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How to Get Early Users
Strategies to acquire early users and build momentum on a budget
Alexander D
January 05, 2026
As an early stage startup, getting the word out can be challenging. You don’t have months to spend building a social media following nor a large budget (if any at all) to advertise. I recently met with several founders who have this same problem and thought I’d write about it.
The key is to understand where your users learn about solutions like yours and tap into existing networks to build your user base.
Note: I cover this and other early stage startup challenges in The Founder Manual.
Table of Contents
A note before you begin
At the early stages, you often do things that don’t scale, and that’s fine. So if you’re working on user acquisition and thinking, “this is tedious and definitely won’t scale,” you’re doing it right. You don’t have to find a scalable process because you want to first find a process that gets you results first. Then you can figure out how to scale it.
In the early days of my startup, ClassHook, I searched for “teacher” on LinkedIn and sifted through hundreds of teacher profiles on LinkedIn, reaching out to everyone individually. If I had a mutual connection, I asked for an introduction. This helped secure our first few conversations which were valuable for getting feedback on our idea.
Use the platform where your users spend time on. Not all teachers use LinkedIn, but I found enough teachers on there to start conversations.
I recommend this approach to companies that are just starting to get their first few users (less than 100) since you can get valuable early feedback.
Attend local events
Attending local meetups or virtual industry events gives you face-to-face time with potential users and allows you to collect valuable feedback. These events are also a great opportunity to practice your elevator pitch.
Use Meetup or Facebook to find groups in your area. Genuinely try to learn about the people you speak with since that may tell you about the demographics of your users.
I also recommend this strategy when you’re in the very early user acquisition phases (less than 100 users) because of the rich feedback you can get.
Tap into existing audiences
Many startups try to build their own audience on social media or via a newsletter. If you’re social media savvy and enjoy the work, it’s great to start early. However, your target audience typically isn’t well-defined, so this is often more work than it’s worth at this stage.
Instead, I suggest tapping into networks that have already built up an audience of your target users. It may end up costing some money, but it’s much faster and easier to onboard new users. Speed is key in a startup, and time really is money since you’re still assessing the feasibility of your idea.
Below are a few channels I recommend.
Industry bloggers
Look up bloggers in your industry, and reach out to ask if they can write about you. Oftentimes, bloggers are looking for new content. After you reach out, many will ask for money, some won’t respond, but a few may write about you for free. And if they do, that traffic will be valuable.
In the early days of ClassHook, I emailed many bloggers, describing who we are, what we’re trying to accomplish, and how our solution helps teachers. One popular blogger in particular wrote about us, which led to a huge boost in traffic. I kept him updated as we released new features over the years, and he wrote about us several more times.
For the bloggers that ask for money, go for it if it seems like a good opportunity. Always try to negotiate the price: stating you’re an early stage company just getting off the ground with limited budget tends to help. If they won’t budge on price, ask if they can throw in something extra. You need your limited capital to go as far as possible.
The chances are high that there’s a Facebook or Reddit group tailored to your target audience. A lot of these groups have rules around self-promotion, so make sure to follow the rules. Find out how you can share your work; usually asking for feedback is more welcoming since you’re not trying to sell anything.
Similar to bloggers, reach out to influencers on the social media platforms your target audience frequents, whether it’s Instagram, X, TikTok, etc. I recommend finding influencers who have a mid-sized audience (between 5 - 20K followers) since they are still building their brand and are often more reasonably priced.
Unless you’re savvy with social media, this will allow you to experiment with what resonates with your audience at a lower cost. At ClassHook, I found an influencer (@teachersforteachers) who charged me $150 for 5 posts, which I thought was a great deal given their follower count at the time (about 120K).
Social media influencers are great for quick boosts in traffic to your website. I would save this option for when you’re a bit further along (over 500 users) since your messaging really needs to resonate with your target audience, and at that point it will be a bit more refined.
I tend to prefer bloggers over this channel because the longevity of the content is much better, and blog posts contribute more towards your website SEO.
Trusted industry directories
Some industries have trusted websites that individuals visit to learn about products and tools. Examples in the EdTech industry include the EdTech Index, TeachersFirst, and the Clever Library.
When talking to users, ask how they learn about new products. This could help you find out where these lists are (if they exist). Then learn how to get listed on them.
This is a medium- to long-term strategy, unless you’ll be promoted soon after your company has been listed. It strengthens your SEO and helps you build a stream of traffic.
Apply for awards
Winning an award is a great way to gain credibility for your startup and attract new users. Not all awards are equal, so check that the organization giving out the award is followed by your target audience. Otherwise, you probably won’t see an increase in traffic even if you win.
Some awards cost money, while others are free. I don’t recommend paying for an award at the early stages; that money is much better spent on a blog or social media post.
ClassHook got a huge boost in traffic when we won an AASL Best Websites award in 2017, and it was perfect because our target audience is teachers and librarians.
Just make sure you don’t spend too much time applying for awards. If it takes more than an hour to apply, leave it for when you have more users. At this stage, your main focus is getting new users, not applying for awards.
As such, this is a medium term strategy, when you have a more solid hypothesis, target audience, and product (1,000+ users).
Make the most of your boost in traffic
Whichever channel you use to gain a boost in traffic, note that this boost is likely to be temporary. Use this as an opportunity to learn more about the types of users that are attracted to your solution so you can better tailor to them. People are visiting your website and signing up because they see something valuable. Here are some examples:
Update your onboarding to learn a little more about your users. For example, if you’re catering to teachers, ask which grade levels and subjects they teach. Then create a dashboard so you can see if teachers from a particular area, subject, or grade level are signing up.
Reach out to users to get early feedback. What is the reason they decided to sign up? How is your solution working for them?
If they signed up and haven’t used your website after a while: why did they stop using it?
If you have a paid plan: has anyone tried to subscribe? Why or why not? If not, why didn’t they upgrade? If they subscribed, why did they subscribe?
Have any other tactics for getting early users at your startup? I’d love to hear them! Please share in the comments below.
For more guidance on running your early stage startup, consider subscribing to The Founder Manual.
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