Love this, donutsy 🙌 The messy, early traction stories are the hardest to find but probably the most valuable.
I’ve been working on an MVP myself to make validation faster (basically “see if people care in 60 seconds”), so I really connect with the “unpolished truth” angle here.
Curious — will you also cover stories where things didn’t work out? For example, channels people tried that got zero traction? That feels just as valuable as the wins.
I feel like most of us get stuck exactly at that “first users” stage and hearing the unpolished, real stories is way more helpful than generic advice. The directory part sounds nice too, good way to discover new projects and maybe even connect with other builders
Exactly. It’s where generic advice starts to fall apart and this is exactly why we wanted to capture unfiltered stories. They at best should be able help/guide you and at worst temper/calibrate your expectations(Someone mentioned about failed stories as well, will explore that too)
Glad you liked the directory too! We’re hoping it not only helps folks discover new tools, but also makes it easier for builders to get a little visibility and connect with others in the same trenches.
Feel to post your product there if you'd like some extra eyeballs!
That makes a lot of sense. I think seeing the "messy middle" is way more grounding than polished success stories, so I'm glad you're leaning into that. It helps reset expectations for people starting out
Interesting work. The reality is that most people don’t want to share the messy truth — but building anything worthwhile really is a grind. You just keep posting, experimenting with creative angles, and working your idea into whatever’s trending.
In our early days at CarbonBlueSolutions dot net, we leaned on online media outlets comment sections to post , therby we drove attention and traffic. What many people don’t realize is that free press release sites like EIN and PRLog can be surprisingly valuable — they often get picked up by credible media and help amplify your reach.
I agree getting actual relevant and honest insights out of people can be a bit of a task. This is exactly why we insist on doing calls. It’s much easier to drill down into what actually worked vs what didn’t, and uncover all the messy bits that usually get skipped.
Also, even hearing something like “I sent 5,000 emails and got 3 customers” can be weirdly comforting(It might sound messy but its real!!!). It gives other people a stuck at maybe the 4800th email some encouragement that there is some light at the end of the tunnel!
Posting in the comment sections in the media outlet -> This exactly. This is not fancy and requires you to show up everyday and put in the hard work, but its another lever I can use as founder. Maybe it works/maybe it doesn't but having it my toolbelt atleast gives me something concrete instead of starting from scratch.I can get creative and starting commenting on youtube videos which my potential customers watch or maybe twitch streams.
Back in the day, we called this guerrilla marketing—grabbing attention with low-cost, high-impact stunts. Think of hiring a cheap projector, mounting it on a truck, and beaming bold messages at night onto buildings at busy intersections. It’s mobile, free, and gone before anyone can react. Celebrity always draws attention, and often it’s not even the presence itself but the perception of it. Sometimes a well-timed “leak” can have just as profound an effect, pulling the media in by curiosity alone.
One more tip, my friend: use the same handle everywhere. We post under EcoAppraise across platforms, so even simple comments put our brand in front of people. A unique, consistent handle is easy for search engines to index—essentially free SEO. If you Google “EcoAppraise,” you’ll see how, in just three days since launch, we’ve seeded the brand across multiple searchable sites without paid spend.
This sounds really useful. I’ve seen so many posts about “getting first users” but very few with concrete steps. Do you also plan to include failed attempts, like things founders tried that didn’t move the needle? I feel that would be just as valuable to learn from.
Exactly, the whole idea is to give you some sort tangible direction to work with!!
We were also thinking about doing failed attempts as well, but wasn't sure if people would be interested in it, but I guess this is validation that it just might work!
Really resonates with me! Getting the first 10–100 users is always the hardest part. I'm also building a curated prompt pack right now, and it’s been amazing to see how early user feedback has shaped it. Excited to learn from other stories on ProofStories!
It was the wildest marketing strategy I've seen, from only providing a certain time slot to order , to giving people free tattoes. Should be out tomorrow or day after.
Right now, ProofStories is community-driven, and we manually review each submission to ensure the story is true.
We’re not asking for Stripe screenshots at this stage. Founders are not comfortable sharing revenue data yet (since we’re not that well known right now). But we do ask for other indicators of traction. For example:
Approx. number of users/customers
Screenshots from Google Analytics or other metrics tools
Links to Product Hunt, IndieHackers, or X posts for public context
Domain Ranking
Backlink Profile
(This is something we are actively trying to iterate on - but would love feedback on what do you think about this!)
Also, we do try to optimize for things that are easily verfiable. For example this is a chrome extension that had 2K users when we interviewed the founder/creator(which was pretty easily verifiable)!
We are however not labelling stories as verified or self-reported right now, but we’re working on adding that distinction.
We are also going to add more social proof like founder names/Pictures and social profiles(I've had people ask me "how do I know this is not made up" 😅 - Which seems to be valid concern).Future updates will most probably include proof like Stripe or analytics screenshots to help readers gauge credibility at a glance.
Monetization -> We have just started thinking about monetization and for now just looking at Promoted Listings. Founders can promote their startup in relevant categories for more visibility(This is different from featured listings though - which are purely from a tactical discovery prospective).
I like this a lot the messy early stage stories are usually the most useful but also the hardest to find since people tend to polish them after the fact the directory angle is clever too because it doubles as discovery while keeping the focus on traction stories do you plan to let founders submit their own write ups directly or will you mainly curate and interview
The premise here is tangibility and actionable things that you can take away (which almost every source lacks). I started this because I was furstrated with high level advice. I understand that I should talk to potential customers? But how do I even begin? Twitter? Reddit ? Conferences? What do I even go and say to them. Proofstories should be able to give some direction.
About allowing people to send in their own write ups - Conversations are very crucial since we can dive deeper and get insights that would not be possible in an async format. Diving deeper into what worked and what didn't is very very valuable.
We did try people sending in their writes up and then us trying to dive deeper but that has not worked out till now.
25 Comments
Love this, donutsy 🙌 The messy, early traction stories are the hardest to find but probably the most valuable.
I’ve been working on an MVP myself to make validation faster (basically “see if people care in 60 seconds”), so I really connect with the “unpolished truth” angle here.
Curious — will you also cover stories where things didn’t work out? For example, channels people tried that got zero traction? That feels just as valuable as the wins.
I feel like most of us get stuck exactly at that “first users” stage and hearing the unpolished, real stories is way more helpful than generic advice. The directory part sounds nice too, good way to discover new projects and maybe even connect with other builders
Exactly. It’s where generic advice starts to fall apart and this is exactly why we wanted to capture unfiltered stories. They at best should be able help/guide you and at worst temper/calibrate your expectations(Someone mentioned about failed stories as well, will explore that too)
Glad you liked the directory too! We’re hoping it not only helps folks discover new tools, but also makes it easier for builders to get a little visibility and connect with others in the same trenches.
Feel to post your product there if you'd like some extra eyeballs!
That makes a lot of sense. I think seeing the "messy middle" is way more grounding than polished success stories, so I'm glad you're leaning into that. It helps reset expectations for people starting out
Interesting work. The reality is that most people don’t want to share the messy truth — but building anything worthwhile really is a grind. You just keep posting, experimenting with creative angles, and working your idea into whatever’s trending.
In our early days at CarbonBlueSolutions dot net, we leaned on online media outlets comment sections to post , therby we drove attention and traffic. What many people don’t realize is that free press release sites like EIN and PRLog can be surprisingly valuable — they often get picked up by credible media and help amplify your reach.
Hey, thanks for going through my update!!
I agree getting actual relevant and honest insights out of people can be a bit of a task. This is exactly why we insist on doing calls. It’s much easier to drill down into what actually worked vs what didn’t, and uncover all the messy bits that usually get skipped.
Also, even hearing something like “I sent 5,000 emails and got 3 customers” can be weirdly comforting(It might sound messy but its real!!!). It gives other people a stuck at maybe the 4800th email some encouragement that there is some light at the end of the tunnel!
Posting in the comment sections in the media outlet -> This exactly. This is not fancy and requires you to show up everyday and put in the hard work, but its another lever I can use as founder. Maybe it works/maybe it doesn't but having it my toolbelt atleast gives me something concrete instead of starting from scratch.I can get creative and starting commenting on youtube videos which my potential customers watch or maybe twitch streams.
Back in the day, we called this guerrilla marketing—grabbing attention with low-cost, high-impact stunts. Think of hiring a cheap projector, mounting it on a truck, and beaming bold messages at night onto buildings at busy intersections. It’s mobile, free, and gone before anyone can react. Celebrity always draws attention, and often it’s not even the presence itself but the perception of it. Sometimes a well-timed “leak” can have just as profound an effect, pulling the media in by curiosity alone.
Thank you for this info!
Just figuring out marketing myself! This is definetly helpful!
One more tip, my friend: use the same handle everywhere. We post under EcoAppraise across platforms, so even simple comments put our brand in front of people. A unique, consistent handle is easy for search engines to index—essentially free SEO. If you Google “EcoAppraise,” you’ll see how, in just three days since launch, we’ve seeded the brand across multiple searchable sites without paid spend.
Thank you for this!
This sounds really useful. I’ve seen so many posts about “getting first users” but very few with concrete steps. Do you also plan to include failed attempts, like things founders tried that didn’t move the needle? I feel that would be just as valuable to learn from.
Exactly, the whole idea is to give you some sort tangible direction to work with!!
We were also thinking about doing failed attempts as well, but wasn't sure if people would be interested in it, but I guess this is validation that it just might work!
Will try to explore!!
Really resonates with me! Getting the first 10–100 users is always the hardest part. I'm also building a curated prompt pack right now, and it’s been amazing to see how early user feedback has shaped it. Excited to learn from other stories on ProofStories!
Getting early users can be bit of grind, but like you mentioned, its amazing how much yur product evolves and your customers teach you!
Would love to see your prompt pack evolve. And super glad you’re finding value in the stories on ProofStories!
Feel free to add your product to the directory if you'd like some extra eyeballs on it!
Super interesting — which founder story surprised you the most so far?
The upcoming post.
It was the wildest marketing strategy I've seen, from only providing a certain time slot to order , to giving people free tattoes. Should be out tomorrow or day after.
I'll post the link here once it is live.
i have a question - how u will be verify the stories?
And also what would be your revenue model?
Great question!
Right now, ProofStories is community-driven, and we manually review each submission to ensure the story is true.
We’re not asking for Stripe screenshots at this stage. Founders are not comfortable sharing revenue data yet (since we’re not that well known right now). But we do ask for other indicators of traction. For example:
Approx. number of users/customers
Screenshots from Google Analytics or other metrics tools
Links to Product Hunt, IndieHackers, or X posts for public context
Domain Ranking
Backlink Profile
(This is something we are actively trying to iterate on - but would love feedback on what do you think about this!)
Also, we do try to optimize for things that are easily verfiable. For example this is a chrome extension that had 2K users when we interviewed the founder/creator(which was pretty easily verifiable)!
We are however not labelling stories as verified or self-reported right now, but we’re working on adding that distinction.
We are also going to add more social proof like founder names/Pictures and social profiles(I've had people ask me "how do I know this is not made up" 😅 - Which seems to be valid concern).Future updates will most probably include proof like Stripe or analytics screenshots to help readers gauge credibility at a glance.
Monetization -> We have just started thinking about monetization and for now just looking at Promoted Listings. Founders can promote their startup in relevant categories for more visibility(This is different from featured listings though - which are purely from a tactical discovery prospective).
I like this a lot the messy early stage stories are usually the most useful but also the hardest to find since people tend to polish them after the fact the directory angle is clever too because it doubles as discovery while keeping the focus on traction stories do you plan to let founders submit their own write ups directly or will you mainly curate and interview
Thank you going through my update!
The premise here is tangibility and actionable things that you can take away (which almost every source lacks). I started this because I was furstrated with high level advice. I understand that I should talk to potential customers? But how do I even begin? Twitter? Reddit ? Conferences? What do I even go and say to them. Proofstories should be able to give some direction.
About allowing people to send in their own write ups - Conversations are very crucial since we can dive deeper and get insights that would not be possible in an async format. Diving deeper into what worked and what didn't is very very valuable.
We did try people sending in their writes up and then us trying to dive deeper but that has not worked out till now.
Good post thanks.
It's a wonderful idea. I would love to speak about how I got my first 10 paid users. We signed our 10th user just last week.
Thanks for checking out Proofstories!!
Congratulations on getting your 10th paid customer!! Hoping to reach there soon myself!
Can you fill out this form -> https://forms.fillout.com/t/2i2sa1k6Ceus
And me/my co-founder will reach to you with the next steps!
Sure! I will fill the form right away! Thank you
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