12 Proven Strategies to Acquire Your First Users

Getting your first users is brutal. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. You're basically standing in the middle of a crowded marketplace screaming into the void.

The good news? There are ways to shorten the pain. Here are 12 things that actually worked for me and other Australian founders I've talked to.

1. Submit to online directories (yes, still)

I know. Directories sound like 2008 advice. But they work, especially for local businesses in Australia.

Hotfrog, True Local, StartLocal. Get on all of them. Tools like SEO Mode can automate submissions if you're doing a bunch at once. Took me maybe 2 hours to get listed on like 15 directories. Showed up in local search results within a week.

2. Mine free B2B databases

If you're selling to businesses, you need to know who's out there. Platforms like Koala let you browse company lists for free.

I spent a weekend building a spreadsheet of 200 potential clients. Didn't email them all at once (please don't do that). Just picked 10 that seemed like a perfect fit and wrote them real messages. Three replied. One became a customer.

3. Find someone with an audience and team up

Cold outreach to influencers rarely works. What does work: offering them something valuable first.

Guest on their podcast. Co-host a webinar. Let them be first to try your product. The key is making it easy for them to say yes. Don't pitch a massive partnership out of nowhere. Start small.

4. Automate the boring parts of lead gen

Tools like PhantomBuster can scrape LinkedIn profiles, Twitter followers, company lists. Sounds sketchy but it's just data extraction.

Fair warning: you can go too hard with this stuff and get your accounts banned. I learned that the hard way with LinkedIn. Be gentle.

5. Pinterest group boards (seriously)

Pinterest drives more traffic than most people realize. Find group boards in your niche, join them, start pinning stuff that links back to your site.

Works especially well for visual products, food, travel, anything design-related. Probably won't work if you sell B2B software. But worth testing.

6. Hang out in Facebook groups

Not to spam. To actually be helpful.

Pick 3-5 groups where your target customers hang out. Answer questions. Share insights. Build a reputation. After a few weeks, people will start checking out your profile. Then your site.

The mistake everyone makes: posting about their product on day one. Don't do that. You'll get banned.

7. Launch on Product Hunt

Product Hunt can drive a ton of traffic in a single day. I've seen launches get 500+ upvotes and thousands of signups.

But here's the thing nobody tells you: most of those signups don't stick. The PH audience is curious, not necessarily your target market. Still worth doing for the backlinks and visibility. Just don't expect all those numbers to convert.

8. Cold email (but make it good)

Cold email has a bad reputation because most cold emails are terrible. Generic templates, fake personalization, pushy CTAs.

A good cold email: short, specific about why you're emailing them specifically, clear value prop, easy ask. Tools like Apollo help find verified emails and track opens. But the writing still has to be good. No tool fixes bad copy.

9. Recruit beta testers through LinkedIn Jobs

This one's clever. Post a "job listing" for beta testers. People who apply are self-selecting as interested in your space.

You can also just DM people directly. "Hey, I'm building X, looking for people who do Y to test it. Would you be interested?" Low-pressure, works surprisingly often.

10. Reddit (tread carefully)

Reddit can send massive traffic. It can also get you banned if you're too promotional.

The trick: find subreddits where your product solves a real problem people are complaining about. Participate in those conversations genuinely for a while. Then, when it's actually relevant, mention what you've built. Frame it as "I built this to solve my own problem" not "check out my startup."

11. Target newly funded startups

Startups that just raised money are actively spending. They need tools. They're easier to sell to than established companies with locked-in vendors.

Crunchbase tracks funding announcements. I set up an alert for Series A announcements in my space. Every week I'd get a few new potential customers to reach out to.

12. Actually look at Google Search Console

This one's underrated. Search Console shows you what people are already finding you for. Sometimes you'll discover keywords you didn't even know you were ranking for.

I found out people were searching for a feature I'd barely mentioned on my site. Wrote a dedicated page about it. Traffic for that term tripled.

The real takeaway

None of these strategies work if you do them once and stop. Pick 3-4 that fit your business. Do them consistently for a few months.

The first users are the hardest. It gets easier once you have some momentum. But yeah. That first batch? Just grind it out.