How to Honestly Get Your First 100 Users (Growth Hacking Is a Lie)

Growth hacking is a lie. Honestly telling people is the fastest path.

100K MAU is a dream, 100 is reality

We keep wanting to look at the big numbers. "How did Baemin get a million users?" But they were also 100 users at first. Ask about that process and most people are disappointed by the answer. "Nothing special really. The co-founders just walked around the cafeterias at Seoul universities and explained the app to people directly."

The secret to the first 100 isn't a fancy growth-hacking trick. It's an honest sentence. Explain clearly, without exaggeration, in front of people who'd recognize the problem your product solves.

Why growth hacking doesn't work for solo founders

"Growth hacking" sounds magical when you first hear it. Like Dropbox getting millions of users from one referral feature. But that's a misconception. Growth hacking only works when you have a team.

Dropbox's success was 6 months of dozens of people analyzing, experimenting, and optimizing after the feature was built — not the referral feature itself. If you're solo, what are you doing for those 6 months? Growth hacking isn't free. Ad spend, tool subscriptions, test development costs. Few solo founders can pour all of that into an idea that might die in a week.

Growth hacking is what "teams that already hit PMF" use to "draw the next curve." You're still at the stage of testing the hypothesis "do 100 people actually want this?" In this stage, honestly telling people is far more effective.

ProductHunt + Korean channels, double play

ProductHunt is still strong, but the rules changed in 2024. With algorithm changes, only ~10% of launches get "Featured" status, and that drives 70% of success. In other words, luck plays a big role.

Hit Korean channels in parallel. Disquiet, GeekNews, Clien, Ppomppu, Blind. These communities are much more "honest" than ProductHunt. Ads and tricks don't work here.

Specific timing

• 1 week before: notify Korean channel mods in advance
• Launch morning (US Eastern): register on ProductHunt
• Korean afternoon/evening: simultaneous launch posts on Korean channels

This way, warm traffic from ProductHunt becomes a trust signal in Korean communities too. The message: "already validated somewhere else."

The craft of the launch post: pitching vs value

The most common mistake is writing the launch post like an ad. Starting with "revolutionary," "groundbreaking," "this will change your life." Experienced community members close the tab on the first sentence.

3 steps of an honest launch post

1. One clear problem: "Our monthly AI bill was 5M KRW. Did you know that just tweaking prompts could cut that by 60%?"
2. What you built, briefly: "So I built a dashboard that batches AI API calls and analyzes the logs."
3. Ask + deadline: "Looking for 30 beta users. If you want to give feedback, fill this form. Onboarding 1 per day starting next week."

What never to do: testimonials from co-founders or friends. The community knows. They're your fans. Strangers' eyes are what's valuable.

Launch-post 7-item check

• Does the headline avoid words like "revolutionary"?
• Did you state a specific problem? (e.g., "from 5M KRW to 2M KRW")
• Can someone understand what you built in 20 seconds?
• Is there a screenshot or short demo video?
• Is it honest enough to feel "kinda lacking"?
• Is the deadline clear?
• Is the feedback-contact method clear?

Korean indie-maker first-100 cases

Daangn's "university rounds"

Daangn's first 100 was very labor-intensive. The co-founders walked Seoul university cafés, restaurants, and dorms, explaining directly. "We made an app for people living here to buy and sell stuff — want to try?"

University students had to buy and sell daily-life items every semester. The problem existed, and Daangn was the best solution.

Lesson: there's no trick. Show up directly in front of people who clearly have the problem. Go to where your target 100 are physically gathered, introduce yourself, get them to actually try it.

Toss's "explain to Korean financiers"

Toss focused on the Korean finance community instead of ProductHunt. They precisely stated "the problems in the Korean finance system" and then showed "this is how we solved it." Finance professionals understood and adopted it first.

Lesson: don't try to convince everyone. Find the 100 people who will understand your product fastest and go to them first.

Korean SaaS's "Disquiet strategy"

Recently noticed Korean SaaS on Disquiet share one thing in common. They explained "why they felt this problem" in detail. "I wasted 2 hours a month at my company on this problem for 3 years, so I built it."

Lesson: your honest motivation and personal experience are your best marketing asset. Don't hide them.

Korean community mapping

Launch-post template

Title: We built [specific result] (looking for 30 beta testers)

Body:
Hi, I'm [name], [title/experience].

For the past [period], I saw this problem:
- Our team's monthly [metric]: [value]
- Root causes: [3 specific causes]
- Tools that fix this today: none

So I built this:
1. [Feature A] — [specific benefit]
2. [Feature B] — [specific benefit]
3. [Feature C] — [specific benefit]

Now:
- Code is done (GitHub: [link])
- Our team's been using it 2 months
- Actual savings: [value]/month (proof: [screenshot])

Looking for:
- 30 beta testers, 4-week usage
- What you get: free → future pricing TBD (not free forever)

How to join: [Google form] or email in comments.
First 10 confirmed by tomorrow afternoon.

Last thing: I'm not sure this is a good idea.
That's why I need you.

Wrapping up

The real start is what happens after you honestly gather 100 people. Their data decides what comes next. "Continue this idea, change direction, or stop."

Next post: how to read that data. Turning doubts and gut feel into definite signals.

References

1. Product Hunt Launch Playbook: How To Become #1 in 2025 — Arc
2. Smol Launch: How to Launch on Product Hunt in 2026
3. Disquiet — Korean IT makers' hot spot — Wish Mag
4. Free marketing channels for early startups — Brunch
5. GeekNews

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Next: Signal, Not Gut: How a Solo Founder Reads Data (North Star Metric)

Minchul Kim, CEO of Freeive, Fail School