Founder Question
What has been the hardest part of getting your first users?
For some founders, it's getting people to discover the product.
For others, it's getting people to actually try it.
And sometimes people try it, but never come back.
I've noticed that user acquisition is rarely just one problem.
A product can have:
- A visibility problem
- A positioning problem
- A trust problem
- A conversion problem
- Or simply an audience problem
I'm curious what other founders are experiencing.
What part of the process has been the most difficult for you so far?
For me with KAI Schedule it's been a mix of #1 and #4 visibility and conversion. Getting someone to even land on the page is its own battle, but even once they do, going from "interesting" to actually starting a trial has been the harder gap to close. I built tiered pricing (Free/Pro/Power) thinking the free tier would solve the trust/conversion problem, but I've found people still hesitate without seeing the AI scheduling actually work on their own calendar first so I'm now thinking through how to shorten that gap between signup and "aha, this works."
Curious if others found a specific moment or feature that flipped someone from browsing to committing?
For me, it's getting people to actually try the product. You can build something useful, but convincing someone to spend even 5–10 minutes testing it is surprisingly difficult. Once they try it, the feedback is incredibly valuable—but getting that first step is the biggest hurdle.
I would just open a spot somewhere and get ppl to test it and then use UX principles and market research tactics to synthesize your data
For me, the hardest part is audience qualification.
Getting some visibility is possible. The difficult part is finding people who already have the problem, are actively operating a product, and are willing to change their current workflow.
I’m learning to separate the journey into discovery, conversation, first meaningful action, and repeat use. A signup alone can hide a positioning or trust problem.
The strongest early signal is not registration. It is whether someone takes the action that makes the product part of their real workflow.