How to get your first 100 users after launching on Product Hunt

Launch day gives you a spike. The week after usually gives you silence. That’s normal: Product Hunt sends curious makers and tool collectors, not necessarily the people who need your app. The first 100 real users come from somewhere else, and you have to go to them.

1. Write down who the 100 are

Before any tactic, write one sentence: “My first users are ___ who are trying to ___.” If you can’t name where those people talk online (a subreddit, a hashtag, a Discord, a newsletter’s comments), you can’t reach them yet. Fix that first.

2. Answer, don’t announce

Search for people asking the question your app answers. On X and Reddit that means searching the problem in their words, not your product category. Reply with something useful on its own: a step, a number, a link to a useful resource. Mention your app only when it is the direct answer, and say you built it.

Thirty minutes a day of helpful replies beats one big announcement. It also tells you which words people use, which you’ll need for everything else.

3. Talk to the founders who launched this week

Other founders who just launched have the same problem you have, and some are your users. Every day, look at that day’s Product Hunt launches and Show HN posts. Pick the ones close to your audience. Write to them about their launch first: what you liked, one concrete idea. If there’s a fit, offer to try your product on their case.

The strongest version of this is showing, not telling. Our own plan for founder outreach is to draft three posts and a short video for their product first, then ask if they want them. A gift is easier to say yes to than a pitch.

4. Post every day, even when nobody reacts

For the first weeks, almost nobody will see your posts. Post anyway: the posts are proof you’re alive when someone checks your profile after a reply. Mix three things: what you shipped, what you learned, and one useful tip for your audience.

5. Use directories for links, not users

Launch directories are worth an afternoon. Write your description once in three lengths and reuse it. Expect backlinks and a trickle of visits, not a flood of users, and don’t pay for “submit to 500 directories” services.

6. Measure the one thing that matters

Pick one number for the month: sign-ups, activated users or paying users. Tag every link you share so you know which reply, post or DM brought each person. Double down on what brings people, and stop the rest after two weeks.

A realistic two-week plan

1. Days 1–2: write the sentence from step 1 and list ten places your users talk.
2. Days 3–14: 30 minutes of helpful replies and five founder messages a day.
3. Every day: one post. Every Friday: look at which channel brought sign-ups.

None of this is clever. It works because most founders stop after launch day.