How to Get Your First 100 Users for a Vibe-Coded App
By the Maybe Labs teamThe first hundred users are the hardest you'll ever get, because you have no audience, no proof, and no momentum. But they're also the most important — they tell you whether the thing is real. Here's a channel-by-channel playbook for getting them without a budget, tuned for apps you built by vibe coding.
Start where your users already are
You don't need everyone — you need the specific people with the problem you solved. Before posting anywhere, write down the three places those people already gather: a subreddit, a Discord, an X niche, a LinkedIn crowd, a forum. Distribution is easy when you go to an existing gathering and hard when you try to build one from scratch. Go where they are.
The channels, ranked by effort-to-payoff
| Channel | Effort | What it's good for |
|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt launch | Medium | A concentrated burst of early adopters |
| X / build-in-public | Low, ongoing | Compounding audience over weeks |
| Reddit / niche forums | Low | Reaching people actively seeking a fix |
| Low | B2B tools and founder-led reach | |
| Short-form video (TikTok/Reels) | Medium | Reach beyond people who follow you |
| Direct outreach | High | Your very first ten users, by hand |
Launch louder than feels comfortable
Most first launches are too quiet. A link and "I built this" scrolls past in half a second. What stops the scroll is motion — a short video that shows the product doing its thing. On Product Hunt, X, and LinkedIn, a video launch consistently outperforms a screenshot because it earns a second of attention, and a second is all you need to make someone click. See the Product Hunt launch video guide and why solo founders should lead with video.
The reason builders skip the video isn't that they don't believe in it — it's that making one used to take longer than the launch was worth. Maybe Labs removes that: describe what you built and get a launch video in minutes, so "post a video" becomes as cheap as "post a screenshot."
Turn one launch into a month of posts
One launch isn't a strategy — visibility is. The builders who get to a hundred users don't launch once; they stay in the feed. Repurpose your launch video into vertical clips, post an update video every time you ship, and keep showing up. See how to turn one launch video into ten social clips. Consistency compounds far more than any single big moment.
Do the unscalable things first
- DM your first ten users individually. Onboard them by hand.
- Answer every question in public — it doubles as marketing.
- Ask each happy user for one referral or one post. Early word of mouth is gold.
- Ship a fix a user asked for, then tell them. Nothing earns loyalty faster.
- Post your progress build-in-public style; people root for a story, not a product.
First users FAQ
Where do I get my first users?
Where they already are — the specific subreddits, Discords, X niches, or forums for the problem you solved. Then launch loudly on Product Hunt and social with a video, and reach the first ten by direct outreach.
Why does no one use my app?
Almost always distribution, not the product. If you haven't launched with video, posted consistently, and gone to where your users gather, they simply haven't seen it yet.
Do I need a video to launch?
You don't strictly need one, but a video launch reliably outperforms a screenshot because it stops the scroll and shows value fast — which is exactly what you're short on with no audience.
Ready to launch to your first hundred? Describe your app to Maybe Labs and get a video that makes people stop scrolling — the same day you post.
Make your next launch in motion
Maybe Labs turns prompts into product launch and update videos — story, assets, and final cut, start to end.
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