Getting the first 1,000 users for your B2C startup

An exercise in growth hacking and marketing, launch strategy, content creation and community building.

“When building for your first thousand users, you’re not looking for statistical significance — you’re looking for insights. One deep conversation with a user who loves your product is worth more than a hundred lukewarm surveys.”

Rahul Vohra, founder of Superhuman

This post was originally published on VC Cafe.

Getting your first 1,000 users is an important early milestone for any B2C startup. It’s a sign that there’s interest in your product and that you’re on the right track. But how do you get there? What are the most effective strategies for early B2C growth?

In my previous post, I covered how to get to product market fit (PMF), and how to avoid fake PMF. This post is about how to get to your first 1,000 users, and how to get to know your users better, in particular for B2C startups.

Let’s dive into what actually works, based on insights from industry leaders like Rachitsky, First Round Capital, A16Z and my own experience as a product manager.

7 strategies to acquire B2C users in the earliest stage