobody else will.

2. Turn Testers Into Early Partners

Once five people say yes, I turned them into Design Partners — not just testers.

I gave about 18 users early access, looking for honest feedback and permission to quote them later.

When someone invests feedback into your product, they stick around.

My first feedback was actually a bad feedback - the user said he wouldn't use it weekly. That was a good feedback on the other hand, driving me to work on next prototype.

3. Expand to 20 Through Conversations, Not Campaigns

The next 15–20 users come from talking where your people hang out. For Indie10k, that’s Indie Hackers, r/SaaS, r/indiehackers, and r/SideProject.

I wouldn’t drop links. I’d share progress and pain.

Example post:

“I realized my app’s copy was so unclear even my mom thought it was a meditation tool. Fixed it. Now I get 3x more people clicking ‘Start My First Rep.’ Here’s how I tested it.”

It’s not self-promo — it’s shared learning. The curious ones will click your profile anyway. That’s pull marketing.

4. Reach 50 by Making Your Process Public

At this stage, I’d start building in public. Share the metrics, not the marketing.

Weekly updates like:

“Week 3: 41 users, 5 daily active, first streak hits 7 days.”

“What I changed this week: simplified onboarding, removed AI chat.”

When you make progress visible, strangers turn into supporters. You stop chasing attention — attention finds you.

5. Scale to 100 by Doubling Down on What Works

Once I see what drives actual signups (say, Reddit and Indie Hackers threads), I’d double down. Polish the landing page. Improve onboarding. Add a referral link for sharing.

The formula is simple:

Don’t add new channels until one channel consistently brings users.

Keep doing what works — and systemize it. Example: schedule one “build-in-public” post every Monday, one “growth lesson” post every Thursday. That rhythm compounds.

As of now, the channel X (formerly Twitter) still do not work for me unfortunately. But it's okay. I got enough early users to test.

6. Make It Evidence-Rich (E-E-A-T Style)

Each step, I’d collect evidence: screenshots, user quotes, version changelogs. Because when you share your journey later, experience becomes your SEO moat.

Google — and humans — reward proof of real work. When you show your process, not just the product, trust follows.

I called it "growth-as-code". Simply put progress into the project codebase. That turns momentum into a code commit. Shipping momentum = shipping code.

7. Keep the Loop Tight

Every 10 users, pause and ask:

Where did they come from?

Why did they sign up?

What made them stay (or leave)?

That’s how you stay in the sweet spot between growth and learning — not chasing empty traffic, but compounding insight.

Rep

Find 5 people who would genuinely benefit from your product. Talk to them, not at them. If you can’t convince 5 humans, you don’t need 100 yet.

Check it out: Indie10k