How do you market a product with no money left?
You pay in hours instead, and you spend most of them talking to people who already have the problem. Ads and influencers can wait until something free is working.
That was the advice that kept coming up in an r/SaaS thread from May 2026, where two bootstrapped founders asked how to get their first 100 to 500 users before spending anything. It had about 72 comments when checked on 24 October 2026. One of the two highest-scored replies was blunt: “There are no free channels. You have to spend your own time which is money too.”
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, made the same point in Do Things That Don’t Scale in July 2013: the most common unscalable thing founders do at the start is recruit users by hand, and nearly all startups have to. So budget your hours the way you would budget money. This is the 10-hour week we suggest:
| Block | Hours a week | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Messages to people who posted the problem | 4 | 50 messages (10 a day, 5 days) |
| Answers in 2 or 3 communities | 3 | 10 to 15 useful replies |
| Follow-ups and keeping a log | 1.5 | Every open conversation answered |
| One piece of public writing | 1.5 | One post you can reuse in replies |
| Total | 10 | About 200 messages a month |
What can you do for free on each channel?
More than you need. Every channel below is free to use, and each publishes its own limits and rules. These are the ones that matter for a founder with no budget, checked on 24 October 2026:
| Channel | Free limit | What the platform’s own page says |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail, personal account | 500 emails a day | Going over 500 recipients in one email or 500 emails in a day can trigger a sending limit for 1 to 24 hours |
| Email to Gmail users | Rules apply at any volume | Since 1 February 2024, all senders must set up SPF or DKIM and keep spam rates in Postmaster Tools below 0.3% |
| LinkedIn, free account | A personal note on three connection requests a month (an older LinkedIn page says five) | Notes can be up to 200 characters; Premium members can add notes to all requests |
| X | 500 DMs a day (technical limit) | Limits count actions from every device and app, and may be lowered during heavy use |
| Posting and commenting | Spam, meaning repeated or unsolicited actions that negatively affect users or communities, is never allowed; if your posts are mostly links to your own business, be thoughtful about how often | |
| Hacker News (Show HN) | Posting something people can try | Landing pages and sign-up pages don’t qualify, and asking friends to upvote is not allowed |
Plan LinkedIn around three notes a month. In practice that means connecting without a note and writing once they accept. Our guide to when a note on a connection request is worth it has the trade-offs.
Who should you contact first, and what do you say?
Contact people who described the problem you solve, in public, in the last seven days. They have told you their pain in their own words, which gives you a reason to write that isn’t a pitch.
Replies in the May 2026 thread gave two versions of this. One suggested finding 10 Reddit threads where people are frustrated about your exact problem and writing useful replies with no pitch for two weeks. Another suggested picking a customer type narrow enough to name 50 people or companies, then messaging 10 a day about their situation and asking for a 15-minute call before sending a signup link.
Our guide to finding people with the problem you solve covers the searches and which posts to skip. Once you have a name, send something short. Copy this and replace the brackets:
If you email people in the US, CAN-SPAM applies. The FTC’s CAN-SPAM compliance guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email, requires a valid postal address and a clear way to opt out, and lists penalties of up to $53,088 for each email in violation (the figure on the page on 24 October 2026). This is not legal advice; check the rules where you and your buyers are. For more starting points, see our cold email templates.
How do you use communities without getting banned?
Answer the question that was asked, and mention your product only when it is the honest answer. Reddit’s spam policy says that if your contributions are mostly links to a business you run, you should think about how often you post. Reddit’s page also says to check each community’s own rules, and moderators decide what counts as spam there.
The May 2026 thread shows both sides. Of about 56 replies still visible when we read it, at least 15 pointed to Reddit, Slack groups or other communities where buyers already describe the problem. At the same time, the subreddit’s moderation bot had removed a number of replies as low-effort or AI content, and at least two commenters said they had built the tool they were recommending. Read tool tips in these threads with that in mind.
In a February 2026 r/SaaS thread asking how founders found users with little or no paid marketing, the two highest-scored replies, at 9 points each, pulled in opposite directions. One was a reply warning that another commenter’s tip was an ad. The other said engaging in Reddit communities had brought that commenter 2 clients within a month, while cold email to leads found from intent signals, in batches of 50, was still being built up. That is one person’s report. Treat it as a method to try.
- Pick two or three communities where your buyers ask for help, and read each one’s rules.
- Read for a week before posting. Note which questions get answered well.
- Answer three questions a week in full, with no link.
- Share a link only when someone asks, or when your product is the direct answer.
- Log which threads lead to a DM or a signup, and drop the communities that don’t.
How do you follow up without paying for a tool?
Use one spreadsheet and check it every morning, so that no reply sits for days and no conversation stops after one message.
Give the sheet these columns: name, where you found them, the words they used about the problem, first message date, channel, their reply, next step and next-step date. Sort by next-step date each morning and clear everything due.
A simple rule that keeps you polite: one follow-up three or four days after the first message, one more about a week later, then stop. Stop at once if someone says no or asks you to stop. Reply the same day to anyone who answers.
When there is money for software, Siela’s AI SDR can take over the finding and following up. It scores each lead hot, warm or cold with a one-line reason, writes each LinkedIn and X message from the person’s profile and the signal that surfaced them, and stops following up when someone books, says yes, says no or asks to stop.
When should you spend your first money on marketing?
Spend when a free channel already brings paying customers and you can name exactly what money would buy more of. In the May 2026 thread, more than a dozen replies said to hold off on ads until something free converts. One reply disagreed and argued that Meta and Google ads are a must.
An r/startups thread from August 2025 shows the trap. The founder had built a digital product for dog owners and had €600 left. Aiming Facebook ads at an audience of 200 million, the founder expected about 22,000 impressions and no conversions. Influencers asked for about €2,500 up front for an 80,000-follower account. Several replies urged skipping both and starting in dog owners’ groups and with short videos the founder could film. One commenter asked the question that matters most: had anyone paid for the product yet?
That was a consumer product, but the logic carries over to B2B. Before you spend, make sure you can answer three questions: who paid, what sentence made them interested, and which channel they came from. A commenter in the May 2026 thread said they spent nothing until they had 15 to 20 happy users and a repeatable pitch, and then spent first on better contact data.
If you launched and nobody has paid yet, work through our distribution checklist for zero paying customers after launch before you spend a cent.
A 30-day marketing plan with no budget
Week 1: build the list and the log
Write down 20 phrases buyers use for the problem. Search them on LinkedIn, X and Reddit, and save 50 people who used them in the last month. Set up the spreadsheet.
Week 2: start the daily 10
Send 10 first messages a day using the template above. Answer three community questions in full. Log every reply the same day.
Week 3: follow up and publish once
Follow up with week 2’s silent contacts, keep the daily 10 going, and publish one post built from the questions people asked you. If people can try the product without signing up, consider a Show HN.
Week 4: count and cut
For each source, count replies, calls and paying users. Keep the best channel, drop the weakest, and rewrite your first message using the words from the replies that worked.
Need more on the first customers specifically? Our plan for the first 10 B2B customers with no network goes step by step.
Frequently asked questions
Can you market a B2B product with no budget at all?
Yes, if you can give it about 10 hours a week. The free channels are direct messages and email to people who have described the problem, answers in communities where buyers ask for help, and steady follow-up. A personal Gmail account can send up to 500 emails a day, and LinkedIn and X accounts are free, so the limit is your time.
How many people should you contact a week with no budget?
Our plan uses about 50 a week, 10 per working day, which fits in four hours if each researched message takes under five minutes. That adds up to roughly 200 new conversations a month. Contact fewer if you can't follow up with everyone within a few days, because unanswered replies are where free leads are lost.
Should you spend your last money on ads?
Usually not before a free channel brings paying customers. In the bootstrapped founder threads we read, more than a dozen replies said to hold off on ads until something free converts, since ads are a costly way to learn who your buyer is. First know who pays, what sentence got them interested and where they came from. Then spend on the one thing that would get you more of the customers you already have.
Is it OK to promote your product on Reddit?
Within limits. Reddit's spam policy bans repeated or unsolicited actions that negatively affect users or communities, and says that if your posts are mostly links to a business you run, you should be thoughtful about how often you post. Each subreddit sets its own rules, so read them first, answer questions fully, and link your product only when it directly answers the question.
Do cold email laws apply to B2B emails?
In the US, yes. The FTC's CAN-SPAM guide says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. Commercial messages need accurate headers, a non-deceptive subject line, a valid postal address and a clear way to opt out. Other countries have different rules, so check the law where you and your recipients are. This is not legal advice.
Sources
- r/SaaS: bootstrapped saas, need real marketing advice before i spend money (thread) (8 May 2026, checked 24 Oct 2026)
- r/startups: Build a great product but have no marketing money left (thread) (26 Aug 2025, checked 24 Oct 2026)
- r/SaaS: grew a SaaS with little to no paid marketing, how did you get first users (thread) (17 Feb 2026, checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Paul Graham: Do Things That Don't Scale (Jul 2013)
- Gmail Help: Limits for sending and getting mail (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Email sender guidelines (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Personalize invitations to connect (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Invitation limit reached (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- X Help Center: About X limits (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Reddit Help: Spam (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Hacker News: Show HN guidelines (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- US Federal Trade Commission: CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business (Aug 2023, edited Jan 2024)