I launched a SaaS starter kit today with zero followers, zero audience, and zero budget. Six hours later: 23 unique GitHub cloners, 80+ Dev.to article views, and growing.
Here is every tactic I used.
1. Write tutorials, not announcements
Nobody cares about "I built X." People care about "How to do Y." Every article I wrote was a practical tutorial that happened to use my product as the example:
- "How to Set Up Stripe Subscriptions in Next.js 16"
- "Auth.js v5 Complete Guide"
- "Build Streaming AI Chat Without Vercel AI SDK"
Each targets a keyword developers actually Google. The product mention is natural, not forced.
2. GitHub Gists as search magnets
Gists get indexed by Google. I created 15+ gists with complete, copy-pasteable code snippets:
- Stripe webhook handler
- Auth.js v5 config
- Prisma SaaS schema
- Dark mode Tailwind setup
- React Email templates
Each gist includes a link back to the full project.
3. PR to every awesome list
I submitted PRs to 8 awesome lists with 30K+ combined stars:
- awesome-nextjs (11K stars)
- awesome-tailwindcss (15K stars)
- awesome-saas-boilerplates (3K stars)
If even one merges, that is thousands of qualified developers seeing your project.
4. Comment on relevant GitHub issues
Search for issues where people ask about auth setup, Stripe integration, or SaaS architecture. Comment with genuinely helpful answers that reference your implementation.
Key: provide real value first. The link is secondary.
5. Satellite repos
I created focused repos that target specific search terms:
- nextjs-stripe-subscription-example
- nextjs-authjs-v5-example
- nextjs-openai-streaming-chat
- nextjs-dark-mode-dashboard
Each is a thin README pointing to the main project.
6. AGENTS.md for AI discovery
I added AGENTS.md and llms.txt to the repo so AI coding agents can discover and recommend the project. This is the new SEO.
7. Comparison content
I created a "ShipFast vs Supastarter vs LaunchKit" comparison article. People Google these comparisons when making buying decisions. Being in the comparison — even as the underdog — gets you in front of buyers.
Results after 6 hours
- 80+ Dev.to views across 15 articles
- 23 unique GitHub cloners
- 8 PRs pending on major awesome lists
- Zero dollars spent
The product is LaunchKit — an AI-native SaaS starter kit. $49 on Gumroad.
Happy to answer questions about any of these tactics.
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