Some of you might remember #Klero AI from when we launched here last week. Feedback management system for product teams. We hit #2 that day, then went back to building and continuing to find users.

We've been at this long enough now to have some clear lessons on what actually works. Sharing it because I wish someone had told us this earlier.

Not selling anything. No playbook at the end. Just what actually worked.

Nobody is coming to find you

For longer than I'd like to admit our strategy was basically "keep building and hope people show up." We tweaked the homepage. We shipped features. We waited.

Nobody came. Not because the product was broken. Because waiting is not a strategy when you don't have a brand yet.

Every single user we got came because we personally went and got them. The thing that changed everything wasn't a new channel or a new tool. It was accepting that going to find users is the actual job, not something you squeeze in between the real work.

LinkedIn - but only when leading with insight, not product

I post twice a week and get 5,000-7,000 impressions consistently. Posts that open with what we shipped get nothing. Posts that open with a genuine observation about how product teams work get traction. The audience can smell the difference in the first sentence. Lead with the insight. The product is a footnote.

Cold outreach - done properly

Not blasting a big list. Researching who actually fits, finding something real to say about their specific situation, keeping the message embarrassingly short. Prove you looked. The subject line should name their specific product. The opening should reference something real - a review you read, a problem that shows up in their feedback. You have maybe four seconds. Use them.

Follow up with new information each time. Not "just bumping this." A completely different angle that gives them a new reason to engage. Our sequence runs four touches and weirdly touch four - the short breakup email - gets the most replies.

Spotlighting other founders

We run a blog series called #MeetTheStartup where we feature other builders. It started because I genuinely enjoy those conversations. It turned into one of our better traffic sources because the people we feature share it, and their audiences are usually exactly the kind of people who might care about what we build. It also builds real relationships in a way that posting about yourself never does.

What I kept getting wrong

Waiting for inbound before doing outbound. If you're early and don't have a brand yet, inbound is a trickle. Do outbound first.

Optimizing the product when the problem was distribution. I have more than 15 years in product. My instinct when things are slow is to ship something new. That instinct is wrong early on. Shipping one more feature does not fix a distribution problem.

Treating every channel the same. LinkedIn works a specific way. Cold email works a specific way. Communities work a specific way. Learn each one properly before trying to scale it.

The short version

Nobody is coming to find you. Go find them. Be specific. Follow up. Build relationships not campaigns.

Happy to go deeper on any of this in the comments.

Dovydas Vystartas

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