How to get first users for an indie app (without an audience)

If you are wondering how to get first users for an indie app, you are probably past the fun part. The app works, the landing page is up, and the analytics show a flat line. This guide is for that moment: no audience, no ad budget, and a product that deserves a fair shot.

The short version: your first users will not come from a launch. They come from you going to the places your users already are, talking to people one at a time, and making it easy for the ones who like it to bring someone else.

1. Write down exactly who the first user is

"Freelancers" or "students" is not a user. "A freelance designer who sends three to five invoices a month and hates spreadsheets" is. The narrower the description, the easier every next step becomes, because you know which forums, subreddits, Discord servers and newsletters that person reads.

A useful test: could you name five real places online where this person asks questions about the problem your app solves? If not, narrow the description until you can.

2. Go where the problem is already being discussed

People rarely search for a new app. They search for a fix to a problem. That means the best early channels are the threads where someone is already describing the pain:

• Niche communities. Subreddits, Discord and Slack groups, Facebook groups and forums for the profession or hobby, not for founders.
• Q&A threads. Search Reddit, Stack Exchange sites and Quora for the exact phrases your users would type ("how do I track", "is there a tool that"). Old threads still get read through search.
• Comment sections. Blog posts and videos that review competing tools attract exactly the people who are shopping.

Read each community's rules first. Many ban self-promotion outright. In those places, help without linking, and put the app in your profile. In places that allow it, answer the question fully first and mention your app at the end, saying plainly that you built it.

3. Do things that don't scale, on purpose

Your first users are worth far more than their number suggests, because they tell you what is broken and what to build next. Treat them that way:

• Send short personal messages to people who described the problem in public. Mention their post, offer the app free, and ask for ten minutes of feedback in return.
• Onboard people yourself. A quick call or a screen recording made for one person often reveals more than a week of analytics.
• Reply to every signup with a personal email. Ask one question: "What were you hoping this would do?"

None of this scales, and that is fine. At this stage you are not optimizing a funnel; you are finding out whether anyone cares enough to come back.

4. Make the landing page answer three questions fast

When someone does click through, they decide in seconds. The page should answer, above the fold:

1. What is it? One plain sentence, in the user's words, not yours.
2. Is it for me? Name the person or situation directly.
3. What does it cost and what do I do next? A visible price (or "free") and one clear button.

A short screen recording or a few honest screenshots usually beat an illustrated hero image. Show the real app doing the real job.

5. Get listed where people browse for tools

Directories and marketplaces will not make you famous, but they add steady, low-effort discovery and a few backlinks that help search engines find you. Prioritize ones that fit your category: app stores for mobile, itch.io for games, Gumroad's discover pages for digital products, and indie maker directories for everything else. Write each listing for that audience instead of pasting the same blurb everywhere.

6. Build in public, but give people something to react to

Posting progress on X, Bluesky, Mastodon or LinkedIn works best when each post is useful or interesting on its own: a before-and-after, a small lesson, a decision you are stuck on. "Shipped v1.2" gets scrolled past. "I removed signup and activation went up, here's why I think that happened" starts a conversation. Ask questions. People like to weigh in on choices.

7. Turn first users into the next users

Once a handful of people use the app regularly, make sharing natural:

• Ask happy users directly whether they know one other person with the same problem.
• Add sharing where it fits the product: a public link, an export with a small "made with" note, an invite for teammates.
• Ask for a review on the platform where it matters most (an app store, a directory, a community thread).

8. Track the one number that matters

Early on, total signups can mislead you. Watch whether people come back: how many of last week's new users did something meaningful again this week. If that number is near zero, more traffic will not fix it. Talk to the people who left and fix the product first. If people are coming back, that is your signal to push harder on the channels that brought them.

A simple weekly routine

• Monday: find ten fresh threads where your problem is being discussed and answer the ones you can genuinely help with.
• Tuesday to Thursday: message or email five people individually, and ship one improvement based on what you heard.
• Friday: post one honest build-in-public update and submit to one new relevant directory.

Keep it up for a month before judging the results. First users are earned slowly, and the habits that get you the first twenty are the same ones that get you the first two hundred.

Get your app in front of people

One easy step you can take today: list your project free on the Digital Underground Developer Marketplace. There is no fee and no cut of sales, and visitors go straight to your own site. If you like a bit of friendly competition, you can also enter the Maker League to get your project seen by other makers.