To get your first 100 users, recruit them yourself: find people who already have the problem, invite them directly, help them succeed with your product, and use what you learn to improve it. There is no guaranteed five-step formula; these moves are practical ways to create early conversations and learn whether your product is useful.
1. Find people who already have the problem
Do not wait for early users to discover a product they have never heard of. Paul Graham’s 2013 essay “Do Things that Don’t Scale” argues that founders often have to recruit their first users manually. Start with a plausible early-adopter group: people who already experience the problem or exhibit the behavior your product serves.
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For a B2B product
Identify the person who can actually buy or authorize the product, not just someone who might find it interesting. Build a short list of organizations and people that fit, find an appropriate way to contact them, and send a plain-text note explaining why you chose them and asking for a brief conversation or trial. Start with a small group so you can learn from replies and adjust your approach. Follow up when appropriate, without turning persistence into pressure.
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For a consumer product
Look for people already doing the activity your product supports. Reach them where that behavior occurs: in relevant online groups, events, workplaces, or other real-world settings. Ask about the problem and offer the product when it is genuinely relevant. In online communities, learn the local rules first; a cold commercial pitch or a disguised promotion can damage trust.
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Choose a channel for learning, not just reach
Compare potential channels by how close they put you to people with the problem, whether you can speak with them directly, the effort required to start a conversation or activate a user, and the quality and speed of the feedback. Also consider privacy expectations and community norms. A channel that produces fewer sign-ups may be more valuable if it helps you understand why people use—or abandon—the product.
2. Help each new user get started
When someone agrees to try the product, help them reach a useful outcome while their interest is fresh. Watch for confusing steps, missing information, and setup barriers. If you can resolve a problem in the moment, do so, then note what the product should make easier next time.
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YC’s essential startup advice emphasizes launching, talking with users, and iterating; its examples include Airbnb’s founders photographing early listings themselves. Graham also recounts Stripe’s founders setting up early users on the spot. These are historical examples of hands-on effort, not instructions to copy literally: choose the kind of help that fits your product and user.
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Answer questions personally, respond promptly where you can, and remove avoidable friction. If helping someone complete a task reveals a gap, treat that service interaction as product discovery as well as support. Graham describes founders giving early customers unusually attentive service, including handwritten thank-you notes. The useful principle is care and responsiveness, not performing a gesture that feels artificial for your business.
4. Watch people use the product, then improve it
Ask users what they think the product does, then invite them to try a task and narrate what they are thinking as they go. YC partner Gustaf Alströmer recommended this approach in the 2018 Growth AMA. Observe where someone hesitates, misunderstands a label, or reaches for a workaround. Ask what they value and what they would do if the product were unavailable.
Use the answers to decide what to change, then watch whether the change helps people complete the task. Compliments, stated interest, or a promising interview are not by themselves proof of demand. Pay attention to what users actually do, whether they return, and whether the product becomes part of how they solve the problem.
5. Focus on the users who care most—and automate later
After a few conversations and trials, look for the people who are most engaged and the circumstances they share. Graham recommends finding more users like the enthusiastic ones or narrowing the market to a subset where the product can become useful. A focused group is often easier to reach and learn from than a broad audience with little in common.
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Keep manual work that helps you understand what users need; automate a repeated bottleneck once you know what the process should do. Manual onboarding, for example, can expose the steps a self-serve flow must eventually handle. It is a learning method, not a requirement to keep every process manual as the user base grows.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to adapt the approach to your product
If your product is a marketplace
Work out which side must be present for the other side to get value. In Airbnb’s early case, hosts mattered before guests; another marketplace may need buyers first. Recruit the side that makes the initial experience worthwhile, and consider incentives only in light of the specific supply-and-demand problem. The right order depends on the marketplace, not on a universal launch rule.
If you are considering a launch or partnership
A major launch or corporate partnership can consume substantial time without creating the direct learning or early growth you need. Graham and YC caution founders against letting press or corporate development displace talking with users and building. That is a reason to assess the work carefully, not a claim that every launch or partnership fails.
What “100 users” should—and should not—tell you
A sign-up count measures acquisition, not whether the product solves a lasting problem. YC’s “Before You Grow” warns about the “leaky bucket”: users may arrive but not stay. Look for return use, successful completion of the core task, and whether users recommend the product without being prompted. Net Promoter Score is one possible measure, not a universal threshold or substitute for observing behavior.
Graham’s 2013 essay uses 10% weekly growth to illustrate compounding: at 100 users, adding 10 in the next week is 10% growth. Its projection of about 14,000 users after a year and 2 million after two years is an illustration, not an observed result, forecast, or benchmark for every startup. Likewise, Alströmer’s 2018 AMA gives rough expectations for a B2B cold-email workflow—about 40% opens, 5–10% clicks, and fewer than 5% product trials—but does not provide a sampling method. Treat those figures as dated source examples, not current or universal performance standards.
A practical first-user loop
- Choose a narrow group: define who has the problem and how you can recognize them.
- Contact people personally: explain why the product may be relevant and make a clear, low-pressure ask.
- Help them reach an outcome: observe setup and use, and remove immediate friction.
- Ask and watch: learn what they expected, where they struggled, and whether they return.
- Improve and repeat: focus on the most engaged segment and automate only after the manual process has taught you what to build.
These five moves synthesize founder advice and examples; they are not a controlled, universal method with a known probability of reaching 100 users. The goal is not merely to collect 100 accounts. It is to find a group of people who genuinely need the product, help them succeed, and learn enough to make the next group easier to serve.
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