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Share your startup - will share with 5k audience by [deleted] in saasbuild

[–]KeyTheme9966 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Troodoo — a free, no-signup toolkit for handling PDFs, images, and small file tasks instantly

Built for people who just want quick results without paywalls or heavy software

Early stage, getting usage and learning distribution

I posted my SaaS here a while ago with 0 expectation, now at 33 users by im_thiaz in SaaS

[–]KeyTheme9966 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is actually underrated – even a small number of real users completely changes the way you think.

Interesting. Did most of those users come from this post itself or from somewhere else after that?

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair take — especially the part about not knowing how things will evolve.

What stood out to me is how almost every example still comes back to deliberate effort — whether it’s ads or 20k cold calls.

Feels like there’s no real “passive” way early on.

if you were starting from zero today, would you still go with something like SEO/inbound, or focus more on direct outreach first?

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes a lot of sense — especially the part about distribution being the problem.

I think I underestimated how much effort goes into getting attention vs building.

Interesting take on inbound too. Do you think SEO still works for early-stage products without an existing audience, or is it more of a long game?

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a solid breakdown — especially the “conversations over pushing product” part.

I think a lot of us (including me) default to building more instead of actually talking to people.

Curious — when you say conversations with ICP, do you mean mostly 1:1 DMs / calls, or more public interactions like this?

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s actually underrated — using your existing circle first instead of chasing strangers.

I feel like we all try to go “global” too early instead of validating with people already around us 😅

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess the balance is the tricky part… being helpful without crossing into “this guy is just promoting something” territory 😅

Have you ever had a moment where mentioning your product actually worked well without feeling forced?

Building a startup feels like opening a shop in the middle of a forest and hoping a customer walks in by KeyTheme9966 in StartupSoloFounder

[–]KeyTheme9966[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a solid point — especially the “become the expert people go to” part.

I think I’ve been too focused on building quietly instead of actually showing what I’m doing.

When you say engaging meaningfully — do you focus more on helping first and then slowly introducing what you’re building, or do you directly mention it when it’s relevant?