How did you get your first users with zero audience?

Question

Solo developer, no audience, no network, no community presence.I've shipped working products (open-source) but every distribution channel has a cold start problem. you need traction to get traction. Even posting about your work requires reputation you can only build by posting. For those who built something with no existing audience to launch to: what specifically worked to get your first real users? Less interested in theory, more in "I did X and it actually moved the needle."

shakermaker83 · Accepted Answer

I think the reality is no one really knows. You’ll hear things like post on socials, blog/content marketing, build a presence on Reddit…
But to me it seems like the lottery. You try enough things, in enough of the right places, for long enough and eventually something sticks and you get some traction. Most people don’t stick with it long enough to find something that connects for them though.
Ideally you’re working on a product where you already have some legitimacy, thus avoiding the cold start problem.

bruce511 · Answer

Consider your experience up to now as an education.
The hard part is not building a working product. The hard part is finding people to use it.
Yes, building the working product is the fun part. Yes it's the part that overlaps your current skill set. Stop doing it.
Instead of building products, go find customers. It doesn't matter what they want, you can build anything, what matters is they have pain and are looking to pay to make it go away.
That initially means going out to talk to people. Ask about their lives. Find pain. Ask about how much they'd pay to make that pain go away.
The paying part is serious. No one likes tables that rock at the restaurant. But no one pays for a solution- you just push something under the rocking leg.
I know, I know, you just want to code, the customers should just find you, leave cash, and leave. Alas, you and everyone else. That's unfortunately not how it works.