I curated a list of 400+ places to post your startup [1]. Getting your first 1000 users aren't that difficult when you know where to find them.

What i do is:

- Post to startup directories (brings some traffic and some shout-out)

- Post to communities, to better understand your customers and make friends

- Create some content around your product and post it to Facebook groups, big Sub reddit and blog that allow guest post.

That is pretty much how i get my early users to get the first feedback and iterate on my first version. Then I go with ads and newsletter sponsorship.

[1] https://spreadtheworld.net