How to Market Your First SaaS(WhenYou Know Zero About Marketing)
After publishing my last article on how to launch your first SaaS as a software engineer, I got good number of questions: "But how do you market a product when you know nothing about it, and with all the restrictions on different platforms?" Instead of replying to each comment, here's my honest take based on my journey with FounderSignal.
"I Have a Landing Page… Now What?"
You've built a clear landing page. Congrats! But just sharing that page on Reddit, X, Indie Hackers, or Slack won't suddenly bring waves of users, many platforms have strict rules about promotion, and people are wary of cold pitches.
What Actually Works: Give, Then (Much Later) Ask
I learned the hard way: dumping your product link everywhere just gets ignored (or worse, flagged as spam). The only thing that brings results is providing value before you promote.
Concrete Example: Reddit Done Right
Suppose someone posts:
"What's the best way to validate a SaaS idea if I'm not sure people will pay or even use?"
Wrong way:
"Check out my site, FounderSignal, it helps you do that!" (Likely removed by mods, gets zero engagement)
Right way (short, valuable, subtle):
"I'd start by talking to real potential users first, ask what they'd pay for, not just what's 'nice to have.' For what it's worth, I built something to help with this but learned a ton just by DMing people and asking direct questions."
Notice:
- The comment helps others whether or not they click anything.
- Your product gets mentioned naturally.
- You're not demanding attention, you're being useful in the conversation.
Tips for New Users on Reddit (and Everywhere Else)
- Observe First: Lurk in relevant subs for a week or more. Note what gets upvoted and what gets removed or downvoted.
- Comment Before Sharing : Make at least 10+ genuinely helpful comments with no mention of your product.
- DMs for Details: If people ask for more info, then send your link or explain how your product works.
- Self-Promotion Rule: Read and honor each sub's self-promotion policy, many care far more about how you participate than what you say.
- Ask Honest Questions: Sometimes "How would you solve X?" gets more engagement than "Here's my product."
Pro tip:
This "give before you take" approach earns trust everywhere: Indie Hackers, Product Hunt, and even LinkedIn. When I first posted about FounderSignal on indiehackers, producthunt, and similar platforms, zero feedback! Only after I spent real time helping others did people start replying, engaging, and eventually asking about my product.
Why Building in Public is Crazy Necessary
If you're building your first SaaS, don't just build in silence, build in public. This means sharing your journey, wins, roadblocks, and even your unfinished work openly on platforms like X, LinkedIn, Reddit, or Indie Hackers. Don't worry about "What if others steal my idea". You're gonna be left behind with this mindset.
Here's what building in public does for you:
- Builds Trust: People see you as a genuine creator, not just a seller.
- Attracts Early Users and Collaborators: Followers who watch your progress tend to become your first customers and biggest advocates.
- Gets Faster Feedback: Your audience can offer suggestions, point out bugs, or share encouragement.
- Makes You Memorable: Transparency makes your startup stand out from quiet launches.
In my experience launching FounderSignal, being open about my process made it easier to gain valuable feedback and support, way more than cold promotion ever did.
Another Powerful Approach: Write for Large Publications
Beyond social channels and forums, another high-impact way to market your SaaS is by writing for large publications that already have a substantial reader base.
Publishing a blog post in a well-known outlet allows you to:
- Reach tens of thousands of readers instantly
- Establish credibility by appearing alongside other respected voices
- Naturally share your product and link while providing genuine value through tips, stories, or how-tos
For example, in this very article, I’m showing you helpful strategies and including my FounderSignal URL, demonstrating how you can give actionable advice, share your journey, and spotlight your SaaS without being spammy. If your story solves a real problem, it’s welcome!
Quick tips for large publication posts:
- Always lead with value: Share a unique lesson or actionable tip before mentioning your product.
- Seamlessly weave in your product as “what worked for me” rather than the focal point.
- Follow the publication’s guidelines and engage with commenters after publication to build relationships.
The Biggest Lesson
Since launching FounderSignal, this mindset shift has made all the difference:
Your primary "marketing" as an engineer isn't plugging a product. It's showing up, helping (without strings), and being patient.
Only after people trust you as a real contributor do they care what you've built.
You don't need to be a marketing genius, you just need to be a helpful, genuine part of your target community. That's what gets you noticed, and that's what leads to real feedback and early users.
#SaaS #BuildInPublic #FounderJourney #ProductMarketing #Startups
I really like the idea of giving value before asking for anything. It seems much more sustainable than immediately promoting a product. Building trust first can also lead to better feedback from early users.
One thing I’ve learned while building my first SaaS is that “marketing” becomes much clearer when you define the exact customer and the problem before choosing the channel.
For example, instead of trying to market to all businesses, I’m focusing on a specific workflow within marketing agencies: the time-consuming process of collecting data from multiple platforms and turning it into client-ready reports.
That also changes the content strategy. Rather than posting “try my SaaS,” I can share useful content around reporting workflows, campaign analysis, client communication, and common agency pain points.
I think the most important early metric is not impressions or signups, but whether the right people recognize the problem and are willing to discuss how they currently solve it.
The “give before you ask” approach makes sense, but I’d add one thing: value should be closely related to the problem your product solves. Otherwise, you may build an audience that never becomes a customer.
This is a challenge a lot of SaaS founders underestimate. Building the product is often easier than getting the first few customers to care about it.
For a first SaaS, I think marketing should start with learning rather than scaling. Talk to potential customers, understand their language, share useful content around the problem you're solving, and test a few distribution channels consistently.
You don't need a complicated marketing strategy at the beginning. You need enough customer conversations to figure out what resonates, where your audience spends time, and why someone would choose your product over doing nothing.
Once you find a channel that consistently brings qualified users, then it makes sense to invest more heavily in it.
What marketing channel worked best for you when you were trying to get your first SaaS customers?
Thank you for this post! I just realized I was approaching Reddit from a bad angle. I've seen the tip of "lurking and observing in a sub" somewhere else and that's a really good advice. I need to be more patient. haha
How is FounderSignal doing on your side?