u/Frosty_World_2494

We keep seeing the same cycle. Someone vibe-codes a SaaS in a weekend. The app works. It's deployed. Then they stare at the screen and realise: nobody knows it exists.

You can prompt an AI to build a whole product. But you can't prompt it to get your first ten paying customers.

So here's the real question. After all the AI hype, what's actually working for distribution right now? Cold DMs? Niche Slack communities? A painfully manual outbound process? Or are you just hoping the algorithm blesses your launch post?

I'm curious what people are doing that actually moves the needle. Not growth hacks. Just real, repeatable channels that turned strangers into users.

What's the one channel that surprised you this year?

I’ve been paying more attention to job postings lately, just to see what’s out there. And it’s weird. My day-to-day work hasn't changed that much yet (just using Copilot for emails and basic data reformatting). But the job market seems to be in a different reality.

Every other job ad I see now prioritizes skills like data analytics, building reports in Power BI, or "experience with AI-driven automation tools." Some are even explicitly looking for "tech-first accountants" over those with traditional experience. It feels like the requirements are evolving faster than the actual work is.

I’m a bit worried. Are we going to be caught in a gap where we don't have the new skills firms are asking for, but also aren't being given the chance to learn them on the job?

For those who are seeing real change:

• What is AI actually automating for you?
• Are you spending more time on exception reporting and analysis than manual input?
• Is your firm investing in upskilling, or are they just hiring new people with different backgrounds?

A KPMG report just mentioned that "real-time finance is moving from a 'nice to have' to a bare-minimum expectation". It feels like a quiet shift that could catch a lot of us off guard.

Would love to hear what you're seeing in your own firms or local markets.

We all love it when users ask for new features. It means they care. But after a few months of running a SaaS, my feature request board has turned into a chaotic wishlist of random ideas. Some are brilliant. Some are contradictory. And honestly, I'm spending more time managing requests than building actual features.

I've tried Trello, a public GitHub issues board, and even a simple Google Form. Nothing really solves the core problem: separating signal from noise. How do you know which requests are worth building? Do you prioritise by user votes, revenue potential, or just gut feeling?

I'm also toying with a small tool idea: a simple dashboard where users can submit and upvote features, but the real output is a prioritised roadmap with actual time estimates and a "coming soon" label attached to the most popular requests. Not another suggestion box, but a bridge between user feedback and the development queue.

Would something like that actually help? Or is the real problem not the tool, but the discipline to say no to good ideas?

Curious how other solo founders and small teams handle this. What's your workflow?

We launched a few months back. Hit 500 signups on the free tier. People are using it. Nobody's complaining. But nobody's paying either.

We've tried:

• Adding premium features
• Email discounts
• Simplifying pricing

Nothing moves.

I'm starting to think either the free tier gives away too much, or the problem just isn't painful enough to pay for.

For those who've been stuck here: what actually got your first few users to convert? Did you kill the free tier? Add a hard limit? Talk to the ones who churned?

Would love to hear what worked (or didn't) before I do something drastic.

We launched a few months back. Got around 500 signups on the free tier. People are using it. They're not complaining. But nobody is upgrading to the paid plan.

We've tried adding a few premium features. We've emailed the free users with a discount. We've simplified the pricing page. Nothing seems to move the needle.

I'm starting to think the free tier gives away too much value, or the problem we're solving just isn't painful enough to pay for.

Has anyone been stuck here? What actually got your first few users to convert? Did you kill the free tier? Add a hard limit? Talk to the users who churned? Would love to hear what worked for you.

For me, it was daily active users. Felt great seeing the number climb until I realized most of those "actives" were just people leaving the tab open. Now I track weekly meaningful actions instead. Boring but honest.

What metric did you obsess over at first, then realize it was lying to you?