Your first ten users, by hand.
Recruit your first ten users personally from people who already have the problem, watch them use the product without helping, and ask about their behavior, not their opinions. What they do reveals the roadmap; what they say mostly reveals kindness.
How do I recruit my first users?
- 1List twenty people you know who have the problem, from your community, clients, or DMs. Personal asks convert; broadcasts don't.
- 2Ask for something specific: 'Would you try this for two weeks and tell me where it annoys you?'
- 3Give them founding-member status: a permanent price, their name in the credits, a direct line to you.
- 4Stop at ten. Ten engaged users you talk to weekly beat a hundred silent signups.
How do I test with early users without leading them?
Watch, don't tour. Share a link, give them a real task ('book a session with me'), and stay quiet while they try. The places they hesitate are your redesign list, in priority order.
Ask about the past, not the future. 'When did this last come up? What did you do?' gets you truth. 'Would you use a feature that...?' gets you encouragement, which feels great and predicts nothing. This is the whole thesis of The Mom Test, which is worth an afternoon.
What do I do with the feedback?
Sort it by frequency, not volume. One thing three users tripped on outranks one thing one user demanded loudly.
Fix the top item, ship it, and tell the people who hit it, by name, same day if you can. The loop of 'I said a thing and it changed' is what turns testers into evangelists.
Quick answers.
Should early users get the product free?
Free for the testing window, then a founding price. Perpetual free users give feedback about a product they're not really using.
What if my first users are friends being nice?
That's why you watch behavior instead of collecting opinions. Friends can't fake usage: if they come back without being asked, it's real.
How many user conversations do I need before building?
YC's rough answer: talk to users until the stories repeat, usually 10–20 conversations. Then build the thing every story had in common.
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