Growth · 2026-09-13

Be your own first twenty users

Don't imagine your early users — become them, one at a time, with total honesty. I am user number one: who is my friend here? What content do I engage with when there is none? The exercise is brutal because it exposes every assumption you built for an imaginary crowd.

If the platform can't keep user number one, you've built an empty house with very good plumbing.