Marketing for Founders TL;DR: This is a collection of practical marketing resources to get the first 10 / 100 / 1000 users for your SaaS / App / Startup. Let’s face it. Marketing is tough, especially if you’re a technical founder moving the first steps with your startup. While there’s a ton of advice out there, most of the time it's about scaling some VC-funded startup with a big marketing budget to $1,000,000 ARR and 100,000 users. Inspirational? Sure. Actionable? Not really. This is why you’ll find here a practical collection of startup resources, tips, and some tools to help you: 🎯 find the first users for your startup 📣 promote your SaaS without a budget 🚀 build your Go-To-Market strategy Ready to get started? Just pick a topic: 📣 Places To Launch Your Startup 😾 Marketing for Product Hunt Launch NEW! 📷 Social Media Marketing ❄ Sales & Cold Outreach 📈 SEO 🤖 LLM SEO, AEO, GEO 🦊 Marketing on Reddit 💌 Email Marketing 🧲 Content Marketing 💸 Ads 👩🏫 Influencer Marketing 💑 Affiliates and Referrals 🛠 Free-Tool Marketing 🎯 Landing Pages, Messaging and Positioning 🎰 Pricing 🔥 Conversion Rate Optimization 💡 Idea Validation ⚗ User Research 🧨 Other resources PS. Leave me a star ⭐ if you find this useful! 📣 Places To Launch Your Startup Launch platforms, software directories, and communities are an easy way to get the first users for your startup and a tiny, steady flow of people to your SaaS. Some of the following may not be relevant for your product, but (hopefully) can give you ideas on what to look for. Launch platforms: Betalist Fazier Uneed Microlaunch Peerlist Indie Hackers Hacker News ProductHunt SideProjectors LaunchIgniter PeerPush Software directories: Toolfolio toools.design OpenAlternative LibHunt SaaSHub SaaS Genius G2 TrustPilot Capterra There's an AI for that Alternativeto SourceForge Softonic TrustMRR Lifetime deals platforms & groups: AppSumo RocketHub StackSocial SaaS Mantra Saas Warrior LTD Hunt KEN Moo Lifetimo Prime Club SaasZilla SaaSPirate ProductCanyon Dealmirror Dealify Subreddits (always check the rules before posting anything): Sideproject Selfhosted - use flair "Product Announcement" Webdev - use flair "Showoff Saturday" Startup_Ideas Indiehackers - use flair "Self Promotion" Internetisbeautiful Roastmystartup Alphaandbetausers Iosapps - use flair "Dev - Self Promotion" Saasbuild BuyFromEU - use flair "European Product" Buildinpublic Scaleinpublic ShowMeYourSaaS DevelopersIndia - use flair "I made this" Androidapps - use flair "Self Promotion" iOSProgramming - use flair "App Saturday" MVPLaunch Macapps TheFounders - use flair "Show" Apps - use flair "App" Chrome_extensions - use flair "Self Promotion" LaunchMyStartup ProductHunters Startups_promotion TestMyApp ProductivityApps ShowYourApp PS. You can find more websites to launch your startup here (thanks Sandra) and, if you're running an AI startup, here. PPS. You can find a few tips for writing a great launch post here. 😾 Marketing for Product Hunt Launch Product Hunt is still one of the most effective ways to get early users (if you can pull off a successful launch). Yes, it takes a lot of preparation, promotion and follow-up work but hitting #1 on Product Hunt can get you a ton of honest feedback, downloads, users and PR buzz. Use these guides to plan your launch strategy: How to rank #1 on Product Hunt How to successfully launch on Product Hunt Product Hunt launch step-by-step guide + templates Product Hunt Launch Workbook 📷 Social Media Marketing Managing multiple accounts across all social media platforms can be pretty intense (there’s a reason why it’s a full-time job); however, there are a couple of strategies worth trying: building in public and social listening. Building in Public - it’s the easiest social media marketing tactic. In a nutshell, it’s about using your personal profile to share expertise, product updates, and behind-the-scenes content: How to Build in Public as a Founder The Ultimate Founder-Led LinkedIn Guide LinkedIn CEO/Founder playbook 199 LinkedIn post examples 6 hacks to get the most out of LinkedIn The Ultimate Founder & Team LinkedIn Playbook Turn Building in Public into your most profitable GTM channel How to market to developers on Twitter SuperX Twitter Analytics extension - to find top performing tweets from other accounts Find your Following and How to Dominate Twitter/X by Dagobert Renouf - 2 courses by OG Build in Public creators Social listening - tracking and joining online conversations on topics related to your Startup is pretty helpful to get in touch with users and learn more about them: Social Listening: Identifying High-Intent Mentions to Grow Your SaaS Sample set-up from Simple Analytics F5 bot - a free tool to track mentions on Hacker News and Reddit BOFU Keyword Ideas - to brainstorm keywords to track Other Social Media Marketing Guides: Organic Growth Guide for TikTok and Instagram Pinterest Growth Guide How to Market a Viral App through organic UGC ❄ Sales & Cold Outreach Most people hate cold outreach and everything connected with direct sales. Yes, depending on your approach, it might be hard to scale and time-intensive, but cold emails and DMs are the most straightforward way to get in touch with potential users, collect precious early-stage feedback and find the first customers for your startup. So, how can you find people on target? What should you write in your messages? And how can you scale cold outreach? Here are a few ideas to set up your SaaS sales strategy:
