How Freebuff grew from 50 to 1,050 daily users with creator videos

Freebuff is a free coding agent, backed by Y Combinator (Fall 2024). It's free for users and paid for by ads, so it grows by getting more people to use it every day. Freebuff asked us for more active users.

1. 1

   Found creators developers watch.

   We shortlisted YouTube creators with 50K to 500K subscribers whose viewers write code. Freebuff approved every creator and every script.

2. 2

   Negotiated the rates.

   We brought prices down to about 31% below what the creators first quoted.

3. 3

   Mixed the formats.

   Six creators made 13 posts between March 30 and May 13: dedicated videos, mentions inside their regular videos, Shorts, Instagram Reels, and a LinkedIn post.

4. 4

   Tracked every creator.

   Each creator had their own link, so Freebuff could see which posts sent people to try it.

Creator videos were Freebuff's main way of getting attention during its launch.

From May 4 to 18, as the last wave of videos went live, Freebuff's daily active users grew 20x, from about 50 to a peak of 1,050, measured in Freebuff's own product analytics.

Mehul Mohan posted a dedicated YouTube video, a Short, and an Instagram Reel for Freebuff. His Short, "Free FOREVER AI Coding Agent (No subscriptions)," has passed 175,000 views on its own. His three posts brought in about 70% of the campaign's views.

Dedicated videoMar 30ShortApr 2

The videos stay up after the campaign ends, and people keep finding them. From June to October 2026 they sent Freebuff nearly 1,400 more clicks, with no new spend. Every creator contract included usage rights, so Freebuff can post the clips on its own site and social accounts. It already shows some of them as proof on its site.