How to Get Your First SaaS Users: A Beginner-Friendly Guide for Non-Marketers

TL;DR

If you’ve built a SaaS product but have no idea how to get your first users, this guide walks you from “I launched something” to “people are actually using (and paying for) it.” You’ll learn how to:

Define exactly who your product is for
Find where they hang out online
Talk to them without feeling salesy
Gather feedback that actually improves your product
Iterate the smart way
Build early traction, community, and momentum

You don’t need to be a marketer — just curious, consistent, and willing to listen. This is Part 1 of your beginner-friendly roadmap to real SaaS growth.

When you’re a founder who’s chosen the path of SaaS with intention, you’re already operating with an advantage. You’re actively learning, asking questions, surrounding yourself with people who stretch your thinking. Your first goal is to understand the SaaS world from the inside out: the language, metrics, workflows, and expectations.

However, most builders today don’t start with that foundation. They jump in with enthusiasm, not knowledge. They build first and learn later. And that gap is exactly where things begin to stall. To close that gap, I’ve written this guide for daring builders, not polished “founders.”

Simply put, I’ve written it for “you” — you who saw a problem, had an idea, opened your laptop, and built something. Maybe you coded it yourself. Maybe you used AI tools. Either way, you now have a real SaaS product ready to be used by people.

So, you’ve spent weeks refining it, fixing bugs, polishing the UI, and now you’re ready for the world to see it. But then reality hits. No one knows it exists yet, and the idea of reaching out or promoting it feels overwhelming.

This guide shows what to do next, step by step. From “I have a product” to “I’m solving real problems and people are paying for it.”

Think of it as a beginner-friendly path to SaaS growth. You’ll learn the skills necessary to get people interested (early traction), and gather proof that your idea truly solves a real problem (validation) without feeling like a marketer.

Let’s dive in.

Know Who You Built This For

Before you do anything, pause and answer this honestly: “Who exactly did you build this for?”

Is it for freelancers tired of messy invoices?
Is it for small teams who can’t manage workflow efficiently?
Is it for newsletter creators trying to grow their audience?

If you can’t name a specific person or at least describe them clearly, you’re not ready to grow yet.

It’s tempting to say “anyone can use it,” but when you talk to everyone, no one listens.

This is the foundation of defining your SaaS target audience.

Why this matters

About 42% of startups fail because there’s no real market need. Not because the product was bad, but because it wasn’t built for a specific audience.

To help you along, try writing a single sentence that defines who your product is for. Feel free to use the template below:

“This product is for [type of person] who struggles with [specific pain].”

If you can’t finish that sentence confidently, that’s your first problem to solve. It is a core step in SaaS product validation.

Go Where Your People Hang Out

Once you know who your audience is, go where they spend time online. That’s where your learning begins and where real SaaS user research happens.

Where to start

Reddit (r/EntrepreneurRideAlong, r/micro_saas, r/saas)
X (Twitter) Communities (build in public) and Spaces
Indie Hackers
Discord servers
Facebook or Slack groups for niche communities

Don’t jump in selling. Listen first. Read threads. Watch what frustrates people.

A comment from a builder on Indie Hackers sums it up well:

“I spent six months building for Indie Hackers. My first real customer taught me I was wrong.”

If you skip this, you’ll end up promoting in the wrong places or talking to people who never needed your solution in the first place. It is one of the fastest ways to stall SaaS growth.

Talk to Them (Even if It Feels Awkward)

Now it’s time to actually talk to users. This is the cornerstone of SaaS user feedback.

Start small. Three to five people is enough to learn more than you’ll ever get from guessing.

Ask questions like

“What’s frustrating about doing X right now?”
“If a tool like this existed, what would make it actually useful?”
“What’s the hardest part of the problem this product solves?”
“Have you tried similar tools before? What didn’t you like?”
“Would you pay for a solution that fixed this? Why or why not?”

Keep it human, not corporate. You’re not pitching. You’re investigating.

Approach Them Like a Human, Not a Salesperson

The biggest mistake new builders make is sounding like they’re selling something when they’re just trying to learn. It kills early SaaS user engagement.

When reaching out, try something simple:

“Hey. I’ve been working on a small tool that tries to fix this specific frustration. You seem to know a lot about this area. Could I get your honest feedback on whether this even makes sense?”

No pressure. No pitch. Just curiosity.

If you lead with “try my product,” they’ll ignore you.

If you lead with “help me understand,” they’ll engage.

Gather Insights the Smart Way

Don’t rely only on casual chats. Structure your learning.

How to collect feedback

Create a Google Form with 5 questions
Post it in communities you frequent
Offer incentives like early access
Run quick polls in communities or X Spaces
Start with friends or peers to polish your questions

Your goal is to find repeating pain points, not random opinions.

If you skip this, you’ll end up solving one person’s problem instead of a pattern many people share. Strong insights fuel SaaS feature prioritization.

Iterate Based on What You Learn

Once you have insights, update your product. This is the heart of lean SaaS development.

Keep features that solve real frustrations.
Archive “nice to have” ideas.
Fix friction first. Fancy features later.

Then go back to the same people:

“Hey. I made a few tweaks based on your feedback. Want to take another look?”

For example, a solo builder said on Reddit:

“My SaaS AI Backlinker had a long, clunky onboarding flow, and people were dropping off before they ever became users. Once I fixed it, my conversion rate jumped by 67% in just 2 weeks.”

Small changes. Big impact.

Log Every Step of the Journey

Document everything. Feedback, changes, wins, mistakes.

This also becomes future content for SaaS launch threads or case studies.

Why log it

You’ll see your progress
You’ll notice patterns
You’ll avoid repeating mistakes
You’ll have proof of your journey

Use Notion, Google Sheets, or a simple journal.

Get People to Try Your Product

You’re not selling yet. You’re validating, which is core SaaS early-stage traction work.

Ways to get early testers

Free trial or beta access
Product Hunt
Indie Hackers community
Reddit threads
Short, honest DMs

Make early users feel like co-builders: “You’re helping me shape this from the ground up.”

From an Indie Hackers thread:

“The sooner you put your products in front of your users, the better … the feedback loop with your users has more value than the time trying to perfect everything on your own.”

Add Analytics Early

You can’t fix what you can’t see.

Tools you can use

Watch for

Drop-off points
Features used the most
Hesitation points

If you skip this, you’ll keep guessing instead of knowing. Data gives you your first real SaaS growth metrics.