Playbook · updated August 2026

How to get your first users with video ads — on almost no budget.

You shipped the product. Nobody's using it. You don't have an ad budget or a marketing team, and "do content" isn't a plan. Here's the actual loop that gets a founder from zero to their first users — and how to run it in an afternoon.

TL;DR: Getting your first users isn't a launch, it's a loop: make a real ad cheap, post it where your buyers already are, put a tracked link on it so a view can become a measurable signup, and repeat whichever version actually converts. AI made the "make the ad" step nearly free; the discipline is in the other three. Do it consistently and you don't need a budget — you need the loop.

01Make a real ad — cheap

The old blocker is gone. A UGC-style video ad used to mean a $150–300 shoot or a week in an editor; now AI turns a product URL into a scripted, cast, captioned ad for about a dollar of compute. Keep it short — under 30 seconds — and build it around one idea: the specific problem your buyer feels. Name that problem in the first two seconds or they scroll. Don't list features; land one payoff. You're not making a brand film, you're making a scroll-stopper.

Do this: write down the one sentence a frustrated buyer would say out loud about the problem you solve. That's your hook.

02Post it where your buyers already are

With no ad budget, you can't buy your way in front of people — so go where they already gather. Your own X, TikTok, and Reels are free distribution you're probably underusing. Beyond that, the highest-intent place is wherever your buyers already complain about the problem: a subreddit, a Discord, a niche forum. You're not spamming a link — you're showing up with something genuinely useful (the ad, or the point it makes) in a place where the problem is top of mind.

Do this: list the three communities where your buyer already hangs out. That's your distribution, for free.

03Put a tracked link on everything

This is the step most founders skip, and it's the one that makes the rest work. Every ad, every post, every link should carry a tracked URL, so when someone clicks through and signs up, you can trace that signup back to the exact ad and hook that earned it. Without it you're flying blind — guessing which of your efforts did anything. With it, marketing stops being a vibe and becomes a scoreboard.

Do this: never post a bare link again. Every link you share should be trackable to the thing that produced the signup.

04Measure signups — then repeat the winner

Views and likes are noise; the only number that matters at this stage is signups. Ship several versions of the ad — different hooks, different creators, different angles — and watch which one quietly fills your funnel. The winner is almost never the one you'd have bet on, which is exactly why you test instead of guess. When one converts, don't move on — double down. Make three more like it. That compounding is how zero becomes a hundred becomes a thousand.

The whole loop, in one tool

You can run every step by hand — write the script, find a creator, edit the video, remember to add UTM tags, keep a spreadsheet of what converted. That works; it's just a lot of steps to keep up consistently, which is where most founders fall off. Adluma exists to run the loop for you: paste your URL and it writes the ad in your voice, casts a real-feeling creator, films it, hands it to you to post to your channels, bakes a tracked link into every one, and tells you which ad turned into signups — then helps you repeat the winner. Same playbook above; you just don't have to be the one holding all four steps together. Your first ad is free, so you can see it work on your own product before deciding anything.

common questions

Getting your first users, answered

How do I get my first 100 users?

Your first 100 come from being where your buyers already are, not from a big launch. Make a short, honest video ad about the one problem you solve, post it to your own channels and the communities where people complain about that problem, put a tracked link on it, and keep the versions that actually convert to signups. It's a loop, not a launch: make, post, measure, repeat the winner.

What's the cheapest way to get users as a founder?

Organic video. AI dropped the cost of a UGC video ad from a $150–300 shoot to about a dollar of compute, and posting it to your own X, TikTok, or Reels costs nothing. So the cheapest path is: make several cheap ads, post them organically, and let the data tell you which one to repeat — no ad budget required.

Do video ads work for getting your first users?

Yes, when they're built to convert rather than to look pretty. A short ad that names your buyer's problem in the first two seconds, shows the product, and ends with one clear ask will out-pull a polished brand film every time. The trick isn't production value — it's the hook and the tracked link that tells you it worked.

How do I get users with no marketing budget?

Trade money for a loop. You can't buy reach, but you can make an ad for almost nothing, post it where your buyers already gather, and measure results in signups so you stop wasting effort on what doesn't work. The founders who grow on $0 aren't lucky — they run that loop consistently and double down the moment something converts.

How do I know if my ad is actually working?

Measure signups, not likes. Put a tracked link on every ad so that when someone watches and signs up, you can trace that signup back to the exact ad. Views and likes feel good but don't pay rent; a single ad that quietly drives signups is worth more than one that goes viral and converts no one.

Run the loop on your own product

Paste your URL. Adluma writes the script, casts a real-feeling creator, and shows you your first ad — free, no credit card, before you ever sign in.

Make your first ad free →

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