There were no users until Intercom acquired customers through a combination of content marketing and direct outbound email. The company's founder, Des Traynor, personally emailed people to tell them about Intercom, show them what it might look like for them, and hear their feedback. This approach allowed the company to build on previous day's learnings, avoid automating boilerplate, and create custom screenshots of example use cases for each customer's business. The strategy also involved creating brand awareness through off-site content campaigns and presenting webinars to onboard groups of users. However, there was no single magic bullet or "hack" that led to customer acquisition, but rather a combination of efforts that eventually paid off.