# 90 Days of Building forg.to in Public: Real Numbers, Real Mistakes ```yaml url: "https://forg.to/articles/90-days-of-building-forgto-in-public-real-numbers-real-mistakes" title: "90 Days of Building forg.to in Public: Real Numbers, Real Mistakes" description: "Discover the raw numbers, honest mistakes, and unexpected wins from 90 days of building forg.to in public. Learn what worked and what didn't." author: "Kislay" author_url: "https://forg.to/@kislay" published: 2026-03-14 updated: 2026-09-12 read_time_minutes: 2 tags: ["saas-growth", "startup-journey", "product-launch", "user-acquisition", "growth-hacks"] cover_image: "https://res.cloudinary.com/dxkpmcrel/image/upload/v1773476549/buildinprocess/articles/dexmahj2iynaduv1ddjz.jpg" ``` ## TL;DR The ugly growth tactic that actually worked was sending direct, personalized DMs to strangers on X (Twitter). Those outreach messages drove the first 50 sign-ups and kick-started the slow, organic growth of forg.to. ## Content Building in public is easy when Stripe pings your phone every hour. It’s a lot harder when your user graph is a flatline. We launched forg.to 90 days ago. No Product Hunt rocket fuel. No VC war chest. Just a codebase, a Twitter account, and a stubborn belief that builders care about more than just vanity metrics. ### **How We Hit 324 Users (The Slow, Ugly Way)** Everyone chases virality. We got grind. - **First 50 Users (Days 1–10):** I DM’d every builder I respected on X and not to sell, but to ask: *Does this UI even make sense?* Fifty signed up out of pity (or curiosity). - **The Organic Flywheel (Days 45–90):** Users started sharing their streaks and products. No ads, no hacks and just 2–3 new signups a day, every day. Slow, but free. --- ### **What Bombed (And Why It Stings)** - **The “Team Members” Feature:** Spent 10 days building a complex invite system for one power user. **Usage: 0.** We optimized for an edge case before nailing the core. - **Cold Emails:** Sent 100 “curated” messages to top builders. **Conversion: 0%.** Founders don’t want another tool but they want a community they already trust. --- ### **What Shocked Us** - **The Streak Effect:** Added a simple counter as an afterthought. Now it’s the #1 reason users return. **Gamification isn’t a gimmick and it’s a retention engine.** - **LinkedIn > X:** Built for the “X-Corp” crowd, but 40% of our Pro users come from LinkedIn. The “Build in Public” movement is migrating and we almost missed it. --- ### **What’s Next?** We’re not profitable yet. Cloudinary and Vercel bills are creeping up. But at 324 users, we have a signal. **Next 90 days:** Not 10,000 users but **1,000 true fans.** We’re doubling down on the “Explore” feed algorithm. The forge is hot. Time to keep hammering. --- **Question for you:** What’s the one “ugly” growth tactic that actually worked for you? (I’ll go first: DMing strangers on X.) ## Tags `saas-growth` · `startup-journey` · `product-launch` · `user-acquisition` · `growth-hacks` ## Links - Article: https://forg.to/articles/90-days-of-building-forgto-in-public-real-numbers-real-mistakes - Author: https://forg.to/@kislay - Forg: https://forg.to --- Published on [Forg](https://forg.to), a social network for people who create and ship on the internet. _HTML version: https://forg.to/articles/90-days-of-building-forgto-in-public-real-numbers-real-mistakes_