How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1k users
A relatively well known and highly funded managed WordPress company got its first X,000 users by offering free accounts to people with audience in exchange for being able to place links on the site that juiced the SEO.  It wasn't "Powered by hosting company X" but rather things like "Best WordPress Hosting" and "How to Update WordPress".<p>SEO juice + new/immature sector = lots of FOS traffic/users.