Post Your Product First in a 'What Are You Building' Thread

Post Your Product First in a 'What Are You Building' Thread is a communities tactic for getting your first users: The founder kicked off a self-promotion thread in an indie community and dropped their own product link first ('I'll start:'), seeding their launch and prompting others to check it out as they added theirs.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for Any indie/maker product pre-launch. As a communities play, plan for low effort and expect results to show up quickly, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

CommunitiesLow effortFast

Why does communities work for this?

These threads run on reciprocity, so posting first and engaging back gets your link the most eyeballs.

The exact steps (5)

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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Sources

Works for
Any / universal

Frequently asked

How is the "Post Your Product First in a 'What Are You Building' Thread" 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 low 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 Source — IndieHackers, is in the paid library.

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