How we used our Existing Users to Gain More Users?
with Real-World Examples & Implementation Tips...
You wake up one day and find out your startup’s sign-ups doubled overnight – not because of a huge ad spend, but because your own users went out and brought back their friends.
If this sounds like something you CAN’T imagine happening, This article is for you.
Dropbox pulled it off, achieving a staggering 3900% user growth in 15 months by turning its users into a viral referral engine.
PayPal did something similar – literally paying users on both sides of a referral ($10 each) and watching growth go exponential.
These big wins came from a simple truth: the cheapest way to gain new users is to use the users you already have (“use existing users to gain more users,” as I like to say).
In this article, I’ll go through down-to-earth (personally field-tested) strategies to do exactly that, with other real examples (Canva, Notion, Dropbox, Airbnb, Figma and more), and easy and data-backed implementation guide.
Before we go can you answer this one poll?
Let’s dive in, starting with the first thing you should ask every new user...
First, Ask Every User “Where Did You Hear About Us?”
Every time a new user signs up, just ask them: “Hey, where did you hear about us?” This simple question is the open sesame for early-stage startups.
Because it tells you which of your existing users (or channels) are bringing in new folks. What if a bunch of sign-ups mention a certain YouTuber’s review or a post in a niche Slack community – that’s a huge signal of where trust and word-of-mouth are happening.
In fact, self-reported referrals often reveal underground channels before your analytics tools catch on.
How to implement it? (I mean, if you have to ask):
Add a single field in your signup or onboarding flow for “Where did you hear about us?” (make it optional and fun, not a tedious survey). Keep the answers multiple-choice plus an open “Other” textbox – and actually read the responses.
If folks keep saying “I saw it in a Slack group” or “my buddy tweeted it,” congrats, you’ve hit the viral jackpot – Double down on those channels and Guard it like it’s the last beer can at a college party..
This question costs nothing, adds a tiny bit of friction, but gives you laser focus on channels that already and actually work.
This is how you start turning organic buzz into a repeatable growth strategy.
Second, Track Your Most Active Users to Nail Your ICP
Your most active users are your product’s biggest fans – understanding who they are is important in defining your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Early on, you have a hunch who you’re building for, but data from your actual power users will always surprise you.
For example, PostHog (an analytics tool, the best there is.. and no i’m not an affiliate) learned to constantly analyze which users were completing “high-value events” most often – those power users helped them refine their ICP by industry and use-case.
fortuitously, you can use PostHog’s Cohort Analysis to analyse the same for your own product. (read how posthog did it here)
In other words, your engaged users tell you about your ideal future customers.
Let’s see how you can achieve this:
Look at your product metrics and identify the top 5-10% of users by activity – e.g. those who log in daily, create lots of content, or use advanced features.
Look for patterns: are they mostly startups? students? a particular role or sector?
Compare retention across segments.
PostHog’s team recommends a few concrete steps:
ask key questions at signup (company size, role, etc.)
and later correlate that with usage;
and especially, flag which customers use the product the most or trigger the most “aha” moments.
If an specific user-cohort/segment retain significantly better or give higher ratings than others, that segment is your ICP.
By tracking who can’t get enough of your product, you’ll know exactly who to target to gain more such users.
(Plus, those super-fans will happily refer others like them! ~ Well! atleast in most cases…)
Third, Spot Users With Large Followings & Spark Wildfire Growth
Sometimes, one well-connected user will be a spark that ignites the wildfire growth for you. You start by spotting existing users who have large followings on social media – and then activate them (gently and authentically) to spread the word.
Canva famously did this when tech evangelist Guy Kawasaki joined as a power user; by simply tweeting about Canva to his millions of followers, it tripled Canva’s users in two months.
How to use this?
Keep an eye on new signups or active users who have big Twitter, YouTube, or blog audiences.
You can do this manually (Google their name, check LinkedIn/Twitter) or with tools that enrich social data like Apollo.
If you find an “influencer” using your product, reach out personally.
Thank them for hopping on, offer a quick demo or just start a friendly conversation.
The goal isn’t to shill; it’s to build a relationship.
Often, if an influencer loves your product, they’ll naturally share it. You can give them a little nudge or exclusive perk: e.g. free upgrade, or ask if they’d like to be featured on your blog.
Disclaimer: Don’t offer free stuff and ask them to do something in return. This makes it transactional and looks cheap. Gvie them free stuff without any expectation or mention of expectation.
Personal example: What we do is, we have built an internal system to detect if a user is famous (by using Apollo and/or asking gpt-4.1 if it knows the person and are they famous?), if so then we take them out of all the onboarding email sequence and add them to another user-email sequesce that goes out direcly from the inbox of the CEO asking for a personal onboarding call if they like. (don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret 🤫)Fourth, Put Retention Before Acquisition (Early-Stage Rule)
When you’re itching to grow, it’s tempting to chase new users at any cost. But here’s what’s always worked for me: retention before acquisition (This is NOT a rule, like Paul Graham’s Do things that don’t scale).
If your existing users aren’t sticking, adding more users will create a leaky bucket problem. Focus on delighting and keeping the ones you have – that will naturally lead to sustainable growth.
In fact, there is a known fact in the industry that, acquiring a new customer costs 5× more than retaining one, and a mere 5% boost in retention can increase profits by 25–95%. ~ you can google about it.
This matters because:
Strong retention drives word-of-mouth.
Users who stick around longer provide more opportunities to invite others, create content, and refer friends. They also give you more feedback to improve the product.
So, check your user retention curve – does it flatten out or drop to zero?
If a large chunk of users leave after a month, fix that hole first (via onboarding improvements, better product-market fit, support outreach, etc… whatever it takes) before spending on new users.
Because the thing is, retained users = future advocates. They are far more likely to bring in others.
Companies like Superhuman famously refused to scale up marketing until their retention (and user satisfaction) was excellent – they even waitlisted people to ensure each new user would have a great experience, maximizing the chance they’d stick and invite colleagues.
Important insights:
Referred customers have higher retention than others. And existing users who love the product will naturally engage in positive word-of-mouth.
Put retention first by doing things like personal onboarding calls, quick “win” moments in-app, and re-engagement emails for inactive users.
The payoff is huge: not only do you save money (remember, keeping an existing user is 4–5× cheaper than getting a new one), but those happy, retained users will help you acquire new users organically.
Plug the leaks, and the bucket fills itself.
Fifth, Highlight & Promote User Success Stories
Here’s how we do it: https://www.streamalive.com/customer-storiesEvery time one of your users succeeds using your product, tell that story – on your blog, social media, newsletter, everywhere. Because user success stories are powerful social proof that attracts new users.
People trust recommendations from people like them: 70% of B2B buyers say recommendations from real people carry more weight than a company’s marketing, and seeing customer success stories increases their trust in a business.
It makes potential users think, “If it worked for them, maybe it’ll work for me.”
How can you do it effectively?
We reach out to users who have achieved notable results or unique use cases with our product.
So you ask, Did a freelancer land 5 clients using your design tool? Did a team save 10 hours a week with your SaaS?
Interview them (casually), and write up a short case study or shoot a quick video.
Then promote the heck out of it: feature it on your site’s homepage or a “Customer Stories” page, share snippets on LinkedIn/Twitter, and tag the user (they’ll likely share it too, amplifying reach).
For example, Airbnb constantly highlights stories of hosts who turned their spare rooms into life-changing income – this not only brings in new hosts but also makes guests trust the platform more.
When you promote a user’s success, you’re doing three things at once:
rewarding that user with recognition (strengthening your relationship),
providing valuable content for potential customers (who see real outcomes and feel a connection),
and encouraging other users to strive for success (maybe their story will be featured next).
Sixth, Celebrate Every Organic Share
Here's an example of how we do it: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/streamalive_introduction-to-streamalive-with-said-saddouk-activity-7317493224804085760-OWd4/Every time a user organically shares your product – a tweet saying “I love this app!”, a blog post review, a TikTok demo, anything – celebrate it and amplify it. When you engage and cheer them on, you encourage more people to share.
For example, if a user tweets about how your SaaS saved their day, like it, retweet it, comment with a thank you. Maybe even highlight it in your community or internal Slack. This positive feedback loop signals to users: “We notice and appreciate you spreading the love.”
It seems small, but it’s exactly how passionate communities are built.
So make it a habit: monitor social mentions, set up Google Alerts, or use a tool like Mention. You can even compile the best shares of the week and feature them in an email or on a “Wall of Love” page.
By celebrating every organic share, you make users want to talk about you – and feel appreciated for doing so.
Seventh, Shamelessly Ask Power Users for Boosts (Sparingly)
When you have power users who clearly love your product – users who log in every day, give you high NPS scores, maybe even email you feature ideas – don’t be shy about occasionally asking them for a little boost.
If you’ve built a good rapport, many will be happy to help spread the word, write a review, or give a testimonial.
The key word, though, is sparingly. You don’t want to pester or exploit your fans. But a well-timed, sincere ask can work wonders.
This works because, Your power users are already talking about you to some extent. By explicitly asking, you bring it front-of-mind and make it easy. It is kind of word-of-mouth marketing on demand.
And since you only do it rarely, it comes off as what it is – a friendly request from a founder to a supporter.
I’ve had founders (of Fold, ADPList, SmartLeads, etc) email me as a power user of their product, and you bet I posted about their launch or referred a friend when asked; I was happy to, because I loved the product and appreciated the personal touch.
Even a small shout-out from a power user can bring new users from their network, so it’s absolutely worth a bit of shameless asking now and then.
Eighth, Encourage First-Creation Shares → Instant UGC
Here's my first ever creation on StreamAlive: https://sandbox.streamalive.com/sandbox/ros-preview-sandbox?oTemplateId=94b62a3a-23a8-4a1b-a950-315adeb1a57fThe moment a user creates something awesome with your product for the first time – capitalize on that excitement by encouraging them to share it. This turns new users into a source of instant user-generated content (UGC) and new-user magnet.
By capitalize this is what I mean:
when someone designs their first graphic on Canva, that’s a prime time to prompt: “Share your creation with the world!” And they did this brilliantly: by October 2014 (about a year after launch), over 1 million users had shared Canva-designed images on social media or blogs, and that number hit 4 million by mid-2015.
Each shared design had others asking, “Whoa, how’d you make that?” – leading them straight back to Canva.
Tactics to implement:
After a user hits “Save” or achieves some milestone, show social share buttons or an invite to publish on your platform’s gallery (like this we have, if you have one).
Even a gentle nudge like a pop-up: “Congrats on creating X! Share it with your friends or on Twitter?” can do wonders.
Many will skip, but some will share – and those creations must carry your branding or link.
One great approach is to offer an easy way to share with a subtle product watermark or tag.
For example, “Made with Canva” or “Powered by Notion” badge on the page.
Think about the psychology: a user’s first creation is a moment of pride. They’re keen to show it off. Your job is to remove friction and encourage that impulse.
The key is the immediacy: the first creation is when enthusiasm is highest. By giving immediate sharing options, you convert that single-user experience into a recruitment tool for new users.
Nineth, Build an Embedded Sharing Loop for All UGC
Beyond first-timers, you want every piece of user-generated content in your product to potentially bring in new users. That means creating embedded sharing loops.
What is embedded sharing loop?
Whenever users create or do something that can be viewed by others, make it easy (or default) to share it externally with a link or widget that drives viewers back to your product.
It means letting users put your content on their own websites or socials easily.
Think Google Maps, YouTube videos or Product Hunt Badges, it’s free marketing for Google/YouTube/Product Hunt with a link back.Classic example is Typeform. Users would create interactive forms and share them, and each form had a little “Powered by Typeform” badge. As a result, every respondent who enjoyed the sleek form could click through and become a Typeform user themselves.
This viral loop was so effective that in its beta, Typeform got 50,000 sign-ups largely from people seeing shared forms.
The founders admit they “didn’t do anything else” – the product’s embedded virality did the heavy lifting.
Check out Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged to Understand How Typform Did it effectively:
How to do it in your product?
Identify content or outputs that users naturally share or publish – documents, forms, images, projects, playlists, etc.
Ensure that when those are shared, non-users who view them are drawn into your funnel.
That could be a sign-up prompt (“Remix this design on our app – sign up to edit it!”), a watermark (“Made with MyProduct”), or even limiting certain functionality to logged-in users (e.g., someone can view a Notion page read-only, but to duplicate it for themselves they need an account – thus turning viewers into users).
According to NFX, embedding your product in user-generated content is one of the strongest “viral effects” because it continuously drives qualified traffic back to you.Every piece of UGC out in the wild is a mini billboard for your startup, constantly recruiting users on your behalf.
Tenth, Design a Win-Win Referral Program
Here's the referral program of StreamAlive (driving 25% of all signups), if you wish to join 😜 https://www.streamalive.com/affiliatesA win-win referral program rewards both the existing user (referrer) and the new user (referee) for spreading the word.
This two-sided incentive structure is incredibly effective – it turns your user base into an army of volunteer marketers, because they get tangible value for every friend who joins. And the friend is more likely to accept the invite because they also get a perk.
The textbook example is Dropbox’s referral program.
Dropbox gave 500 MB of extra space to the referrer and 500 MB to the friend who signed up – a true win-win. The results were legendary: users basically did all the marketing, and Dropbox grew 3900% in 15 months with minimal ad spend. In April 2010 alone, users sent 2.8 million referral invites.
It’s the same story with PayPal: they literally paid people ($10 each) to join and refer, reaching a critical mass of users before tapering the program down.
How to craft your referral program?
Pick an incentive that aligns with your product’s value. Storage space, premium features, credits, discount coupons, swag – whatever makes sense. Make sure both sides get something.
Psychologically, people feel much more comfortable referring a friend when they can frame it as giving a gift (“Use my link, you’ll get $10 off and I get $10 too!”) rather than asking a favor.
Dropbox’s founder Drew Houston knew that cloud storage space was their currency, so giving it away for referrals was a natural fit.
Keep the mechanics simple and visible. Integrate the referral offer into onboarding (“Invite friends, get rewards”) and make sharing easy (unique invite link, one-click share to contacts).
Also, show users their progress – e.g. “You’ve referred 3 friends, earned 1.5 GB!” This visibility gamifies it and encourages more invites.
Disclaimer: ensure the reward triggers only when the new user actually signs up (and maybe performs a key action), to avoid abuse.
Eleventh, Host a Transparent Community Hub
Here's the whistling, bubbling community of Streamalive: https://community.streamalive.com/In the early days of your startup, one of the best investments is setting up a community hub – a place where your users (and prospective users) can meet, ask questions, share ideas, and connect with you and each other.
Whether it’s a forum powered by Discourse, a Facebook or Slack group, or a hosted platform like BetterMode, having a central, transparent community space turns your user base into a living, breathing engine of growth.
Transparent, Because the conversations, Q&A, and success stories posted there are public, which means lurkers and newbies can see the activity and feel the product’s momentum and support. And it will get indexed by Google and other Search Engines.
It builds trust.
How to implement?
Use a tool like Discourse (open-source forum software) or sign up for a hosted solution like BetterMode if you want a ready-made community platform.
Seed it with categories like “How do I... [Product]”, “Feature Requests”, “Tips and Tricks”, etc.
Invite your early users to join – perhaps via email.
Be active there yourself: answer questions openly, share roadmaps and updates, solicit feedback.
This openness signals that you care and that the product is evolving with user input. Platforms like BetterMode even allow for Q&A, ideation, and knowledge bases in one place.
The key is consistency and making it user-centric – highlight user contributions, give shout-outs to top participants, maybe create an ambassador program as you scale.
Notion did – they have “Notion Ambassadors” who champion the product in their regions, fueling global growth.
When Airbnb built their host community center, it improved host retention and also showed prospective hosts that there’s a support network and knowledge base ready for them.
In sum, by hosting a community hub, you convert your user base into a self-sustaining ecosystem that nurtures potential users.
How to Measure Success?
(Short Answer: With the Viral Coefficient (K))
How do you know if all these user-driven growth tactics are actually working? One key metric to watch is your viral coefficient, often denoted as K. The viral coefficient measures how many new users one existing user generates on average.
In formula terms, it’s calculated as:
k = (Number of invites sent per user) × (conversion rate of invites) But keeping it simple: if each user brings in 1.2 users on average, K = 1.2. That means for every 100 users, you gain 120 new users from them – virality!
If K is below 1, the viral growth will eventually plateau (100 users might bring 50 new, then those bring 25, and so on).
If K = 1 or above, you have a self-sustaining or exponential loop (100 bring 100+, those bring 100+ more, etc.).
Why it matters for early-stage:
Viral coefficient is the yardstick of how effectively your existing users are fueling new growth. All the strategies we discussed ultimately should boost K.
If you manage K = 1.1, that means each generation of users is 110% of the last; you can go from 1,000 to over a million users in under 40 cycles of referrals in theory.
How to measure:
First, make sure your app tracks invites and attributions. Count how many new sign-ups came from existing user actions (referral links used, invitation emails accepted, etc.). Then simply divide new users by the number of inviting users over a period, that’s an empirical K.
PostHog or other dashboards (even a spreadsheet) can help simulate how tweaks affect K.
Disclaimer: viral coefficient doesn’t capture speed directly. If users take a year to bring in a friend, K might be 1 but growth is slow.
Wrap-Up:
Early-stage startup life is hectic, but implementing even one or two of these strategies will have an outsized impact.
The beautiful thing is they often reinforce each other – a strong community improves retention which improves referrals and sharing, which all feed into a better viral coefficient. It’s a synergistic loop, powered by genuine user enthusiasm rather than just ad dollars.
My friendly advice: pick one tactic from this list and put it into action this week. Maybe add the “Where did you hear about us?” question, or set up a basic referral reward for your current users.
Point to remember is that your existing users joined you for a reason and many want to see you win. Give them the opportunity to be part of your story, whether it’s through a referral bonus, a community post, or just a retweet.
As a Growth Hacker, I can say there’s nothing more gratifying than seeing your users proudly invite others because they believe in what you’re building.
Happy Hacking!!