Lots of people come up with a good idea for a product, launch, then wonder where to get users. "Start with the market, instead," evolves their consciousness. I offer a different approach: start with the customer acquisition strategy and <i>then</i> build your product.<p>1) Build a landing page describing the problem and your solution, in terms of emotional value benefits<p>2) Drive paid traffic to the landing page. Get at least 20 signups. Boom, you're now at 20 users. Paid traffic = Pay Per Click ads. Try Facebook, Reddit, Quora, Google AdWords.<p>3) Build the thing. Write an email to your list describing the process of how you built the thing and how you found their names.<p>4) Cross post that very same narrative to discussion forums: Facebook, HN, Reddits, Indie Hackers[forum], wherever.<p>5) Search on google for one of those "web app directories" or "new startup directories". Block off two hours and painstakingly submit your app to every one.<p>6) Look for podcasts in your niche. Email all of them and invite yourself on as a guest<p>7) Look for influencers in your niche. Email all of them and ask them if they'd like a complimentary copy of your product (access to your webapp, etc) in exchange for a testimonial. If the influencers are all pay-to-play, find people who are active but on the verge of influencer status.<p>8) Send to your friends and family.<p>9) Post an ad for a usability test on Craigslist. You'll learn a ton and maybe get some quality users.<p>10) Post a Delighted.com or similar Net Promoter Score survey to your user base. You'll find the "holes" in your bucket that are causing you to leak users rather than compound them.