Launching without a social media presence — how do you get your first real users?
I’ve just launched something I built to solve a real pain I faced (opensecatlas.com) . It’s a curated directory of free/open-source tools that I wish existed when I needed it. I used vibe coding to build and refine it quickly, and I’m proud of what came out.
But here’s the problem: I don’t have a big following. No established X/Twitter, no strong LinkedIn presence, no personal brand. I see other makers and influencers launch something and immediately get thousands of visitors. For me, even though the product is real and solves a problem, it feels invisible.
I’m stuck between two questions:
1. How do you get initial visibility when you’re starting from zero online presence?
2. Where do you go to get honest feedback and early testers beyond family and friends?
I know consistency and community engagement is the long-term answer, but right now, I’d love to hear from people who were in my position:
• How did you get your first 50–100 testers?
• What strategies worked for you that didn’t require an existing audience?
• Are there communities (like this one) where it’s okay to share and ask for feedback without being seen as spammy?
I don’t want to just shout into the void. I want people to actually test what I made, tell me what’s broken, and help me shape it into something useful.
Would love to hear your experiences.
Replies
Absolutely hear you on this. I’m still early in my own journey too, and even with something real it can feel invisible without reach. I fell into the weirdly brutal trap of thinking a good product would make its own noise lmao
What’s helped me so far has been leaning hard into Reddit threads + Discords where people already talk about the pain my product solves, and framing it as sharing lessons rather than pitching. It’s slow, but those first handful of testers you win that way actually engage, and that’s worth more than empty traffic.
Cold outreach did us wonders starting from zero, and we did this while concurrently building up following on social media where we knew our target audience to already be so we'd get the most authentic and valuable feedback on our build. It gets more fun with time
@dheerajdotexe Thanks man. Good to know other people also share similar pain point. I'll work on it organically and see what works.
Finden
@taylor_ashley1 I am hoping. I am still pre-launch trying to get the UI and User Flow right. This is literally my first product and its a passion product, I don't intend to make money just want to get feedback and see what works what doesnt. I will be launching in a week once I am ready with some additional elements.
Almost every community has people who want to meet in person. Find a local meetup or attend a conference for your industry and just start talking to people. People generally like giving feedback and helping others if it's convenient for them to do so.
@william_zeidler I will definitely try that. Thanks. I always had this idea that online products/services need online people.
@ali_arshad3 This is also a quick (and relatively inexpensive) way to determine if you are targeting the wrong group of people too. It may also be necessary for you to speak with multiple stakeholder groups as the end users of your product may not necessarily be empowered to make purchasing decisions for their organizations.
@william_zeidler Hmm, thats an intersting thought. I didn't consider that. Thanks