The Beta Launch Playbook: Getting Your First 50 Users Without Paid Ads
Your MVP is ready. Features work. Design is polished. You're ready to launch. Then you realize: you have zero users and no idea how to get them.
January 8, 2025 13 min read
Your MVP is ready. Features work. Design is polished. You're ready to launch. Then you realize: you have zero users and no idea how to get them.
Paid ads feel premature. You don't have conversion data yet. You're not sure what messaging works. You need real users testing the product before spending money to scale.
Here's how to get your first 50 beta users using time instead of money.
Why the First 50 Users Matter More Than You Think
Early users aren't just numbers. They're your product development team.
They find bugs you missed. Your testing covered happy paths. Users find edge cases, break assumptions, and expose problems you never considered.
They validate (or invalidate) your core assumptions. Does the product solve the problem you think it solves? Do people understand the value proposition? Is the workflow intuitive? First users tell you if you built the right thing.
They provide testimonials and social proof. "50 beta users" sounds better than "my friends and I tested it." Their feedback becomes marketing copy. Their success stories become case studies.
They refer other users if the product is good. Organic growth signals product-market fit. If none of your first 50 users tell anyone, you have a validation problem, not a growth problem.
They'll tolerate bugs and incomplete features. Early adopters expect rough edges. They're motivated by being first, getting free access, or influencing the product direction. This window closes fast—mass market users won't be as forgiving.
Stop planning and start building. We turn your idea into a production-ready product in 6-8 weeks.
The Four Acquisition Channels That Work Pre-Launch
You can't use every channel effectively. Pick 2-3 based on where your users actually exist.
Direct Outreach: Targeted and Personal
This is the highest-effort, highest-conversion channel for B2B or niche products.
How it works: You identify exactly who needs your product. You reach out personally via email, LinkedIn, or Twitter. You offer early access in exchange for feedback.
Where to find them:
LinkedIn: Search for job titles or companies that match your ICP. Example: "marketing managers at Series A startups" or "founders in healthtech."
Twitter/X: Search for people tweeting about the problem your product solves. Someone tweets "scheduling meetings is hell"—reach out if you built scheduling software.
Industry Slack/Discord communities: Join communities where your users hang out. Participate genuinely for a week before pitching anything. Then DM individually offering beta access.
AngelList, Crunchbase, Product Hunt profiles: For B2B products, these list startups, founders, and recent launches. Targeted outreach to companies that fit your ICP.
The outreach template:
Volume and conversion: Send 100 personalized messages, expect 20-30 responses, convert 10-15 to actual users. Time investment: 3-4 hours for 100 outreach messages if you batch and personalize minimally.
Keys to success: Personalization (mention something specific about them). Brevity (under 100 words). Clear value exchange (they get early access, you get feedback). Low friction (one link, no forms).
Community Engagement: Credibility First, Pitching Later
This works for products where your users congregate in online communities.
How it works: You join communities, provide genuine value for 1-2 weeks, then introduce your product when contextually relevant.
Where to do this:
Reddit: Subreddits related to your niche. r/startups, r/SaaS, r/entrepreneur for business tools. Industry-specific subs for vertical products.
Facebook Groups: Industry-specific groups. "SaaS Founders" or niche communities like "DTC brand operators."
Indie Hackers: Active community of founders building products. Great for SaaS or dev tools.
Niche forums and communities: Designer News for design tools, Hacker News for developer tools, niche industry forums for vertical products.
Week 2: Answer questions. Share knowledge. Establish yourself as helpful, not spammy.
Week 3+: When someone posts a problem your product solves, offer beta access. "I'm building something that might help with this—happy to give you early access if you're interested."
The self-promotion hack: Many communities have "Show HN," "Feedback Friday," or self-promotion threads. Post there. Frame as "looking for feedback" not "here's my product." People are more willing to try something if you're asking for help, not selling.
Volume and conversion: Active participation in 3-5 communities, posting when contextually relevant, can net 5-15 users per week.
Keys to success: Genuine participation before pitching. Context-appropriate mentions (don't spam). Frame as helping, not selling.
Content and SEO: Long-Term Play with Immediate Tactics
Publishing content won't drive users tomorrow, but it starts building distribution for months from now.
Immediate tactics:
Launch on Product Hunt: Post your MVP. Include "beta" in the title. Ask your network to upvote. Even a mediocre launch gets 50-200 views and 5-20 signups.
Write a "Show HN" post on Hacker News: If your product is relevant to developers or technical founders, this can drive hundreds of visitors. Focus on what's interesting technically, not pure marketing.
Post to relevant subreddits (carefully): Some subreddits allow "I made this" posts. Check rules. Be genuine. Expect criticism—it's part of the deal.
Longer-term content:
SEO-focused blog posts: Write about the problem your product solves. "How to [solve problem]" posts. Include your product as one solution (not the only one). Example: building project management software? Write "How to manage remote teams effectively." Mention your tool in context.
Video walkthroughs: Record a YouTube or Loom video showing how your product works. Some people prefer video to text. Post to YouTube, embed on site, share in communities.
Volume and conversion: Product Hunt launch: 100-300 visitors, 5-15 signups. Hacker News: 500-2,000 visitors if it gets traction, 20-50 signups. Blog posts: slow build, 0-5 users per post in first month, compounds over time.
Founders underuse this because it feels uncomfortable. It's the fastest channel.
How it works: You reach out to everyone you know who might be interested or know someone interested. You ask for intros.
Who to contact:
Former colleagues and classmates: People who know you and trust you. Higher conversion than cold outreach.
Industry connections: Anyone in adjacent industries who might need your product or know someone who does.
Investors and advisors (if you have them): Ask for intros to their portfolio companies or network.
Friends and family (for consumer products): They'll try it even if it's not perfect. Consumer products need volume early.
The ask:
Volume and conversion: Reach out to 50 people in your network, expect 20-30 responses, convert 10-15 to users, get 5-10 referral intros.
Keys to success: Be specific about who you're looking for (not "anyone who might be interested"). Make it easy to say yes (one link). Don't guilt-trip.
The Beta Signup Flow: Remove All Friction
You've got someone interested. Don't lose them to a complicated signup process.
What Not to Do
Multi-step signup forms. Every field you ask for is 10-20% conversion drop. First name, last name, email, company, role, phone number, use case, team size? You just lost 70% of interested users.
Email verification required before access. "Check your email to verify your account before logging in." Friction. Users close the tab and forget.
Credit card required for beta. Beta means free. Requiring a card "just in case" kills trust and conversion.
Long onboarding flows before seeing the product. Don't make users answer 10 questions before they can see anything. Show value first, collect info later.
The Minimal Viable Signup
Email or social login only. One field: email address. Or one click: "Sign up with Google." That's it.
Instant access. No email verification loop. They sign up, they're in. Send a welcome email after, but don't gate access.
Collect additional info inside the product. Once they're using the product and seeing value, ask for company, role, use case. In-app prompts convert better than signup forms.
Example flow:
User lands on site
Clicks "Get Beta Access"
Enters email or clicks "Continue with Google"
Immediately sees the product dashboard
Welcome email sent (with verification link if you need it, but not required to use product)
Result: 70-85% conversion from landing page to active user instead of 30-40% with traditional signup.
The Beta Landing Page Essentials
Your beta landing page has one job: convert interest to signup.
Hero section (above the fold):
One-sentence value proposition (what it does, who it's for)
Visual (screenshot or video of product)
Single CTA button ("Get Beta Access" or "Try It Now")
Social proof section:
"Join 37 other beta users" (show live count if possible)
Testimonials or logos if you have any early users
Features or benefits (3-5 bullets):
Keep it concise. What does it do? What do they get?
Call-to-action (repeat):
Bottom of page: same CTA button as top
What to skip for beta:
Pricing page (it's free beta, pricing comes later)
Detailed documentation (write this based on user questions, not before)
Long FAQs (you don't know the questions yet)
Example: Notion's early beta landing page was a headline, a GIF showing the product, and a signup form. That's it.
Expected result: 5-10 signups from Product Hunt, 3-5 from direct outreach, 2-3 from network. Total: 10-15 users.
Week 2: Community Engagement and Outreach Wave 2 (Target: 15 additional users)
Monday-Wednesday: Respond to Product Hunt comments and messages. Engage in communities (helpful comments, no pitching).
Thursday-Friday: Direct outreach batch 2. Send 50 more personalized messages.
Weekend: Post in "Feedback Friday" or self-promotion threads in communities. Frame as "looking for beta testers."
Expected result: 5-8 from direct outreach, 3-5 from community posts, 2-3 from referrals. Total: 10-15 new users. Running total: 20-30.
Week 3: Content Push and Referrals (Target: 10 additional users)
Monday-Tuesday: Write a "Show HN" post or relevant blog post. Post to Hacker News and share on Twitter.
Wednesday-Friday: Follow up with first batch of users. Ask for feedback. Ask for referrals to others who might benefit.
Weekend: Create video walkthrough. Post to YouTube, share in communities, embed on landing page.
Expected result: 5-8 from content/Hacker News, 3-5 from referrals. Total: 8-13 new users. Running total: 28-43.
Week 4: Final Push to 50 (Target: 10-15 additional users)
Monday-Wednesday: Direct outreach batch 3. Send 30-50 more messages, targeting specific niches or segments that showed interest.
Thursday-Friday: Re-engage early users who signed up but didn't activate. Send personal email: "Hey [name], noticed you signed up but haven't tried [feature] yet. Need any help?"
Weekend: Post update in communities: "Thanks to everyone who tried [product] in beta—here's what we've learned and what we're building based on your feedback." Include signup link for new users.
Expected result: 5-7 from outreach, 3-5 from re-engagement converting to active, 2-3 from community updates. Total: 10-15 new users. Running total: 50+.
How to Get Feedback That Actually Helps
Getting users is step one. Getting useful feedback is step two.
The Questions to Ask
Don't ask: "Do you like the product?" (Useless. Everyone says yes to be nice.)
Ask these instead:
"What were you trying to do when you signed up?"
"What's the one feature you wish this had?"
"What almost made you not sign up?"
"On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend this to a colleague? Why that score?"
"If this went away tomorrow, would you care? Why or why not?"
Best format: 15-minute video call. See them use the product. Watch where they get confused, stuck, or frustrated. What they do tells you more than what they say.
Incentivize feedback: Offer extended free access, early access to new features, or $20 Amazon gift cards for 15-minute calls. Beta users' time is valuable.
The Feedback Loop
Week 1-2: Collect feedback without changing anything. Just listen. Take notes.
Week 3: Identify patterns. If 8 out of 15 users mention the same confusion point, that's real signal. If one person suggests a complex feature, that's noise.
Week 4: Ship fixes to the top 2-3 issues users mentioned. Tell users you fixed it. They'll see you're listening and responsive.
Month 2: Build the #1 requested feature (if it aligns with your vision). Launch it to beta users first. Ask for feedback again.
This loop—feedback, fix, communicate—builds loyalty and validates you're building the right thing.
The "50 Users Is Harder Than I Thought" Reality Check
If you're two weeks in and have 8 signups, you're not failing. This is normal.
Realistic timelines:
Week 1: 5-15 users (launch spike)
Week 2: 10-20 total (momentum fades)
Week 3: 20-35 total (grind through outreach)
Week 4: 35-50 total (final push)
If you're stuck at 20-30 users after 3 weeks:
Revisit your channels. Are you active in the right communities? Is your outreach targeted enough?
Check your landing page conversion. Getting traffic but low signups? Test a simpler signup flow or clearer value prop.
Activation, not just signups. Some people sign up and never log in. Focus on getting signups to actually use the product.
Offer more value. Free beta isn't always enough. Early access to features? Influence on roadmap? Lifetime discount?
When to pivot your approach:
If you've sent 200+ personalized outreach messages, posted in 10+ communities, and launched on Product Hunt with less than 15 total users, you have a validation problem, not a distribution problem. People aren't interested because the product doesn't solve a problem they care about or the value isn't clear.
Go back to user research. Talk to people about the problem, not your solution. Understand if the problem is real before optimizing distribution.
If you're launching your beta in the next 30 days, here's your action plan.
Build the minimal beta landing page. Headline, screenshot, signup button. Launch this before the product is perfect.
Set up analytics. Track signups, activations, key feature usage. Use Mixpanel, PostHog, or Google Analytics.
Prepare your outreach list. Identify 100 people to reach out to. Get their contact info. Draft personalized message templates.
Join relevant communities now. Don't wait until launch day. Start engaging genuinely in 3-5 communities this week.
Schedule your Product Hunt launch. Pick a date (Tuesday-Thursday works best). Prepare assets: logo, tagline, description, screenshots.
Need help building an MVP that's ready for beta? See how NextBuild delivers launch-ready MVPs in 4-8 weeks with the features, polish, and performance to convert your first users.
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Subject: [Mutual interest/pain point]—feedback requestHi [Name],I saw you're [specific context: working on X, tweeted about Y, at company Z].I'm building [product] to solve [specific problem]. It's early—rough around the edges—but I'm looking for 10 people who face this problem to try it and tell me what's broken.In exchange: free access, direct line to me for feature requests, and you'll shape where this goes.Interested? Takes 5 minutes to set up: [link][Your name][Optional: one-line credibility builder]
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Hey [Name],I've been building [product] for the last few months—it helps [specific audience] with [specific problem].I'm looking for beta users to test it and give feedback before we fully launch.Two quick questions:1. Is this something you'd find useful? If so, I'd love for you to try it: [link]2. Know anyone who struggles with [problem]? Would you mind making an intro?No pressure either way—just wanted to share what I've been working on.Thanks,[Your name]
