Get 100 First Users With One No-Pitch Post and a Waitlist

You have no distribution yet, so the first 100 users come from one conversation in the narrow room where the problem is already being discussed. Cedric Roberge, then 22 and working alone, created Pep AI, an app for tracking GLP-1 and peptide use. He shared one straightforward post in niche Reddit communities centered on peptides, biohacking, and GLP-1 weight loss. That single post built a waitlist that produced 100 app downloads on launch day. The launch post was made without a sales pitch or marketing jargon.

The narrow room is the opening distribution

Start where people are comparing notes, sharing workarounds, or complaining about the same gap. The topic should be narrow enough that the complaint is specific, but not so small that there is no one left to answer. In the right subreddit, the problem is already in their words, and your job is to show up with a tool that fits the complaint.

One plain post is the launch

The single-post template: name the shared problem, show you noticed it, ask if anyone wants to use it, then collect a waitlist before launch.

• Find the exact niche where people already describe the problem in their own words. You are done when several threads, posts, or comments use the same complaint without being asked.
• Write a short note that names the shared problem, shows you noticed it, and asks if anyone wants to use a tool. A stranger should be able to answer without feeling sold to.
• Keep the language plain. The message should read like a person, not a campaign.
• Collect interest before the product is public. You are done when there is a simple waitlist link, a clear next step, and a way to say when it is ready.

Do not ask for permission to build. Ask whether the problem is real enough to solve. The reply you want is a request, a question, or a description of a worse workaround.

The common mistake is to lead with the product. A feature in the opening line makes the community treat the post as an ad. Put the shared pain before the tool, and let the reply ask for the link.

Keep the post easy to skim on a phone, because that is where the community is reading.

The waitlist is the first hundred

A waitlist is a commitment you can keep. It tells the person who asked that the product is close, and it gives you a list of people who already understand the problem. When the product is ready, those people become the early users, and their replies become the next signal.

Treat the waitlist as a list of people to answer. The people who join are the ones most likely to send a screenshot, a bug report, or a request for a missing feature. Their early friction is cheaper than losing them later.

Launch when the product can answer the obvious question. A tool that cannot do the core job turns the waitlist into a list of disappointed people. A tool that can do it turns the waitlist into a small group of users who already know why they are there.

Keep the waitlist small enough that you can read every reply. A short list of serious people is more useful than a long list of curious people. You want users who will tell you what is missing, not just people who will say it looks interesting.

Paid channels can come later. They can amplify a product that already has a reason to exist, but they do not replace the initial conversation. The early users are the ones who will tell you whether the product is worth paying for, and they will do it in plain language. In one month, Cedric Roberge spent $30,000 on influencer marketing. That spend generated $60,000 in revenue in the same month, a 2X return on ad spend. The paid numbers can be strong, but they are not the reason the initial users showed up.

Answer the next question, note the next request, and send the access link to the people who asked.