HowTheyGotUsersHowTheyGotUsers

Run the Account With Cheap or Free Interns Doing the Grunt Work

Run the Account With Cheap or Free Interns Doing the Grunt Work is a communities tactic for getting your first users: As the community scaled, the labor of DMing members and engaging with content was handed to interns operating the account, found for free or low cost.

It's a strong fit for teams of almost any kind, and works especially well for scaling communities. As a communities play, plan for low effort and expect results to arrive at a steady pace, all grounded in 1 linked primary source.

CommunitiesLow effortMedium

Why does communities work for this?

Community engagement is labor-intensive but low-skill, so cheap hands let one founder run a far larger space.

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 "Run the Account With Cheap or Free Interns Doing the Grunt Work" 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 medium.
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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