How do founders get their first users without an existing audience or network?

To get your first users without an existing audience or network, experienced founders rely on manual, "unscalable" efforts, targeted outreach, and leveraging existing communities where potential customers already spend their time.

1. The "Manual First" Network Search

Almost without exception, the first three to five customers come from a founder’s personal network or people just one introduction away.
* Warm Introductions: Y Combinator emphasizes that "warm intros" are the most effective hack, often converting at two to three times the rate of cold outreach. They suggest "turning over every rock"—friends, former colleagues, and school alumni Y Combinator — How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails @ 01:00.
* Hypothesis Testing: One founder mentioned by Y Combinator spoke to 200 salespeople before building a product, using LinkedIn connection requests as "user research on steroids" to build a pipeline Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 09:20.

2. High-Effort Manual Outreach

When you have no network, you must "show up" where your customers are.
* Community Infiltration: Founders find where customers are complaining about their problems, such as Reddit, Facebook groups, or Discord. One healthcare founder spent months responding to Reddit complaints to get her first users Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 06:13.
* The "Vulnerability Scan" Tactic: Successful outreach often provides value before asking for a meeting. For example, a security company might perform a free vulnerability scan on a prospect's site and send the results as a foot-in-the-door Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 10:16.
* Physical Presence: If digital outreach fails, founders go in person. One founder closed more deals in three days walking the floor at a trade show than in three months of cold emailing Y Combinator — How to Get Your First 10 Customers @ 01:40.

3. Borrowing Existing Distribution

If you don't have an audience, find someone who does.
* The Dream 100: Greg Isenberg suggests the "Dream 100" method: making a list of people or organizations that already have your target audience and finding ways to partner with them or provide value to them Greg Isenberg — How to get your first customers (even with ZERO audience) @ 03:04.
* Directory Listings: Some founders use "curated" discovery. The founder of StealthGPT got his first customers by listing on Futurepedia, which led to a TikTok creator finding and featuring the tool Starter Story — I Turned $150 into $2M/Year @ 06:07.
* Strategic Investors: Brett Malinowski highlights the Beehiiv founder’s strategy of taking checks from "strategic investors" who were also influencers with large newsletters, creating an immediate user base for the launch Brett Malinowski — How To Make $500,000 A Month In SAAS @ 36:34.

4. Validating with Cash

Where many founders wait to build the full product, experienced founders use high-friction barriers (like charging money) to validate real interest.
* Pre-Selling Design: Brett Malinowski advises mocking up a clickable prototype in Figma and selling lifetime access for a few hundred dollars before writing a single line of code Brett Malinowski — Digital Dropshipping @ 06:08.
* High-Ticket Pilots: Y Combinator recommends "paid pilots" that roll into recurring contracts, as paying customers provide much sharper and more useful feedback than free users Y Combinator — How To Get Your First Users @ 01:23.

Where they disagree:
While Greg Isenberg often advocates for an "Audience-First" approach (building a community before a product), Jesse Pujji (guest on Isenberg’s podcast) points out that he built his first multi-million dollar business by working his network manually first, arguing that you can "work your network" even when it feels like you don't have a large one Greg Isenberg — 5 startup ideas targeting profitable niches @ 15:17.

— Sources: 14 videos across 4 creators