How to Find Users for Your SaaS

Finding your first 10 users is not the same job as finding your first 100 users.

The first 10 are mostly about learning. You want people with enough pain to try something unfinished, explain what they were doing before, and tell you what would make the product useful. The first 100 are about repeatability. You need a source of similar conversations, a clear reply pattern, and enough volume to see which pain points convert.

That is why generic launch advice often disappoints founders. Product Hunt, directories, newsletters, and founder communities can create attention, but they rarely tell you who has a current problem. Public intent posts do.

If you are starting from zero, run a focused sprint instead of vaguely posting everywhere.

1. Day 1: Write down the painful workflow your SaaS removes and the exact words users use to describe it.
2. Day 2: List competitors, manual alternatives, spreadsheets, templates, and services users currently rely on.
3. Day 3: Search Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and niche communities for problem phrases and competitor alternatives.
4. Day 4: Save 30 to 50 posts and tag each one by pain, urgency, role, and current workaround.
5. Day 5: Reply to the 10 strongest posts with useful advice and no hard pitch.
6. Day 6: DM or follow up only where the person showed curiosity, asked for help, or requested a tool.
7. Day 7: Review which pain points produced replies, signups, calls, or useful objections.

By the end of the sprint, you should know which phrasing produces real conversations. That is more useful than a one-day launch spike with no feedback loop.

The right outreach changes depending on how mature your SaaS is.

Pre-product users are not always ready to sign up, but they can teach you the words that sell. Beta users need a clear reason to tolerate rough edges. Post-launch users need proof that the product solves their specific workflow.

Start with platforms where users naturally describe problems in their own words: Reddit, X, LinkedIn comments, Indie Hackers, niche Slack or Discord groups, product communities, and industry forums.

Search by the problem, not just the category. If your SaaS helps agencies report client results, search for phrases like "client reporting takes too long" or "weekly reporting spreadsheet" instead of only "agency software."

You can also test this workflow with the free Reddit lead finder and X lead finder.

Do not treat every mention of your category as a lead. Score each conversation before replying.

• Pain: they describe a repeated manual task, wasted time, lost money, or broken workflow.
• Fit: the role, company type, or use case matches who your SaaS is built for.
• Timing: the post is recent and the person sounds like they are still looking.
• Current workaround: they mention spreadsheets, scripts, agencies, templates, or a competitor.
• Action: they ask for a tool, recommendation, alternative, fix, or workflow.

A strong SaaS user opportunity usually has at least three of those signals. A weak one only shares a keyword with your product.

Build your first search list from phrases people use before they know your product exists.

"is there a tool for"
"looking for software to"
"recommend a tool for"
"alternative to [competitor]"
"cheaper alternative to [competitor]"
"tired of manually"
"how do I automate"
"best way to manage"
"anyone know an app that"
"switching from [competitor]"
"tool for [workflow]"
"software for [specific role]"
"site:reddit.com [problem phrase]"
"site:reddit.com [competitor] alternative"

Replace the bracketed terms with the workflow, competitor, role, or pain your SaaS addresses. Search recent results first, then save the phrases that produce real conversations.

Strong posts usually mention a workflow, competitor, manual task, budget pressure, deadline, or failed solution. Weak posts only mention your category or ask for general opinions.

Manual searching is useful when you are learning the market, but it gets fragile quickly.

Common problems:

• fresh posts are easy to miss
• keyword alerts create too much noise
• broad category searches return low-intent content
• the same person may post across multiple platforms
• it is hard to rank posts by urgency and fit
• checking every source every day takes too much time

For a founder, the goal is not another search habit. The goal is a reliable inbox of conversations worth joining.

Leadverse turns this workflow into a ranked lead inbox. You describe the type of users you want to find, then Leadverse monitors Reddit, X, LinkedIn, and supported public/community sources for posts that match your campaign.

For example:

Find SaaS founders, marketers, and agencies asking for tools that automate client reporting, replace spreadsheets, or provide alternatives to reporting dashboards.

Leadverse then:

1. scans public conversations for relevant posts
2. filters out launch and promo noise
3. detects tool requests, alternatives, pain, and workflow needs
4. scores each post by intent and fit
5. shows strong and partial matches in one inbox
6. helps you reply while the conversation is still fresh
7. supports outreach workflows where the first message starts a conversation instead of dropping a link

You can start from Leadverse if you want to find people already asking for exactly what you sell.

Not every interested person should get the same next step. The right ask depends on the stage of your product and the clarity of their intent.

Early SaaS founders often send links too early. A better rule is: ask for a call when you still need learning, send a link when the person has already shown clear product intent.

Lead with the answer, not the pitch. A useful reply should stand on its own even if the person never tries your product.

Bad reply:

We built this. Sign up here.

Better reply:

You can solve this manually with a spreadsheet and scheduled reminders, but it usually breaks once multiple people own the workflow. I would first map who needs to update each step, then automate only the recurring status checks.

Then mention your product only if it clearly fits:

I am building a tool for this exact workflow. Happy to share it if you want to compare it with the manual setup.

For Reddit DMs, a stronger pattern is to avoid links in the first message. Make the first DM about their post and create curiosity:

Hey, saw your post about X. There is actually a tool that does exactly that...

Then stop. Do not include the product link yet. Wait for them to reply and ask what tool you mean, then send the link, explain the product, or offer more context.

This works because the first message feels like a relevant answer to their post, not a cold pitch. In Leadverse outreach, this link-after-reply approach has produced 40%+ reply rates, while direct first-message pitches usually perform worse.

Reddit DM sequence examples

These real Reddit DM screenshots show the pattern in practice: the first message creates curiosity, the lead asks for more, and the link or pitch comes after the reply. This is the kind of outreach sequence Leadverse can help automate once you know which intent signals to target.

Do not stop at replies or signups. Track whether the people you find actually activate.

• Which search phrase found the user?
• Which platform produced the conversation?
• What pain did they describe?
• Did they sign up, book a call, or ask a follow-up question?
• Did they reach the product activation event?
• What objection stopped them?

This helps you separate acquisition channels from acquisition lessons. The best early-user search process should improve your product positioning, not only your signup count.

Getting SaaS users is not only a distribution problem. It is an intent problem.

The best early users are already describing the pain your product solves. Your job is to find those conversations early, reply with something useful, and turn the strongest signals into a repeatable acquisition workflow.

Broad launches can still help. But if you want practical learning and warmer users, start with people already asking for tools, alternatives, workflows, and fixes.