The hardest 100

Getting your first 100 users is usually harder than getting your next 1,000.

Before you have any users, nothing about your product is socially proven. Nobody is talking about it. There’s no usage to amplify. There’s no momentum. You’re starting from zero, with nothing to point to.

That’s why the first 100 take a different kind of effort than later growth. The tactics that scale — paid ads, broad content campaigns, viral mechanics — usually don’t work at the very start. The work is more direct, more personal, and more handmade than founders expect.

Once you’ve done it well, though, the next users come more easily. Word of mouth begins. Social proof accumulates. The product has stories to tell. The first 100 are the foundation for everything that follows.

Do things that don’t...

How to get your first 100 users