Do the Unscalable Favor in Public

Do the Unscalable Favor in Public is a reddit & forums tactic for getting your first users: Personally do free, hands-on work for individual founders right inside the thread, so the favor doubles as a live demo everyone watching can see.

It's a strong fit for B2B SaaS teams, and works especially well for SaaS, tools with a demoable output. As a reddit & forums play, plan for high effort and expect results to show up quickly, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

Reddit & forumsHigh effortFast

Why does reddit & forums work for this?

Doing the work publicly turns one favor into many impressions, and a tailored result built on someone's own product is far more convincing than any pitch.

The exact steps (4)

The full step-by-step this founder ran, what they posted, where, and in what order, plus the watch-outs, is part of the library.

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Works for

Frequently asked

What kind of products does the "Do the Unscalable Favor in Public" tactic work for?
It is a good fit for B2B SaaS — pick it when your product looks like that, since the play is shaped around how those users find new tools.
How is the "Do the Unscalable Favor in Public" tactic verified?
It is drawn from 1 primary source — a real founder write-up or interview, not generic advice. It is linked in the Sources section above so you can read the original account yourself.
How much effort is it and how fast are results?
It is high effort, and results tend to be fast.
Where can I see the exact step-by-step?
The full step-by-step a founder ran, documented via How Supademo Got Its First 100 Users, is in the paid library.

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