This Tweet Went Viral. But It Missed the Point.

I came across this viral thread on X: "You built a SaaS, no ads, no SEO — how do you get your first 100 users?" The answers were interesting, but it got me thinking... why no ads?

In this video, I go through all the most common strategies indie hackers use to get early users: cold outreach, Reddit, Discord, short-form content, community launches, referrals, influencers, built in public — and break down when they work, who they work for, and what their real limitations are.

But most importantly, I talk about why I think not running ads is a missed opportunity for a lot of technical founders. Ads aren't some dark art. They're logical, testable, and honestly a faster way to learn what works. I show how with even a small budget, you can test copy, get real user feedback, figure out your ideal customer, and speed up your entire learning loop.

There are links to other videos if you want to go deeper: how to write copy, how to run ad tests, how to use quizzes to learn from your traffic. If you're early-stage and trying to figure out how to get your product in front of people, this should help make things a bit more clear.