How I landed my first paid user as a beginner without paying for ads?

You have built a product, started a service. You have set up a website, payment. You are open for business. How do you get your first customer?

Hi, my name is George 👋 I am no marketing expert but in the last 2 weeks, I posted about my SaaS boilerplate on social media, earning me 90+ stars on Github.

I then set up a landing page, connected it to Stripe and received my first payment within a week.

This is everything I did in the last two weeks - from marketing to building a landing page and finally my first sale

I built a free version of my Boilerplate and shared on Reddit

On 12 Mar 2025, I shared my SaaS Boilerplate on Reddit. In the post, I included a link to the Github repo. In just a week, this has earned me 90+ stars, many positive feedbacks from the community.

I was pleasantly surprised because I am a self-taught developer. I built the boilerplate for myself initially because I don’t want to spend $200+ on existing boilerplate.

I think not trying to sell anything, but only to share something of value is super important when it comes to posting on Reddit.

I have written a blog post on what makes my Reddit post a success. You can read it here.

I also think sharing my Github repo was better than sharing a link to my landing page because:-

1. Everyone knows and trusts Github

2. It’s easy for people to give me a star (which I later use as my social proof,

3. It’s free so people know I am not selling them anything.

I wanted to know if people would pay a small fee for a pro version

Seeing so many positive feedbacks and the 90 stars on my Github repo, I was estatic, but I wanted to know if people would be willing to pay a small fee for a pro version with more features.

This is because I see there are other premium boilerplates in the market ($200+), but they are too expensive for me, so I want to create an affordable one (mine is only $29) and give everyone a fair go at becoming a solopreneur.

So I included a survey in my Github repo. In the beginning, I had 3 questions:-

1. A yes/no question asking if people would pay for the pro version

2. A field to enter their email (optional) and

3. A field to enter their name (optional)

So, even though I made it optional for people to enter their email, I noticed a lot of people opened the survey, but didn’t complete it.

I tried removing the last 2 questions, leaving only the yes/no question. The completion rate increased and I got the feedback I needed.

I posted on Hacker News, Medium, Dev.to, and many more websites

Other than Reddit, I want to get more people to notice my Boilerplate, so I also made a post on Dev.to, Hacker News, Medium, Indie Hackers, Tiny Launch, Uneed, Dev Hunt.

You can read here to see my analysis posting on these websites.

But let me give you the short version of my analysis. I didn’t get as many visits from these websites than I did with Reddit.

However, posting on these websites helped me with building social proof unexpectedly.

I decided to build the Pro version regardless of the survey results

Initially, I built the project for myself because I wanted to build SaaS efficiently and affordably.

I needed the features in the pro version, so I decided to go ahead and build it for myself.

The pro version isn’t completed, but nevertheless, I am putting it up as a pre-sale.

The code is ready, uploaded to an S3 bucket and I have set up Stripe payment.

One of the biggest criteria when it comes to validating an idea for myself is whether I would use it myself. If I built a product that I wouldn’t use and stand behind, how do I expect anyone else to pay for it?

Building a landing page for the Pro version.

I think of a landing page like an automated sales person. Once it’s online, it should sell to visitors 24/7.

So, I need to build a landing page that can convert, but luckily, I already know how and I am going to make use of the marketing I’ve done so far.

In short, to optimize conversion, a landing page needs to have:-

• What it is you are selling, what benefit does it offer. In my case, I am selling an affordable SaaS boilerplate.

• A lot of social proof. People don’t trust you, and why should they trust someone on the internet they’ve never met?

• What do people get and how soon can they get it?

• Have other people bought? I don’t want to be the first sucker. More social proof.

• Ok, why should I buy it from you? What if I don’t like it? What’s the catch? People have a lot of objections and these need to be answered in the FAQ

• A super easy way to get it - a straightforward, easy to buy button.

Let me elaborate more on social proof because I think this is super important.

I’ve posted on Reddit, got 90+ stars on Github repo, many positive feedbacks. I used these in my landing page to show visitors how many people already liked the free version of the boilerplate.

I’ve shared it on many prominent websites, so I created a section on the landing page, “as shared on” and put the logo of the websites underneath it. This is called authority bias.

Next, I clearly listed out all the features, comparing the free version and the pro version. I included a sales technique called price anchoring - “it’s $29 now, and $69 when launched”

I then listed out all the benefits you will be getting - use it on unlimited projects, lifetime access, no subscriptions, etc.

I made sure there are more social proof, so I captured all the feedback from my Reddit posts and included on my landing page.

I think this is the best landing page I’ve ever put together, backed by real evidence, real positive feedback. Take a look for yourself.

The landing page went live on 18 Mar 2025, 6 days after my initial Reddit post.

Then I prayed

I made a few tweets about my SaaS Boilerplate. At this point, I think I have done everything I could have done. I am leaving the rest in God’s hands.

To be honest with you, I didn’t know if anyone would actually buy it. I didn’t know, even after so many positive feedback on Reddit, whether I should really continue with this project. I didn’t think it’s real until I really got my first paid user.

I turned to God and asked him to give me a sign. He gave me more than a sign!

On the morning of 21 Mar 2025, I woke up with a Stripe payment received notification. My first paid user! This is more than just a pat on the shoulder. It is a very clear sign God wants me to keep going with this project.

That’s it!

Hi, my name is George 👋 I built an affordable SaaS Boilerplate to help busy devs with development. My mission is for everyone to have a fair go at becoming a solopreneur. I share my journey, things that I’ve learnt along the way.

You can find me on X