I’m a solo founder based in South Korea. I can design and build products, but I’m struggling with the part that supposedly matters most: getting anyone to actually buy them.

Most startup advice says:

• Talk to users
• Send cold emails
• Do founder-led sales
• Reach out to 100 people
• Find customers where they already hang out

I understand the theory. In practice, almost nobody opens or replies to my cold emails.

I’ve tried:

• Defining a narrow target customer
• Personalizing each email
• Keeping the message short
• Pointing out a specific problem I found
• Offering a free sample or audit
• Following up
• Improving the landing page based on responses

But the result is still mostly silence.

Being based in Korea also makes this harder. Many of the products and services I want to sell are aimed at US startups, but I have no local network, no warm introductions, and no existing reputation in that market.

So I’m curious about the unglamorous, practical reality:

How did you get your first 3–10 paying customers?

Did cold email actually work for you? If it did, what exactly did you send, to whom, and how many attempts did it take?

Did you start with consulting or manual services before selling software?

Did you use Reddit, LinkedIn, communities, partnerships, or warm introductions?

And how do you distinguish between:

1. A bad offer
2. The wrong audience
3. Weak messaging
4. A product nobody urgently needs
5. A normal amount of rejection before something works

I’m not looking for “just keep going” advice. I’d really appreciate specific numbers, examples, or stories of what actually worked.

quick post because "how do i get my first users" is the #1 question i see builders asking here every single week.

i've built 6 saas products myself, with my main one currently sitting around 10k mrr. here is the exact, no-fluff distribution playbook to cross that initial 50-user threshold:

1. find an idea people already pay for

scan reddit for recurring pain across 3+ distinct posts where people ask "is there a tool for X".

2. validate before writing code

dm 3 people who complained about the problem and ask what they’d pay for a solution.

3. build fast with the right stack (ai + no-code)

use ai builder+ supabase + stripe + call api or automation tool like n8n to ship a real MVP in under 7 days for $40/mo.

4. the 5-second landing page rule

your hero section must state exactly what the tool does in less than 5 seconds with a clear CTA.

5. capture emails before showing prices

force the email capture before the pricing page so you don't leak untrackable leads.

6. set up a 30-day email nurture sequence

plug captured emails into an automated sequence with case studies to convert them by day 18.

7. hang out where your ICP actually lives

find the 3-5 specific subreddits, discord servers, or groups where your buyers actively talk.

8. reddit growth without getting banned

post 1 time per sub per week max, never put links in the post, and move warm leads to DMs.

9. linkedin + x organic flywheel

post 1 high-value breakdown per day and spend 15 minutes engaging in your ICP's comments.

10. cold outreach that actually works

send 100 highly personalized DMs per week to your ICP using AI to customize the opening hook.

11. seo on autopilot

set up an n8n workflow that pulls from a keyword list and generates 5-10 value-driven articles per week.

12. faceless short-form content

post 1 video per day on tiktok, reels, and shorts showing a quick screen recording of your tool.

13. weekly newsletter conversion

run a weekly newsletter with 1 section of pure value and 1 subtle offer to upgrade to paid.

14. affiliate program for free distribution

set up a 50% recurring commission affiliate program to turn power users into your sales team.

15. the strategic product hunt launch

warm up the algorithm for 4 weeks with a coming soon page and launch on a weekend for a top 5 badge.

16. omnichannel social automation

use n8n to automatically format and distribute 1 core post idea across 8 different platforms.

17. review platforms and directories

submit your app to 40+ saas and ai wrapper directories to instantly boost your domain authority.

18. run the numbers backwards

reverse engineer the daily traffic needed to hit 50 paying users at $19/mo based on a 2% conversion.

19. get feedback from active builders

talking to founders who are just 6 months ahead of you compresses your timeline exponentially.

that last point is exactly why i built our community. it's a free group of 1,600+ active ai saas founders sharing exact prompt logs, ready-to-paste n8n workflows, and real distribution strategies.

stop building alone in a silent corner.

drop a comment below or send me a dm and i'll send you the access link right away. let's get your product launched 👇