This content originally appeared on HackerNoon and was authored by Alexander Isora 🦄
These are from my indie maker career: 7 years of actually making a SaaS from $0 to $16,000 MMR and observing others.
\ Enjoy!
Idea #1
This is one stupidly simple, but unobvious. It brought me the first 5 paid users in 2018: find people in your contact list who could be your customers.
\ Ex-colleagues, partners, freelance clients, bosses. Sell them your product.
\ The most loyal people are the easiest to sell to.
Idea #2
Make a waitlist from day 0. While you are preparing your app, testing it, and approaching potential clients, your list grows.
\
For example, my new SaaS, logbeat.com, was announced 6 months ago. I started gathering emails then. Now, I have a list of the first ~100 potential clients.
Idea #3
Make a side-project! 🙂
\ Side projects are fun and easy to create.
\ One free site I made to promote my SaaS (uigenerator.org) brought in a total of ~100 paid clients = ~$20k profit over 4 years.
\ I should have created one each month! 😭😭😭
\ More side project ideas: x.com/alexanderisora…
Idea #4
Be active on 𝕏.
\ Just come up every day and write about what you did or learned.
\ Your goal is to master your writing and storytelling skills.
\ Aim to make a post that you yourself truly enjoy reading.
Idea #5
After you are good at writing, aim to make a viral post (100k+ views).
\ Your goal now is to upgrade from a good writer into a great one.
Idea #6
Repurpose your best tweet into a YouTube video.
\ Example: Slidebean makes videos to promote their presentation SaaS.
Idea #7
Make a list of competitors. Check their products, messages, offers, and landing pages.
\ Check their company/founder 𝕏 accounts.
\ Research the accounts of the people that follow them.
\
You will get MASSIVE insights.
Idea #8
Build a "useless but fun" micro-tool.
\
Those easily go viral on social networks.
Idea #9
DM the users of the competitor's apps. Choose the people who actually complained or asked for smth.
\
E.g., if I want to promote my side-project makeimagetransparent.com, I go to all comments complaining about Figma not having this feature and offer them my tool.
Idea #10
Launch your startup on Product Hunt.
\ It won't be as well as it was in 2019 (isora.me/product-hunt-l…).
\ Also, you won't get significant traffic without an army of fans.
\ But it is still worth launching.
\ In the worst scenario, you will get a cool backlink.
Idea #11
Launch the project on all startup alternatives: Devhunt.org, Uneed.best, etc.
\ You can find the list of all PH clients here: startupswiki.org/books/places-t…
\ Not much traffic, but you still have some chances to find a client there.
Idea #12
Besides launchpads, post your startup on all directories. You can google them with "list of startups" or just use John Rush's Listingbott to save time.
Idea #13
Idea #14
Make a community! 😁
\ If your startup is an email service, make a community of people working with emails.
\ Example: my Telegram group of indie makers: isora.me/solo-founders-… I made it to promote my site builder. Got some clients from it.
Tools: Discord, Telegram, FB, 𝕏
Idea #15
Write a book.
\ It does not have to be an academic 700-page read. Just make a 40-page brochure and call it "a book." 😁
\ If you are not an expert at anything, do a lot of research and write a book based on your findings.
\ Just don't ask Grok to "write a book"! It won't work!
Idea #16
Make a free list of influencers/bloggers in your industry.
\ Share it on 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝.
\
Add this line: "I did this list to promote my startup
Idea #17
Do SEO.
\ Yes, SEO can be quick: https://x.com/johnrushx/status/1724564921977885060
Idea #18
Write the story of how and why you started your project.
\ Make it a real good one.
\ Pay x2 attention to the "why" part.
\ Share it on hackernews, starterstory, r/bootstrappedSaaS, r/sideproject.
Idea #19
Cold DMs. They work if cooked properly:
- find potential clients
- read what they work on (spend at least 10 minutes)
- ask a genuine question about their work and the problems they have
- offer the solution
\ Do not automate it. Do not use templates. Do not do mass DMs (5 DMs/day).
Idea #20
Become ultra-active on Product Hunt.
\ PH is full of your potential clients.
\ If you write meaningful (I said MEANINGFUL 😁) comments there, you will get free a constant attention to your project.
Idea #21
Make a promo video and publish it on YouTube.
\ Get views from their search. Not huge but something.
\
Tools: use my app paracast.io or hire a freelancer.
Idea #22
Piggyback on big platform launches.
\ When a big platform (e.g., OpenAI) drops an update, instantly build a demo using it + your product.
\ Example: John Rush made a directory of custom GPTs using his directory builder https://x.com/johnrushx/status/1732820070638690312
Idea #23
Make a new forum! Yes, old-fashioned online website with threads and comments. Some people prefer that way rather than chatting on 𝕏.
Forums also have huge SEO potential.
\ Example: broadwise.org
\ Tools: Discourse
Idea #24
Create an ULTRA-minimalistic micro tool.
\ Those get viral on 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙙𝙞𝙩 and hackernews.
\ Put your ad there later, after it gets trending.
\
Example: uploadfile.click — dead simple no-sign up Dropbox alternative.
Idea #25
Run a tiny LTD campaign.
\ Aim for 20-50 purchases. Do it for the sake of getting your initial community built up, not for the sake of money.
\
Here is my story of raising $10k with LTD: isora.me/i-raised-10k-f…
Idea #26
Find all competitors in your niche. Compare them with each other and make a post.
\ You must really use each of the tools and deeply understand their strong/weak points!
\ Publish it on hackernews, /r/saas, r/bootstrappedSaaS, r/sideproject
Idea #27
Collect great examples of what your product does.
\ E.g. if you are building a promo video generator (like paracast.io 😎), find the 20 most beautiful promo videos of SaaS/apps. Make a collection. Share it.
Idea #28
Start a niched-down media.
\ E.g. if you are selling a SaaS boilerplate, make an 𝕏 account that posts SaaS ideas (smth like @microstartups). The readers will take the ideas and create SaaS using your boilerplate.
Idea #29
Browse 𝕏/r͎e͎d͎d͎i͎t͎, and find the discussions of your potential clients.
\ Make a useful comment manually. Invest >1 hour in it. A good one will stay there for 3-5 years and become your free traffic source.
If it is bad, no one will upvote it, and you will have 0 clicks.
Idea #30
Create a niched-down Wikipedia.
\ Yeah, like the big one, but just for the small topic of your niche.
\ Example: https://startupswiki.org/
\ Tool: BookStack (don't use docuwiki: it's too old)
Idea #31
Start a podcast!
\ Example: x.com/alexanderisora…
\ P.S. If you start one, let me know. I will add it to my list startupideaspodcast.com
Idea #32
Make your users promote your startup. Add something shareable to your product.
\ Here is a great example by Intercom: (1-minute read).intercom.com/blog/shareable…
Idea #33
Make a reply under someone's else viral tweet. It takes time and luck to make really fit. But if you monitor 𝕏, you'll be able to do it eventually.
A perfect example from John: x.com/johnrushx/stat…
\
Bonus: the list of startup influencers to follow: x.com/i/lists/177842…
Idea #34
Find the top vloggers on YouTube in your niche. Sort their videos by "popular".Steal the top 3 video ideas. Make better versions of those.
Idea #35
Create a free limited version of a popular paid app. Promote it as a side-project.
\ Examples: cut out captions generator from descript or 𝕏 analytics from typefully
\ You will attract users of those tools who only need that 1 thing.
Idea #36
Separate your SaaS into 50 smaller ones and launch them individually.
\ E.g. my video maker paracast.io will be split into:
- SaaS promo video maker
- book announcement video generator
- new integration video generator
+ 20 more…
\ Each will have a separate landing page and launch.
Idea #37
Generate pretty hi-res illustrations and give them away as a free set.
\ I made these with recraft.ai/invite/Zqgblhx…
Idea #38
Start a personal blog.
\ Mine (isora.me) brings me 165 clicks per month. Not huge, but it has a compound effect.
\
Every time you write a post on 𝕏 or on гeddt, copy-paste the whole text on your blog first.
Idea #39
Open-source a part of your product (or the whole).
\ This will allow you to get listed for free on many OS communities and dev tools launchpads (e.g. devhunt.org).
Idea #40
Publish a "State of the Industry" report.
\ Survey 100+ people in your niche, analyze trends, and release them publicly. Instant authority + backlinks 💪
Idea #41
Get listed on new platforms.
\ E.g. if you are making a time-tracker, make a Chrome Extension version of it.
\ If you are making a product image generator, make a Shopify app for it.
\ Those stores will open your app to a new audience for free.
Idea #42
Make memes!
\ Memes have the highest virality potential.
\ Therefore, you can get thousands of users quickly.
\ Learn the art of memes from the king Dago Renouf and create your own.
Idea #43
Try so-called "Nostalgia Marketing."
\ Design a retro landing page, icons set, font, UI library, or smth similar.
\
Example: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=428141…
That's all, Folks! 😮💨
This post took me 7.5 hours to write 🙂
\ If you like it and want more, follow me on 𝕏 @alexanderisorax
\ and subscribe to my email list: 10k.isora.me
\ C ya! 😘
\
\
This content originally appeared on HackerNoon and was authored by Alexander Isora 🦄
Alexander Isora 🦄 | Sciencx (2025-03-04T00:21:10+00:00) How to Find the First 100 Paid Clients for Your Startup: 45 Growth Ideas I Gathered. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/03/04/how-to-find-the-first-100-paid-clients-for-your-startup-45-growth-ideas-i-gathered/
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