The Bootstrapped Startup Marketing Guide: $0 to First 1,000 Users

Marketing advice is written for companies with budgets. 'Hire a growth team.' 'Run paid experiments.' 'Invest in brand.' Cool. What if you have $0?

I bootstrapped MediaFast to $20K MRR before spending a dollar on marketing. Here's the playbook that actually works when you're broke.

1. Reddit - Your first 1,000 users are probably there. Free. Full guide here.
2. Twitter/X - Building in public. Share journey, attract followers. Free.
3. Product Hunt - One good launch = 500+ signups. Free to launch.
4. Indie Hackers - Community of builders. Highly supportive. Free.
5. Cold email - Find 100 potential users. Email them personally. Free.
6. SEO - Write content that ranks. Compounds over time. Free.

Week 1: Foundation

• Set up basic analytics (Plausible, free tier)
• Create landing page with clear value prop
• Identify 10 subreddits where your users hang out
• Start building karma (comments only)

Week 2: Content

• Write 3 value-first blog posts (problems you solve)
• Create one 'how I built this' piece for Twitter
• Draft your Reddit launch post
• Prepare Product Hunt assets

Week 3: Launch

• Post to 3 subreddits (different angles, same week)
• Launch on Product Hunt (Thursday recommended)
• Share on Indie Hackers
• Email 50 potential users personally asking for feedback

Week 4: Iterate

• Analyze what worked—which channel drove signups?
• Double down on winner, abandon losers
• Reply to every user, ask for referrals
• Plan next month based on data

• Reddit: 43% of first 1,000 users. By far the best ROI.
• Product Hunt: 300 users from one launch. Worth the effort.
• Cold email: 15% response rate when hyper-personalized
• Twitter: Brand building, not direct acquisition (yet)

Start with Reddit. It's the highest-leverage channel for bootstrapped founders. Try MediaFast to make it easier.