We've collated a list of places that could help you find your first users. These communities exist to allow founders to find feedback and, hopefully, early customers. Click below to view the list and read on to hear some of our top tips for engaging people in these communities.
Contribute First
These communities work because there are both (a) people who want to post their startup and (b) people willing to take an interest in other peoples work. If you can spend some time engaging and contributing before posting your product or business, this will help you build some good karma and it will also give you the opportunity to see what works and what doesn't. Getting a sense of the platform or community will improve your ability to find the right tone and the best approach for posting your business.
Be Prepared
Most of these communities will only allow you to post your product every so often (either by community rules or the collective response to those who only promote their own venture) so make sure it counts! Preparing to launch by engaging with your chosen community beforehand and ensuring that your supporters (friends, family, early users) are ready to engage once it's posted is essential for maximising the impact you make.
Why? Because many of the platforms promote the most popular companies. Therefore, encouraging early engagement in your post will increase the number of people who see it overall.