How do you find and acquire your first users without an existing network?

To find and acquire your first users without an existing network, you must shift from a "persuasion" mindset to a "search" mindset. Founders and VCs suggest that the earliest users are not found through broad marketing, but through targeted, manual, and often "unscalable" efforts where people are already expressing pain.

1. Target Communities Where Pain is Public

If you lack a personal network, you should go to online spaces where your target audience is actively complaining about the problem you solve.
* Reddit & Discord: Y Combinator recommends searching for old threads where people express frustration with existing solutions and DMing those commenters one by one. Even if your posts are "ripped apart" by commenters, "lurkers" often see the value and sign up quietly Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 06:13.
* Facebook Groups & Niche Forums: For certain industries, pain is expressed in private Facebook groups or specialized industry message boards. Founders have successfully built $25k/month businesses by simply being helpful in these communities and answering complaints with their solution Starter Story — he used Reddit & Facebook to build a $25K/month business @ 00:44.

2. High-Effort Personal Outreach

When you have no reputation, you must use high-effort tactics to earn trust.
* The "30-Person" Test: Rather than using automation tools immediately, manually find 30 people you are "deeply excited to learn from" and spend 15–20 minutes writing a personalized note to each. This manual phase is critical for learning what resonates before you scale Lenny's Podcast — The ultimate guide to founder-led sales @ 21:27.
* Offer Value First: Instead of a sales pitch, offer something useful. For example, an API security startup might offer a free "vulnerability scan" of a prospect's site, or a founder might pay experts for their time to give product feedback Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 09:09.
* Leverage Mutual Connections: Greg Isenberg suggests that even without a direct network, you can use LinkedIn to find "second or third-degree" connections. Asking a friend of a friend for a warm introduction is significantly more effective than a cold email Greg Isenberg — 5 startup ideas targeting profitable niches @ 15:17.

3. Show Up in Person

For B2B startups, physically being in the same room as your buyer can overcome the lack of an online presence.
* Trade Shows & Conferences: Walking the floor at a specialized industry trade show can lead to more closures in three days than months of cold emailing Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 00:09.
* Local Dominance: Brett Malinowski suggests picking a local demographic (e.g., your own city) to make outreach feel more personal ("Hi, I'm from [City]"). Starting with "small fish" like local barber shops or restaurants allows you to solve real problems and build a track record Brett Malinowski — The 20-year-old making $100k/month with No Code @ 21:24.

4. Subversive Launch Tactics

Once you have a "minimum evolvable product," you can use platforms with built-in discovery.
* Launch Platforms: Hacker News and Product Hunt are classic discovery engines for technical products and DevTools Y Combinator — How To Start A Dev Tools Company @ 09:08.
* Subversive Marketing: Alistair Croll describes "zero-day marketing exploits," such as the founder of Bumble putting up posters in universities that looked like official bans ("No Facebook, No Bumble"), which immediately framed the app as a top-tier competitor Lenny's Podcast — Just evil enough: Subversive marketing strategies @ 06:06.

— Sources: 12 videos across 5 creators