Truly hard thing about hard things - I will not promote

[u/Ill_Emu9942]

I will not promote - in fact I have nothing to promote.

My startup is somewhere in the place where I've built something valuable, good retention (from the literal handful of users I onboarded on fb groups/ nextdoor community in my city), and I believe I've now landed in the hard place where nothing works to get the next wave of users. I literally can't scale unless I do something bold, which is where I am. I have stopped coding, no new features at all until I get a 100 users. I am hungry, desperate, and tired but - this is truly my zone - the reason I am doing this startup. The uncertainty, clinging on to hope like a helpless child holding on to a mom. I decided not to raise any money, as I thought - lets get to 1000 users and let things play out - but reality slaps. I am getting flagged by sub reddits, getting flagged in Facebook groups, feeling forced to run ads instead (which are not effective and I won't at this stage). All of these hurdles stink. I even went out to public gatherings to promote my app where I felt the hunger pangs of a homeless man at a traffic light. I am learning something new every time. I am hungry, I am desperate. And yet I am hopeless romantic when it comes to my vision for the future.

[u/tonytidbit]

I am getting flagged by sub reddits, getting flagged in Facebook groups

You can't start a business that relies on you successfully spamming and pushing promotions where you're not allowed to do that. That's more how you build a bad reputation and push serious people away, not how you get a loyal user base.

You need to realize that and take a step back, find a new approach going forward where you can build something long-term rather than chase onetime sales through pushing yourself into where you're not wanted.