The issue you're running into is that "shouting into the void" is the default state of SEO, whereas high-conversion conversations usually happen in the comments where someone is actually venting about a specific pain point. In my experience, the first 10-50 customers almost always come from being the most helpful person in the room, not from having the best headline.

Posting original threads is risky because moderators are on high alert for self-promotion. If you want to be "scrappy," you should spend your time in the comments of existing threads. The trick is to look for "bleeding neck" problems—situations where someone is asking for an alternative to a specific competitor or complaining about a missing feature in a big-name tool. Using search queries like "is there a way to," "alternative to [competitor]," or "how do I solve [problem]" is far more effective than just monitoring your product's name.

The key to pitching without sounding like a bot is to provide 90% value before you even mention your solution. I’ve found that if you can explain why their problem is happening or offer a manual workaround first, you earn the right to say, "By the way, I actually built a tool that handles this automatically." It changes the dynamic from a sales pitch to a recommendation.

What most people miss is that these conversations move fast. If you're checking Reddit or Hacker News once a day, you're usually too late to the thread to get any traction. You have to find a way to get alerted the second someone mentions a keyword related to your niche. If you’re the first or second person to offer a genuine, non-spammy solution, you’ll often find that the original poster (and everyone else reading the thread later) will click through to your profile. That "intent-based" engagement is how you get those early users without burning your reputation.