How to Get Your First Users From TikTok as a Founder
You get your first users from TikTok by posting the story of building your product — not ads for it — so that people who have the problem you solve stop scrolling, watch, and click your link in bio to sign up. You do not need a following. TikTok shows each video to a fresh batch of strangers, so a brand-new account with zero followers can still land in front of thousands of the right people if the video is good.
That last part is the whole reason TikTok is worth your time as a broke teen founder with no audience. On most platforms you have to build a crowd before anyone sees you. On TikTok, the algorithm hands you a crowd on every single post.
Why TikTok works when you have zero followers
Most social platforms show your posts to people who already follow you. TikTok mostly doesn’t. It shows each video to a small test group of strangers, watches whether they finish it and comment, then decides whether to show it to more people. Followers barely matter for reach. The video matters.
For a founder, this changes the math. You are not building a personal brand and hoping it eventually pays off. You are making short videos that each get their own shot at finding customers. Post ten, and each one is a separate lottery ticket — except the odds improve every time you learn what made one work.
The catch: TikTok rewards content that feels native, meaning it looks like a person filmed it on their phone, not a company that made an ad. The moment your video smells like marketing, people scroll, watch time drops, and the algorithm buries it. So the strategy is not “run ads for free.” It’s “be a real person building something, out loud.”
If you’re new to thinking about where users come from at all, start with the bigger picture in distribution: how early startups actually find users. TikTok is one channel — a good one for many teen founders, but not the only one.
What should I actually post?
Not demos of your product. At least not at first. Nobody stops scrolling for “here’s my app.” They stop for a story, a problem they recognize, or a person they find interesting.
Here are the formats that reliably pull users for early founders. Pick two or three and rotate them.
| Format | What it is | Why it gets users |
|---|---|---|
| The problem story | You describe the annoying problem your product solves, no product mention | People with that problem comment “same” and follow you |
| Build in public | You film yourself making the thing — coding, designing, failing | People root for the underdog and want to see it finish |
| The origin | Why a 16-year-old is building this specific thing | Age is a hook here, not a weakness |
| Hot take | A strong, honest opinion about your space | Opinions get comments; comments feed reach |
| Before/after | The messy way people do it now vs. your way | Shows value without a sales pitch |
Notice that only one of those five is about the product. The problem story is your workhorse. If you’re building an app that helps students find volunteer hours, your best video isn’t “check out my app.” It’s “I spent 6 hours last weekend calling nonprofits that never called back, and I know I’m not the only one.” Every classmate who’s felt that will stop, watch, and check your bio.
The “build in public” angle is unusually powerful for teen founders. Filming the messy process — the bug you can’t fix, the first ugly version, the moment it finally works — turns strangers into people quietly invested in you. There’s a full guide to doing this well in how to build in public as a teen founder.
How to make a video that actually gets watched
The first two seconds decide everything. If people don’t stop scrolling immediately, TikTok never shows the video to anyone else. So build every video around a strong opening, then keep it short.
Here’s a repeatable structure:
- Hook (0–2 seconds). Say or show the most interesting thing first. “I’m 16 and I’m building the thing my school won’t.” Not “Hey guys, so today I wanted to talk about…” Cut the runway.
- Tension (2–10 seconds). Set up the problem or the stakes. Make them feel it. This is where the person who has your problem thinks that’s literally me.
- Payoff (10–25 seconds). Show the turn — what you did, what you learned, what you built. Keep it moving.
- Soft close (last 2 seconds). A reason to check you out. “Link’s in my bio if you want in” beats “please sign up.” Or end on a cliffhanger so they follow for part two.
- Caption + text on screen. Add on-screen captions (most people watch on mute) and a caption with a question that begs a comment. Comments are rocket fuel for reach.
Keep videos between 15 and 35 seconds while you’re learning. Shorter videos get finished, and finish rate is one of the biggest signals TikTok uses. You can film all of this on your phone in your bedroom — no ring light, no editing software, no budget. A clear voice and window light is enough.
Do not overthink production. Ten rough, honest videos will teach you more than one polished one. Post, see which got unusual watch time, and make three more like it.
How do I turn views into actual signups?
Views are not users. A video can hit 40,000 views and send you zero signups if there’s no clear path from the video to the thing you built. You have to build that bridge on purpose.
Three places to convert, in order of importance:
- Link in bio. This is your one clickable link. Point it at a simple landing page that matches the promise of your videos — same words, same problem. If your video is about volunteer hours, the page’s first line should be about volunteer hours, not a generic “welcome to our platform.” Learn to write that page in how to build a landing page that converts.
- Pinned comment. TikTok’s link-in-bio is easy to miss. Pin a comment on every video that tells people exactly where to go: “sign-ups are in my bio, first 50 get in free.”
- The video itself. Occasionally — not every time — end a video with a direct invitation. “We’re letting in the first 100 people, link’s in bio.” Scarcity that’s actually true works. Fake scarcity gets sniffed out fast.
One more thing separates founders who get users from creators who just get views: you close the loop in the comments and DMs. When someone comments “how do I get this,” reply. When someone DMs a question, answer like a human. Every comment is a warm lead who raised their hand — a creator ignores them, a founder converts them. It’s the same skill as cold DMing people without being annoying, except these people came to you, which makes it far easier.
How often should I post, and how long until it works?
Post once a day if you can, at least four times a week. Not because TikTok punishes you for posting less, but because your first videos will be bad and volume is how you get less bad fast. Ten posts is where you start seeing what your audience responds to. Thirty posts is where most founders have had at least one video “pop” and send a real wave of signups.
Set a rule for yourself so this doesn’t eat your life: batch-film several videos in one sitting on a weekend, then post them across the week. You are a student first, and burning out on content helps no one. The habit of protecting your time is worth building early — there’s a whole guide on it in how to balance school and a startup without burning out.
Two honest warnings. First, most of your videos will flop, and that’s normal — the algorithm is a slot machine you get better at over time, not a formula. Second, don’t spread yourself across five platforms at once. Pick TikTok, go deep, and only add another channel once this one is working. Here’s why that focus matters: why you should pick one marketing channel, not ten.
The founder mindset that makes this work
The founders who win on TikTok aren’t the best on camera. They’re the ones who treat every video as a cheap experiment and keep going after the flops. You’re not trying to go viral — viral is nice but unreliable. You’re trying to consistently reach the specific people who have the problem you solve, and give a few of them a reason to click.
That’s a skill you can build in a few weeks with a phone and some nerve. It’s also exactly the kind of thing we push you through during the Market sprint at batch0 — you pick a channel, ship real content, and get real strangers to sign up while mentors help you read the signals. If you want a structured month to actually do this instead of just planning it, apply here; it’s free to apply, and you only pay if you get in.
Open your camera. Film the problem you can’t stop thinking about. Post it before you talk yourself out of it. Your first user is probably scrolling right now.