How would you get the first 100 users for something that only really makes sense once people are using it?
I’m building something called 100M and I’ve reached the part I always expected to be the hardest:
the beginning.
The idea is simple:
One person. One photograph. One original message.
Each person gets one place in a collection that is eventually intended to hold 100,000,000 of them.
The strange part is that I think the project becomes much easier to understand once there are enough real people in it.
If the Gallery has 100 different photographs and messages, you can browse around and immediately see what the idea is.
If it only has a handful, you have to imagine what it might become.
So my actual target right now isn’t 100 million.
It’s:
100 people.
100 photographs.
100 messages.
I’m trying to get there slowly rather than throwing money at ads straight away.
The normal publication fee is $1 after moderation, but I’ve made REDDITFREE available during October so early Reddit users can join without paying.
The code expires. Their entry doesn’t.
What I’m trying to work out is how much I should shape the first group.
Would you:
- target specific kinds of people first;
- deliberately encourage portraits, memories, family photos, places with meaning, etc.;
- keep it completely open and let the first users define the tone themselves;
- personally recruit the first 100 one by one;
- or start using paid traffic much earlier?
My instinct is to keep it broad.
I’d rather the first 100 feel like actual people than a perfectly curated marketing sample.
But I also know those first entries will influence what everyone after them thinks belongs there.
So I’m curious how other people would approach a cold start where the users themselves are part of the product.