Cold DMs don't work anymore. Here's what got me my first users
Business owners get hundreds of cold messages daily. Yours gets ignored. The approach that actually works: find people already talking about the pain your product solves. Not cold outreach. Not ads. Just being in the right place when someone is already frustrated. Search Reddit, HN, Twitter for people complaining about the exact problem you solve. Slide into that conversation naturally. That's a warm lead who already wants a solution. The best distribution hack isn't marketing. It's being in the right place when someone is already in pain. What's the most effective way you've found your first users?
I've been trying some outreach recently and this definitely feels true. Cold messages used to work if they were thoughtful, now most people assume it's automated spam.
Makes it much harder for small builders trying to get early feedback. Especailly after you've been building in silence for months.