How to Get Your First 10 Users for a New App (2026)
Where to find the first ten people for a new app, what to say to them, how to onboard them by hand, and how to turn them into the feedback that shapes version two.
Key Takeaways
- Recruit by hand, on purpose. Paul Graham’s essay “Do Things That Don’t Scale” argues that nearly all startups have to recruit their first users manually; waiting for them rarely works.
- Ten of the right people beat a hundred of the wrong ones. Pick people who have the problem now and already spend effort on a workaround.
- Personal messages, not broadcasts. A short note that names their situation and asks for a small favour gets far more replies than a public launch post.
- Onboard them yourself. Sit with each one (in person or on a call) while they set up. You’ll fix more in an hour than in a week of guessing.
- Track every person in one sheet. Invited, signed up, completed the main action, came back, what they said. Ten rows is your first real dashboard.
Quick-Start Prioritization Framework
| Source | Best for | Effort | Typical approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| People you interviewed | Any app; they already described the problem | Low | Personal message with the link |
| Your own network | Apps for a group you belong to | Low | One-to-one messages, not a group blast |
| Online communities | Niche hobbies, professions, local groups | Medium | Contribute first, follow rules, then share |
| Where the problem happens | Local and in-person problems | Medium | Visit, ask, set them up on the spot |
| Cold outreach | Business tools with clear buyers | High | Short, specific, one clear ask |
Your first ten users won’t come from an ad, a launch post or an app store listing. They come from you, one conversation at a time. That sounds slow, and it is. It is also the fastest way to learn whether your app solves a real problem, because ten people you know by name will tell you things a thousand anonymous visitors never will. This guide covers who those ten should be, where to find them, the messages that get replies, and how to make sure they actually use the app once they sign up.
Why the first ten are different
Your first users are not a marketing problem. They are a learning problem. You need people who will use an unfinished product, put up with its gaps and tell you honestly what’s wrong.
Paul Graham’s essay is the standard reference here. He argues that founders resist manual recruiting out of shyness and because early numbers look too small to matter, and points out that compounding changes the picture: 10% weekly growth from 100 users reaches about 14,000 in a year. You can’t compound from zero, though. Someone has to bring in the first ten.
Who your first ten should be
The best early users have the problem now, are already doing something about it (a spreadsheet, a group chat, a paper notebook), and are reachable by you personally. They don’t have to be your eventual biggest market. They have to care enough to try something rough.
Who to avoid counting
Your mum, your co-founder’s partner and friends being kind are welcome to try it, but don’t count them. They will be polite. Rob Fitzpatrick’s The Mom Test is named for exactly this: the people who love you will tell you the idea is good, so ask about their behaviour, not their opinion.
Where to find them
Start with the closest sources and move outwards. Most apps get their first ten from the first two.
1. The people you already talked to
If you interviewed potential users before building, they are your warmest leads. They told you about the problem; now you can show them what you built because of it. Message each one personally and reference what they said.
2. Your own network, one by one
List everyone you know who has the problem or works with people who do: colleagues, former colleagues, clubs, classes, neighbours. Message individually. A group post gets a few likes; a personal message gets a reply.
3. Communities where the problem is discussed
Forums, subreddits, Slack and Discord groups, Facebook groups and professional associations where people already complain about the problem. Read the rules first; many ban self-promotion. The approach that works is to answer questions helpfully for a while, then share your app where it’s relevant and allowed, framed as “I built this for the problem in this thread, looking for five people to try it”.
4. Where the problem physically happens
For local or in-person problems, go there. Airbnb’s founders, Graham notes, went door to door in New York recruiting hosts. A booking app for barbers is best sold in barbershops. Bring a phone and set people up on the spot.
5. Cold outreach
For business tools, find people by role on LinkedIn or company websites and send short, specific messages. Expect a low reply rate and send more of them. Personalise the first line for every message; templates that look like templates get ignored.
What to say: messages that get replies
Good recruiting messages share a structure: who you are, why you’re writing to them specifically, what you built, and one small, clear ask. Keep them under 100 words.
To someone you interviewed
“Hi Dana, last month you told me the worst part of running the climbing club was chasing who’s paid for the term. I built a small app that tracks it and sends reminders. Would you try it with your next session and tell me where it’s annoying? It takes about five minutes to set up, and I’m happy to do it with you on a call. [link]”
To someone in your network
“Hi Marco, you mentioned your team tracks client requests in a shared spreadsheet. I’ve built a simple tool for exactly that and I’m looking for five teams to try it for two weeks, free. You’d get my full attention for any fixes. Interested? If not, no worries at all.”
In a community (where allowed)
“I’ve been reading threads here about losing track of plant watering for big collections. I built a small web app that reminds you per plant and logs what you did. Looking for five people with 30+ plants to try it and tell me what’s missing. Not selling anything yet. Comment or DM if you’re up for it.”
Follow-up
If there’s no reply, follow up once after about a week with something new: “Quick follow-up: two club organisers are using it now and I’ve added the export you’d need. Still happy to set it up with you.” Then let it go.
Onboard every user by hand
Getting someone to sign up is half the job. Most early users who sign up and leave do so in the first few minutes, often at a step you didn’t think about.
Do the setup with them
Graham describes the Collison brothers at Stripe: rather than asking if someone would try their beta, they’d say “Right then, give me your laptop” and set them up on the spot. Do the same. Offer a 15-minute call or a visit. Watch them sign up and do the main action for the first time, and help only when they’re stuck.
Make the first use real
An empty app teaches nothing. Help them put in their real data during the session: their actual club members, their actual plants, their actual client requests. People come back to an app that already contains their stuff.
Agree the next step
End each session with a specific next moment: “Next Tuesday’s session, use it to take attendance, and I’ll message you Wednesday to hear how it went.” Then do exactly that.
Track the ten in one sheet
Use a simple spreadsheet. Ten rows tells you more than any analytics tool at this stage.
| Column | What to write |
|---|---|
| Name and source | Who they are and where they came from |
| Invited / replied | Dates |
| Signed up | Date, and whether you onboarded them |
| Completed main action | Yes/no and date of first time |
| Came back | Did they use it again in week two? |
| What they said | Exact words, especially complaints and requests |
| Next step | What you promised and when |
The number that matters
Of the people who completed the main action once, how many did it again the next week without you prompting? That is the earliest honest sign of value. Sign-ups only show that your message worked.
What to do once they’re using it
Your first ten are also your design team. Treat them that way.
- Fix what blocks them within days, and tell them it’s fixed. Fast fixes build loyalty more than features.
- Ask about behaviour: “What did you do last time you needed this?” not “Would you use feature X?”
- Ask who else has the problem. Your best next users are usually friends of your first ones.
- Write down exact words they use to describe the app. They become your landing page copy.
- Notice which users use it most and what they have in common. That’s your sharpest target.
A two-week plan to your first ten
An illustrative schedule, assuming the app’s main flow already works.
| Days | Do | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | List 40 people who have the problem, from all five sources | A named list |
| 3–4 | Send 20 personal messages | 5–8 replies |
| 5–8 | Onboard each person who replies, live | 5 people complete the main action |
| 9–10 | Send 20 more messages, including referrals from the first users | More replies |
| 11–14 | Onboard, follow up with week-one users, fix the top blocker | 10 users, with notes on who came back |
Common mistakes
These are the patterns that leave founders with a launched app and no users.
- Posting once on social media or a launch site and waiting.
- Group messages and broadcasts instead of one-to-one notes.
- Counting friends and family who signed up to be kind.
- Letting people sign up alone and never finding out where they got stuck.
- Pitching the vision instead of asking for one small, specific favour.
- Ignoring community rules and getting banned from the best source of users.
- Adding features for users who never came back, instead of fixing what blocked those who did.
If you don’t have an app to share yet
If you’d rather not build the first version yourself before recruiting, an AI builder can get you to a shareable link quickly. Floot, which publishes this site, builds and publishes full-stack web apps from a description, with free publishing on every plan and built-in visitor analytics for published apps.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get my first users with no audience?
Recruit them one by one: people you interviewed, people in your network who have the problem, communities where the problem is discussed, and places where it happens in person. Personal messages with a small, clear ask work far better than public posts.
Should I launch on Product Hunt or similar sites for my first users?
A launch site can bring a spike of visitors, but they are mostly browsing, not people with your problem. It is usually more useful once you have early users who can vouch for the product.
Should my first users pay?
It can be a strong signal if willingness to pay is your biggest question. Many founders let the first ten use it free in exchange for regular feedback, then ask them to pay when the core flow works well.
How long does it take to get the first 10 users?
With a working app and a list of people who have the problem, many founders get there in one to three weeks of daily outreach. It depends heavily on how reachable your users are.
What if people sign up but don’t use the app?
Call them and ask what happened. Most often they hit a confusing step, the app was empty, or they had no specific moment to use it. Onboarding them live and agreeing a next use fixes many of these.
Do I need a landing page to get my first users?
Not necessarily. A direct link to the app and a personal message are enough for the first ten. A landing page helps once you’re reaching people who don’t know you.
Sources
- Paul Graham, Do Things That Don’t Scale, 2013 https://paulgraham.com/ds.html
- Rob Fitzpatrick, The Mom Test (book site) https://www.momtestbook.com/
- Y Combinator, One Order of Operations for Starting a Startup (Michael Seibel), 2018 https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/one-order-of-operations-for-starting-a-startup