Why I Only Have 8 Users After Launch (And Why That's Okay): Building Authentically Instead of Chasing Vanity Metrics

I launched Loamly on Hacker News and Product Hunt on December 30-31, 2025. I got 2 free signups.

That's it. Two.

Three weeks later, I have 8 users total. Two are paying. That's a 25% conversion rate, which sounds good until you realize the denominator is embarrassingly small.

This is the story of why that's actually okay—and why chasing vanity metrics would have been worse.

The Vanity Metrics Trap That Kills Startups

Most founders obsess over metrics that don't actually matter:

• Total signups - Doesn't tell you if people are using the product
• Launch week downloads - Doesn't tell you if they'll come back
• Traffic volume - Doesn't tell you if visitors are qualified
• Social media followers - Doesn't tell you if they'll buy

These metrics feel good because they're easy to measure and easy to share. But they're misleading because they don't correlate with actual business success.

Research shows that startups that focus on vanity metrics are more likely to fail. Why? Because they optimize for the wrong things. They spend time and money acquiring users who don't stick around, building features nobody uses, and celebrating milestones that don't matter.

The antidote is focusing on meaningful metrics:

• Retention rate - Are users coming back?
• Engagement depth - How much are they using the product?
• Expansion revenue - Are existing customers growing their usage?
• Net Revenue Retention - Are you keeping and growing revenue from existing customers?

These metrics are harder to measure and often look worse in the early days. But they're the only metrics that actually predict long-term success.

Our Launch Day Reality: 2 Free Signups

I launched on Hacker News and Product Hunt on December 30-31, 2025.

What I expected: Based on other launch stories, I thought I'd get at least 50-100 signups. Maybe some paying customers. Maybe some press coverage.

What I got: Two signups. No paying customers. No press. Just silence.

How I felt: Honestly? Disappointed. I'd spent 4.5 months building this thing. Nights and weekends. Hundreds of hours. And the response was... crickets.

But here's what I learned: launch day doesn't matter. The real work starts after launch. Those two signups became my first real users. I talked to them. Learned from them. Built features they actually needed.

One of them brought a friend. That friend became user #3. User #3 told someone else. That's how I got to 8.

It's not a hockey stick. It's not even a line. It's a slow, steady crawl. And that's okay.

The Three Weeks After: How I Got to 8 Users

Between December 31 and January 11, I went from 2 users to 8 users. Here's what actually worked:

1. Talking to the first two users

I asked them what they needed. Built features they requested. They became advocates. One of them brought a friend. This is the most valuable growth channel in the early days: existing users bringing new users.

2. The /check tool

I built a free AI visibility checker that doesn't require signup. People use it, see value, then sign up. It's working as a lead magnet. About 40% of signups come from people who tried the free tool first.

3. Blog content

I started writing about AI visibility, GEO, and attribution. Every blog post is also a distribution channel. People find the content, try the tool, then sign up. About 30% of signups come from blog traffic.

4. Indie Hackers and dev.to posts

I wrote honest posts about building Loamly. Not polished. Not perfect. Just real. People resonated with the authenticity. About 20% of signups come from these communities.

5. Direct outreach (just starting)

I have Clay.com credits from my day job and 20 email accounts warming up in Instantly.ai. The plan is to pre-generate AI visibility reports for prospects and email them. Show value first, then ask for the sale. This hasn't produced signups yet, but it's the next channel I'm testing.

What didn't work:

• Hacker News launch - Got minimal traction. Probably because I'm not well-known in the HN community. Should have engaged more before launching.

• Product Hunt launch - Got 2 upvotes. Embarrassing, but honest. B2B tools don't do well on PH unless you have a network.

• Twitter/X - I don't have a following. Tweets got zero engagement. Need to build audience first.

The key insight: Growth compounds when you optimize for quality users rather than quantity. Those 8 users are engaged. They're using the product. They're giving feedback. That's more valuable than 80 disengaged signups.

Why 8 Engaged Users is Better Than 80 Disengaged Users

Let me be specific about what "engaged" means:

User engagement metrics (as of January 11, 2026):

• Daily active users: 4 out of 8 (50%)
• Weekly active users: 6 out of 8 (75%)
• Feature usage: All 8 users have used the /check tool. 6 have set up tracking. 4 have run intelligence reports.
• Feedback quality: I've had 12 conversations with users. Average conversation length: 45 minutes. They're not just using the product—they're helping me improve it.

Revenue metrics:

• Paying customers: 2 out of 8 (25% conversion rate)
• Expansion potential: Both paying customers are on Grow tier ($49/mo). One is already asking about features that would justify upgrading to Pro ($149/mo).
• Churn risk: Zero. Both paying customers are actively using the product and giving feedback.

Compare this to 80 disengaged users:

• Maybe 10% would be active (8 users)
• Maybe 2% would pay (1-2 customers)
• Zero feedback because they're not using it
• High churn risk because they signed up but never engaged

The math is clear: 8 engaged users > 80 disengaged users.

But here's what matters more: those 8 engaged users are teaching me what the product should be. They're showing me which features matter and which don't. They're helping me understand the market.

If I had 80 disengaged users, I'd be optimizing for the wrong things. I'd be building features that look good in demos but don't solve real problems. I'd be chasing metrics that don't matter.

What I Am Learning From This Authentic Growth

The slower growth process is teaching me things I wouldn't have learned from rapid viral growth:

1. The product works for a specific audience

My 8 users aren't random. They're all B2B SaaS companies or marketing agencies. They all have the same problem: they can't track AI visibility. They all need the same solution: a tool that shows where they appear in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity.

This is product-market fit at a micro level. Not "everyone needs this" but "this specific group of people really needs this." That's more valuable than broad appeal with no depth.

2. The positioning was wrong initially

I initially positioned Loamly as "AI traffic analytics." But my users don't care about traffic. They care about visibility. They want to know: "Are we being cited by ChatGPT? How do we compare to competitors? What should we optimize?"

This positioning shift—from traffic to visibility—came from talking to those 8 users. I wouldn't have learned this if I had 80 users I never talked to.

3. The pricing was too low

I started with $29/mo for the Grow tier. My users told me it was too cheap. They said they'd pay $49/mo or even $99/mo for this. So I raised prices. Both paying customers are on the $49/mo tier, and they're happy with it.

If I had 80 users, I might have kept prices low to maximize signups. But with 8 users, I can have real conversations about value. That's how I learned the right price point.

4. Distribution is harder than building

I spent 90% of time building, 10% on marketing. The successful solo founders do 50/50. I'm correcting this now.

But here's what I learned: distribution channels that work for others might not work for you. HN and PH didn't work for me. But blog content and community engagement did. I wouldn't have discovered this if I had given up after the launch didn't go viral.

The Real Metrics That Matter

Instead of obsessing over signup counts, here's what I'm tracking:

Engagement metrics:

• Daily active users (target: 50%+ of total users)
• Weekly active users (target: 75%+ of total users)
• Feature adoption rate (target: each user uses 3+ features)
• Time to first value (target: < 5 minutes)

Revenue metrics:

• Conversion rate from free to paid (current: 25%, target: 30%+)
• Average revenue per user (current: $49/mo, target: $75/mo)
• Expansion revenue (target: 20% of customers upgrade within 3 months)
• Net Revenue Retention (target: 100%+)

Product metrics:

• Feature usage depth (which features do users actually use?)
• Support ticket volume (are users confused or happy?)
• Feedback quality (are users giving actionable input?)
• Referral rate (are users bringing friends?)

These metrics are harder to measure. They don't make for good Twitter screenshots. But they're the only metrics that actually predict whether Loamly will succeed long-term.

What This Means for Other Founders

If you're in the early days and your user count is embarrassingly small, here's what I've learned:

1. Launch day doesn't matter

The real work starts after launch. Those first few users are gold. Talk to them. Learn from them. Build what they need. They'll bring friends.

2. Quality > Quantity

8 engaged users who use your product daily are worth more than 80 signups who never come back. Focus on engagement, not acquisition.

3. Vanity metrics are dangerous

They make you feel good in the short term but lead you to optimize for the wrong things. Focus on metrics that actually predict success.

4. Slow growth teaches you more

When you have 8 users, you can talk to all of them. You can understand their problems deeply. You can build exactly what they need. That's harder with 80 users.

5. Distribution is personal

What works for others might not work for you. Test channels. Find what resonates. Don't assume the "standard" playbook applies to your situation.

The Honest Summary

Three weeks after launch, here's where I stand:

• Total signups: 8 users
• Paying customers: 2 (25% conversion rate)
• Daily active users: 4 (50% of total)
• Revenue: Under $100/month (not covering costs yet)
• Outlook: I'm just getting started

This isn't a failure story. This is a "building authentically" story. I'm not chasing vanity metrics. I'm building something real, with real users, solving real problems.

The conventional founder narrative says I should be embarrassed by these numbers. But I'm not. I'm proud of them. They're real. They're honest. And they're teaching me everything I need to know to build something people actually want.

If you're in the same boat—small numbers, slow growth, lots of doubt—remember: you're not alone. Most successful products started exactly where you are. The difference is whether you focus on vanity metrics or meaningful metrics.

I'm choosing meaningful metrics. And I'm okay with 8 users.

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