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How This Bootstrapped Founder Got Their First 100 Users From Reddit (No Ads)


If you're a solo founder or small team trying to grow your SaaS without a marketing budget, this post is for you.

In a world full of paid ads and influencers, Reddit helped me get my first 100 users for free—just by showing up, listening, and responding like a human.

Let me break down exactly how I did it (so you can steal the playbook).

🛠️ The Setup: What I Was Building

I launched a tool called Subreddit Signals that helps founders find leads on Reddit by monitoring conversations and writing human-style replies using AI.

At the time, I had:

  • No audience

  • No newsletter

  • No ad budget

  • Just a landing page, Stripe, and a few working features

Sound familiar?

🔍 Step 1: Lurking (But With Intent)

Before I posted anything, I spent 2 weeks just reading.

I used Reddit’s search feature to dig up posts with keywords like:

  • “How do you promote your SaaS?”

  • “Where can I find my first users?”

  • “Does Reddit work for B2B?”

I wasn’t looking to drop links. I wanted to understand pain points and gather proof that my product could solve real problems.

💬 Step 2: Answering Questions (the Right Way)

Once I found those threads, I started commenting. But here's the rule:

Add real value. Then, and only then, mention what you’ve built—if it’s actually helpful.

Here’s an example of a comment that did really well:

“I had the same problem trying to figure out where to post. I ended up building a tiny bot that tracks keywords across Reddit and notifies me when there’s a match. It’s been crazy effective for lead gen. Happy to share it if you want.”

People responded with:

  • “Can you DM me?”

  • “I’d pay for that.”

I didn’t drop a link. I just told a story and opened the door.

📈 Step 3: Posting (But Like a Human, Not a Marketer)

After a few solid comments, I started writing my own posts in r/SaaS and r/EntrepreneurRideAlong. The key?

Make it sound human. Not perfect.

My first post title:

“Built a small tool to see which Reddit posts could lead to actual users — would love your feedback”

I talked about what it did, why I built it, and asked for input.

No landing page. No aggressive pitch. Just conversation.

That post brought in:

  • 38 comments

  • 92 upvotes

  • 47 users signed up that week

🧪 Step 4: Testing and Following Up

Every time someone asked a question in the comments, I answered it. If they mentioned a pain point, I screenshotted it and used it in my copy.

Reddit became both my distribution channel and my product research lab.

🎯 Results After 30 Days

  • ✅ 100+ users

  • ✅ 0 ad spend

  • ✅ 20+ emails collected

  • ✅ 4 paying subscribers

Not viral. Not explosive. But real, targeted, and compounding. And that’s what matters in the early days.

💡 What Worked (And What Didn’t)

What worked:

  • Writing naturally (like you're texting a founder friend)

  • Genuinely helping people in the comments

  • Sharing stories, not features

  • Using Reddit search to find relevant threads

What didn’t:

  • Dropping a link too early

  • Reposting the same message in different subs

  • Posting in subreddits I hadn’t engaged in first

🧰 Tools That Helped

  • Subreddit Signals – Yes, I used my own tool to monitor Reddit and write better replies.

  • Notion – Tracked which threads worked and collected screenshots of pain points.

  • Google Sheets – Tracked who signed up from where, based on UTM links.

Final Thoughts

Reddit isn’t about going viral. It’s about earning trust at scale.

When you treat it like a conversation instead of a pitch deck, you can get way more than attention—you can get loyal users who stick around.

Want help finding your first 100 users too?
Try Subreddit Signals free for 7 days — it shows you exactly which Reddit posts to comment on and helps you write replies that convert.

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