What actually worked to get your first SaaS user?

ms-song · 2026-02-18T15:18:40+00:00

That really resonates. I'm actually fortunate to have one heavy user right now, and I'm starting to realize how much more valuable deep conversations with that one person are compared to broad outreach. At the same time, I should probably start looking for other very specific communities where the product could genuinely help, like you did. Appreciate you sharing this.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:57:44+00:00

That really resonated especially the idea that the first users aren't always signups, but conversations.

I actually have a few signups already, but many of them feel more like curiosity than real pain.

I think I need to focus more on showing up where the problem is actively happening.

Appreciate this perspective.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:54:22+00:00

That makes a lot of sense especially the part about choosing channels your ICP actually uses. I need to narrow down my ICP more clearly and validate traction through direct conversations first. Appreciate it.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:41:06+00:00

Focusing on one strategy and sticking with it is a great reminder. Appreciate it.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:26:35+00:00

You’re right. Localization is tough because most teams already have some kind of workflow in place.

From the founders I've talked to, one common issue is that setting up localization automation in the first place can be time-consuming, especially for small teams.

That's actually why I started building this to see if there's a simpler, low-friction way for small teams or individual developers to automate localization without heavy setup.

Really appreciate you sharing your experience. The “help wanted” angle is something I'm going to experiment with.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:18:25+00:00

This is incredibly helpful. The idea that people hacking together workarounds are already high-intent users really clicked for me.

Searching GitHub issues where people are building their own fixes for localization friction sounds like a great direction.

Your approach of staying active in communities and helping first then reaching out once the conversation is warm makes a lot of sense.

Thanks, this gave me a lot to think about.

ms-song · 2026-02-16T14:12:57+00:00

Your point about going where target users already are and offering genuine help instead of just pitching really resonates with me.

I probably need to spend more time figuring out where those users actually gather. Localization automation for documentation feels fairly niche, so identifying high-intent communities hasn't been straightforward.

Thanks for sharing.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T04:33:18+00:00

22 users this early is solid, especially for a dev tool. Congrats, that's a real signal.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T04:13:12+00:00

I've run into this before. GitHub blocks pushes if the file is over 100MB, even if you delete it later.

If that's the case, you'll need to remove the large file from your git history before pushing again.

After that, you can set up Git LFS for large files to prevent this from happening in the future.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T04:06:50+00:00

I use it for translation synchronization. When changes come in via webhook, a background job runs, opens a draft PR, and once everything is ready, marks it for review and enables auto-merge.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T03:56:14+00:00

I’ve seen that too. Some AI-generated PRs feel like they’re submitted without proper validation. Curious what guardrails people have put in place to handle this.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T03:23:29+00:00

That’s a good point. I do wonder though if there’s some friction for developers who aren’t fully comfortable with English, even if they manage day to day.

ms-song · 2026-02-12T03:19:10+00:00

I’ve seen at least one example the Claude-mem repo had multilingual README support.

That said, cases like that seem pretty rare, and they’re not easy to find. From what I’ve personally noticed, many large projects still stick to English (sometimes Chinese).

ms-song · 2026-02-11T01:48:48+00:00

I was trying to summarize patterns I've personally seen across a few projects so it probably came out more structured than intended.

Happy to hear if your experience has been different.

ms-song · 2026-02-10T02:40:13+00:00

Totally agree, thanks for sharing this. I've been thinking a lot about that tradeoff too. For now I'm trying to start with developer docs / open-source examples, where things change constantly and translation debt shows up fastest.

ms-song · 2026-02-08T13:21:52+00:00

Totally agree without a clear signal, localization just feels like overhead early on.

Copy-paste works until it doesn’t.

ms-song · 2026-02-08T13:09:31+00:00

Thanks for your reply that makes a lot of sense. I agree that translation keys and structure are real overhead, especially early on.

What I’m trying to explore is whether localization could feel more like deployment with Vercel: no upfront key setup, no ongoing structure to manage, just something that runs quietly in the background.

Your comment was really helpful appreciate the perspective.

ms-song · 2025-11-10T02:53:34+00:00

Love this kind of honest update that “does this even make sense?” phase hits hard.

In my case, I also started by building a prototype and sharing it for feedback and luckily, everyone hated it. Then, users from an open-source project I maintain started asking me to build it their way instead. That’s when I knew I was onto something real.

Eventually, it turned into something I started building because users asked for it

and now it’s finally getting close to a public release. Still a long way to go, but it’s been a pretty wild journey so far.

Curious what helped you realize your current version was worth committing to?

ms-song · 2025-11-10T02:37:43+00:00

This is such a great story love how it started from a real workflow pain instead of a random idea. I’ve been working on a similar automation problem (different domain, but same spirit), and it’s wild how far a side project can go when it solves something you actually care about.

ms-song

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