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Guide / 2026-10-18

Where to find beta users who actually need your product

Good beta users are people who are already asking for what you built. Don't just recruit testers. Search for people describing the problem: "is there a tool that…", "[competitor] alternative", or "how do I [job]". Reply to them by hand, and add one honest launch post (Show HN, if it's software people can try). On Bluesky, "looking for beta testers" matched 25 posts in the last 30 days, and nearly all were founders recruiting. That's competition for testers, not supply.

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    The numbers behind that advice (checked 2026-10-18)

    • Bluesky: "looking for beta testers" returned 25 posts in 30 days. Examples include a Mac writing tracker, a book platform and an indie game.
    • Hacker News: "looking for beta testers" matched 3 items in 30 days. Meanwhile 3,882 Show HN posts went up in the same 30 days, so a launch post has plenty of company.
    • Problem-first asks exist: in 90 days, AskHound's snapshots found 10 direct asks for a 1Password alternative and 1 for Jira (where our first pass also counted two vendor ads, now excluded). Each one is a person with a need, a date and a link.

    Where to look, by channel

    1. Show HN. Per HN's Show HN rules, it's for "something you've made that other people can play with". Sign-up pages and newsletters "can't be Show HNs". HN asks you to make it easy to try, "ideally without barriers such as signups or emails". Post one honest launch, then stay in the thread.
    2. Stack Exchange Software Recommendations. People list their exact requirements, for example "Team chat with private rooms, file upload and link previews (alternative to Slack)". If your tool meets them, answer with a disclosure.
    3. Bluesky. Askers post in plain language ("What's the recommended alternative to 1Password?"). Search for problem phrases, add context words, and reply as yourself.
    4. GitHub issues on competitor or adjacent repos. Feature requests that a maintainer has declined are a list of people who need something else.
    5. Hacker News comments. "What do you use instead of X?" threads. Reply by hand; HN doesn't allow AI-generated or AI-edited comments.

    Turning an asker into a beta user

    • Answer their question completely first, even if the answer isn't your product.
    • Disclose: "I build X, which does this; it's in beta and free for testers."
    • Name an alternative that might suit them better.
    • Don't send cold DMs to everyone in a thread.

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    FAQ

    Is posting "looking for beta testers" a waste of time?

    Not a waste, but it's crowded: 25 such Bluesky posts in 30 days, nearly all from other founders. Reaching people who already have the problem usually gets better testers.

    Can I do a Show HN for a waitlist?

    No. HN's rules say sign-up pages can't be Show HNs. It has to be something people can try.

    Does AskHound find beta users on Reddit?

    No. AskHound doesn't cover Reddit or X. Hosted search covers Stack Exchange and Bluesky; the free CLI adds Hacker News and GitHub.

    How many testers do I need?

    We don't have data on that, so we won't guess. Start with the people whose posts match your problem exactly.

    Related

    Guides: where your users ask

    Sources

    • Bluesky searchPosts, "looking for beta testers", 30 days (25 posts)
    • HN Algolia API: "looking for beta testers" (3 in 30 days); tags=show_hn 30-day count (3,882)
    • https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html
    • AskHound snapshots: /alternatives/1password, /alternatives/jira (re-taken 2026-10-18 14:33 UTC)

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  "mcpServers": {
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  "mcpServers": {
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askhound pack save mine --competitor Otter.ai \
  --competitor Fireflies --category "transcript export"
askhound pack run --md today.md

    Honest-reply policy (built into every tool response): a human approves every public reply; never auto-post or mass-DM; disclose that you build the product; answer the question first and name alternatives; follow each community's rules. Hacker News, for example, does not allow AI-generated or AI-edited comments, so replies there must be written by you. AskHound finds the conversation. You decide whether you have something useful to say.

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