I just listened to an awesome podcast in which Bayram Annakov, the founder of App in the Air, gave his take on how to get your first users.
He talked about where to find them, how to reach out to them, and what to remember when you’re launching a new product.
His observations were rooted in actual experience—how App in the Air acquired its initial users. Let’s take a closer look.
Where to Find Your First Users?
When you release a new product, it’s natural to fantasize about millions of users swarming in overnight. Wake-up call: that almost never materializes. For the most part, you’ll have a couple thousand users tops in the initial month.
For App in the Air, the initial customers were acquired from two primary sources:
Online communities – Rather than searching for users randomly, Bayram and his team posed a simple question:
Where do our perfect users already congregate?
As their app was aimed at frequent flyers, they searched for frequent flyer forums online. They discovered two excellent boards: Boarding Area and FlyerTalk. They were full of individuals who travel constantly and enjoy optimizing their travels. That’s where they launched their product.
Review sites – They also compiled a list of technology sites that review new applications. Some cost $200 to review, others as much as $5,500. They had no idea how many users each site would generate, but they monitored every last one to determine which review provided the best return on investment.
How Do You Know What Works?
Acquiring the first users is all about testing. You don’t simply invest money in marketing and expect everything to magically work out. Here’s what the App in the Air team did instead:
✔️ Enumerate all potential channels (forums, social media, emails, personal contacts, paid reviews, etc.).
✔️ Select the best among them and experiment with them.
✔️ Monitor the outcomes: How many users were from each? What was the cost of acquiring each one?
If you are building a B2C product, begin by asking:
Where do my future users already hang out? (Online forums? Facebook groups? Events?)
Then, determine your most promising potential users—those who:
⭐ Will often use your product.
⭐ Will recommend it to others.
⭐ Will provide constructive feedback to enhance it.
For App in the Air, these were frequent flyers—the people who travel constantly and love trying new tools.
The Brutal Truth About Starting Up
Everyone wants their product to explode overnight. The truth? 99% of the time, your first month will yield just 10,000–12,000 users. Occasionally you’ll get lucky, but most of the time, launching is just the starting point.
As Bayram put it, starting a startup is like getting married in a romance novel. In books, the book typically ends at the wedding. But in real life? That is where the real adventure starts.
Takeaways: What You Should Do
✅ Discover where your audience gathers (online or offline).
✅ Determine who your “golden users” are—those that will most enjoy your product.
✅ Experiment with various marketing channels and monitor the performance.
✅ Be realistic—launching is only the beginning.