Zero users and no audience? Mine your network, have real conversations, then ask for intros
kylegawley · x · 2026-08-20
Indie founder Kyle Gawley's cold-start playbook: with zero users and no audience, first go through your network to find people who actually have the problem; message them and have a normal conversation; show them what you're building and ask if it would be useful. If they say no, ask who else might benefit and request an introduction — turning every rejection into a referral channel.
More from Venture
- Indie dev advice: don't build what LLMs can do, unless you're good enough to get acquired — sujingshen · 2026-08-20
- SoftBank Leads $200M Round for Gravis to Automate Excavators — lukas_m_ziegler · 2026-08-20
- Indie Dev Makes $1.4k in 12 Hours with a Simple Bid-for-Rank Site — jonathan_wilke · 2026-08-20
- Ex-NVIDIA Team Raises $90M+ to Build World Models for Physical AI — lukas_m_ziegler · 2026-08-20
- 20VC: SpaceX buys Cursor for $60BN; Anthropic's first profit on $11.5BN quarterly revenue — 20VC · 2026-08-20
- VC Deedy Breaks Down Open Source Costs: Kimi K3 Only 40% Cheaper Than Opus — Scobleizer · 2026-08-20