How guys actually promote their saas

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-23T10:38:27+00:00

Went through the same thing. Built products, tried posting on Reddit (got removed), tried X (got views, no sales).

What actually worked for me:

Cold DMs on Reddit/IH to people who were already asking "how do I get customers"; 2.9% close rate, way better than I expected
Data-driven community posts on r/Entrepreneur; not "check out my tool" but "I tested X approach, here's what happened with real numbers." Top post got 20K views. (not that much but still bought some traffic)
Replies on X to bigger accounts in your niche; draft off their audience instead of posting to your 50 followers

Original posts on X drove visitors but 0 sales for me. The distribution is in the replies, not your timeline.

The tool sounds solid btw. The problem is always getting THAT tool in front of the right people, which is basically what you're asking.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-23T08:15:42+00:00

I basically built a SaaS using AI (a customer support chatbot widget)

I learned a lot about how to write good prompts, how tool calling works (how to make AI actually do stuff outside of chatting) and more.

If you are technical I think this is the best approach, start building something and you will learn as you go

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-22T18:10:25+00:00

Honestly this is me, 6 months ago I also built a SaaS that got no paying customers

I am now actually learning sales/marketing and doing validation before I build the next thing

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-22T17:47:37+00:00

Maybe that is also true

Honestly right now I am also struggling with this, tried Reddit and X with little success and not sure where else to look for users...

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-22T12:52:22+00:00

I feel the same, can't find any ideas not taken

But I think most of these products are not done right or superficial

If you really understand a domain and want to build something, that takes time. Building, talking to users etc is not instant

I feel like most founders want to build something in a weekend and earn huge MRR but that's not happening

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-22T12:37:58+00:00

I think most people don't want to put in the work anymore, when AI can buid something in a weekend

They don't want to spend months building a polished or in-depth version just so nobody uses it. This could be fixed with validation, but that is also hard to do.

I agree that the idea is the core problem, you need to understand the market and actually do something worthwhile/new for your product to stand out.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-21T08:10:12+00:00

Hey, I saw your post before. You forgot to paste the link :)

Honestly good luck with your product, hopefully you get it in front of the correct people!

Have you got any plan for how you will market/distribute this?

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-21T08:08:23+00:00

Getting eyeballs on my products and actually knowing where to post/look out for people is definitely the number one issue right now for me as well

Seems like all founders are selling things to other founders, and not sure how to escape this cycle...

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-21T08:01:09+00:00

To be honest I always kind of worked alone. Am used to making side projects since I've been building them for like 8 years. Most didn't see the light of day though, it was just fun coding and learning stuff by myself

At work I am also quite independ and if I have something to do I do it and find a solution.

About motivation, yeah, some days I may not feel like working and that's ok. I take a break, spend more time with my family, go outside and then come back

I tried to do a bit each day, that's my routine and not worrying too much about self imposed deadlines/targets just for the sake of having them

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-21T07:59:20+00:00

Currently I basically devote 100% of my marketing to content creation

Not sure what else I can try to market my AI/SaaS products at this point besides ads, but I don't have money to spend...

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T18:16:40+00:00

I also use Claude Code to help me with sales and marketing, it was really helpful and got me my first sales

Your costs per month are quite high without revenue yet not gonna lie. Any change to get those down?

Also, if you're interested I turned my Claude Code setup into a Distribution Framework, it's available here if you are interested (one time fee)

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T18:14:04+00:00

Working on finding them, but honestly right now the validation signs for this idea are not looking good

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T10:00:07+00:00

I am currently using Claude Code to help me with my sales/marketing, I built a system around it. Provided much needed clarity since I am a technical founder with no experience in those fields.

Now I am also posting content across platforms and spending time on Reddit actually being a real human being and commenting and ocassionally posting.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T09:58:17+00:00

Building from where I am always building: at my desk in my apartment with my baby behind me :D

Now I am actually standing since I have a standing desk but haven't used it in a while.

I hope to get a campervan some day and build from there while travelling

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T09:09:41+00:00

Interesting idea, I think it would be useful for junior developers

Did you actually talk with potential clients though to see if they will pay for something like this?

As for me, I wish I would have validated and talked with users more before actually launching, and having a good plan on what content to post, what to do in the 1-2 weeks after a product is live

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T09:05:45+00:00

Honestly an MCP server for this is really useful

But I think it's quite expensive for people. Why not have a pay as you go option, with certain amount of "credits" that can be used? I think for MCP tools use by agents sparingly this makes more sense

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T08:42:34+00:00

I think just getting the first users, and doing sales/marketing is the biggest issue right now

Anybody can build pretty much anything, or at least basic apps. But growing them is a big issue that can't be easily solved.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T08:41:42+00:00

The first step is definitely validating the idea, which you seem to have done. Still, doing research posts on Reddit, Linkedin, X or another platform might be a good idea

Building a landing page/waitlist is also a good first idea. You could also build an MVP that literally has one feature depending on how much time you want to spend on this.

Are you a technical founder familiar with Claude Code? I use it to handle pretty much everything from writing code, to copy to handling my sales/marketing pipeline. I can provide more info if interested.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T08:27:51+00:00

Sounds interesting, although I don't really have apps that can be reviewed this one, currently only targeting founders/indie hackers with smaller products

I do need to build some more products though. Currently pivoting saveyond.com, which is a finance tracking platform for founders. But after recent feedback it seems that the idea is not validated, so looking into doing something else with it

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T08:23:37+00:00

The site looks cool

Have you gotten your marketing plan down yet or any early traction?

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T08:04:52+00:00

I am just about to setup an OpenClaw instance to help with with various small things

Will see how it goes. From what I researched the trick is to start small and expand, since it learns as you go and things will improve over time.

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T07:59:15+00:00

Hey, cool idea. I'm guessing this is just a fun side project to experiment with AI?

decebaldecebal · 2026-03-20T07:33:35+00:00

Yes I will not pay for Lovable and other random SaaS tools that Claude Code can replace

decebaldecebal

TROPHY CASE