How to Find Your First 10 SaaS Customers Without a Marketing Budget

Go where the complaints are

If you validated your idea using complaint data, you already know where your future customers hang out. Go back to those exact subreddits, review sites, and forums. The people who wrote those complaints are your first prospects.

Do not pitch immediately. First, contribute genuinely useful answers and insights. Build a presence. Then, when someone describes the exact problem your product solves, you can share it naturally.

Use Reddit strategically

Reddit is the best free customer acquisition channel for niche SaaS. Find subreddits where your target users ask questions, compare tools, and complain about workflows. Answer their questions genuinely, and mention your product only when it directly solves what they described.

BigIdeasDB's Reddit pipeline builder can monitor these conversations for you, alerting you when someone posts a complaint or question that matches your product's use case.

• Identify 5-10 subreddits where your target users are active
• Set up monitoring for keywords related to your product's problem
• Answer questions first, pitch second — always provide value
• When someone describes your exact use case, share your product with context
• Never spam or self-promote without adding genuine value to the discussion

Reach out directly to complainers

If someone wrote a detailed complaint about the exact problem you solve, reach out directly. Send a thoughtful DM that references their specific post. Explain that you built something that addresses their exact issue. Offer free access or a deep discount for feedback.

This is not spam. This is solving a problem someone publicly asked for help with. Most people appreciate it when someone listens to their complaint and builds a solution.

Build in public and attract early adopters

Share your building journey on Twitter/X, Indie Hackers, and relevant communities. Show what you are building, why you are building it (reference the complaints that inspired it), and how it is progressing.

Building in public attracts early adopters who want to be part of the story. These users are more forgiving of bugs, more likely to provide feedback, and more likely to become evangelists for your product.

Convert free users to paying customers

Offer a generous free trial or freemium tier to reduce friction. Your first goal is usage, not revenue. Once someone is using your product daily, the upgrade conversation is much easier.

Ask your free users: what would make this worth paying for? Their answers will tell you exactly which features to prioritize for the paid tier.

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