David Ch tested every free channel for Shipper in its first 66 days. Reddit posts written as a fellow builder — honest numbers, no links — drove 798,124 views; a #7 Product of the Day added a spike. Directories, Hacker News and an Indie Hackers post did nothing.
01The problem
Get a new SaaS its first paying users with no ad budget.
02The hypothesis
Redditors reject advertising but welcome a builder sharing real numbers and lessons.
03The experiment
Reddit: he posted as a builder, not a marketer — real MRR, sales and lessons, framed as what he tried, what worked and what failed. He never pasted the website link; he mentioned the product name naturally so curious readers looked it up.
Alongside that: a Product Hunt launch (#7 Product of the Day, then featured in the PH newsletter), daily build-in-public posts on X and LinkedIn, comparison pages for people searching for competitor alternatives, talking to every refunding user, and email flows for retention and failed payments.
04Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| MRRday 66 | $1,175 |
| Reddit views | 798,124 |
| Paid users | 59 |
| Search clicks | 2,377 |
| Total sales volume | $3,275 |
| Email subscribers | 735 |
| Spend | Not disclosed |
“Not disclosed” means the source doesn't say. We never estimate or fill in missing numbers.
05What worked — and what didn't
What worked
- Reddit posts with honest numbers and no website link
- Product Hunt: #7 Product of the Day, then the PH newsletter
- Comparison pages for people searching for competitor alternatives
- Asking every refunding user why — brutal but clarifying feedback
- Showing his face instead of a logo
What didn't work
- Directory launches: zero clicks or conversions
- Hacker News: 1 upvote, then gone
- An Indie Hackers post
- Pasting the website link in Reddit posts — he calls it the fastest way to get downvoted
“redditors hate any form of advertising.”
06Source & evidence
- View original
Originally shared on X · Oct 3, 2025
we launched 66 days ago — what worked & what didn't
- View original
Also on Other · Sep 25, 2025
Got $1,100 MRR after launching 1 month ago
Public source. Extracted from publicly available content by the founder.
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