TL;DR: Building proves you can create a solution. Finding users proves the solution matters to someone. These are separate questions, and finishin...
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Really insightful read. The comparison between the developer building for designers (no audience) versus the accountant building for their own clients (built-in audience) perfectly highlights how the "building vs. selling" difficulty is entirely relative to your starting point. It’s a great reminder that audience building and distribution should start long before the MVP is finished. Ultimately, the hardest part of a startup isn't writing the code....it's getting people to adopt the product and stick around because they genuinely find it useful.
Yeah, having an audience before launch definitely makes things easier. You don't have to start from zero.
Our first users never came from a launch. They came from answering people's questions where they already hung out, long before we mentioned what we'd built. Building and finding users are separate skills, but talking to people early makes the second one a lot less scary.
I like this approach. You’re building trust before asking for anything in return. And honestly, those conversations probably teach you things about your users that you’d never learn just by building in isolation..
Agree with this. Answering questions also shows you the exact words people use for their problem, and they're almost never the words we'd put on a landing page.
Did those early answers turn into users straight away, or was it more people remembering you a few weeks later?
That’s a really good point about the language people use. We often describe a problem differently from how the people experiencing it actually talk about it. And I think the trust part takes time, too. People might not need your product today, but they’ll remember you when they do.
I like this approach. You’re building trust before asking for anything in return. And honestly, those conversations probably teach you things about your users that you’d never learn just by building in isolation.
Thanks for this! The point about signups not necessarily meaning real users stuck with me. I recently launched a small party game app, and this made me think about whether people will actually pull it out again at their next gathering. I’ll keep that in mind when asking for feedback.
Now I’m curious whether people will remember it on their own. That’s the real test for a party game!
Exactly. That's what I'm still trying to figure out. People may use it when they need to pick someone, but I don't yet know what will make them come back on their own.
True story. Being a builder is the easy part; getting people to actually use what you've shipped is the real grind. Definitely feels harder. Great topic!
Absolutely. Finding the right users is a challenge of its own.
Bilkul sahi baat hai. Building products is one thing, but finding the right users who actually need them is the real grind. Always a challenge for any founder.
Building is only half the battle. Finding that right fit and making things actually stick is the real grind. Truly appreciate the perspective!
Spot on, Hanzla. Building the tech is just the first mile. The real hustle starts when you actually ship and start solving real problems for people. It’s a journey of constant learning. Keep building!
So true! You learn a lot more once real people start using what you build. Appreciate it! 🙌
I'm trying to turn client work into a repeatable offer, so I'd want to know how much I had to customise before the next person got value. Ten paying customers could still mean ten different projects. That's worthwhile work, but it wouldn't yet tell me I've found a product.
That’s a distinction worth paying attention to. If every client needs something different, you may have a great service, but not yet a repeatable product.
Imo, the first 10 are literally briefcase salesman tactics. You need to get them to try it, directly, through personal engagement, otherwise you're just a business card. Talk to someone, ask if this a problem they're facing, if yes, show, dont tell. That way they see value, not hear some rehearsed stat sheet.
Exactly. A real conversation beats a polished pitch. People need to experience the value for themselves, not just hear us explain it.
The reframe I'd push further: this isn't about which is harder, it's about which one tells you when you're wrong. A failing build gives you a stack trace. A failing launch gives you silence, and silence fits four different diagnoses. Founders don't dodge user conversations because they're hard - they dodge them because building is legible, and legible work is addictive.
One gap: the Superhuman question needs a returning cohort to mean anything. With no returning users, you're surveying people who never really used it.
That’s a fair catch about Superhuman. The distinction between people who sign up and people who actually use the product matters more than I gave it credit for.
Building gives you feedback. Selling gives you silence. I hit a third version last week: publishing gives you silence with numbers attached. I put one question in a piece, 130 people opened it, 20 read past ten seconds, and nobody answered. I could measure the attention and still not name a single reader. So my question: when the first one did write back, was it someone you could not have predicted, and what did they say that made the thing matter? A sentence is enough.
Answering your last question. I work on an AI tools directory, so for us it would be one thing: did the next person leave with a tool they actually went and tried, or did they go back to Google and search again?
If they went back to Google, that's your #3, they never got to the main benefit. If they found a tool but didn't come back the next time they needed one, that's #4. Those need completely different fixes, so knowing which one it is matters more to me than how many people showed up.
The quiet launch flowchart made that split really clear.
The Google part is interesting because someone can leave without finding a tool and you might never know why. Do you track whether people actually try the tools they discover on your directory, or is that something you can't really see?
I have also been struggling getting users. My website is IntegralStocks.com . I have a bunch of features and my competitors do not yet I still cannot get users. What should i Do?
I took a look at your website. One thing I'd suggest is to stop focusing on how many features you have compared to competitors. Pick one specific problem you're solving for a particular group of people and make that the centre of your message. Then try reaching out to those people directly and watch how they actually use the product. Are they not signing up, or are they signing up but not coming back? Those are two very different problems. I'd start there before building anything else.
thanks so much for your feedback. it means a lot
Does anybody have any ideas. I relatively new to DEV and I'm still trying to figure it out
😇 awsome