My startup is http://StartupLi.st It is a new way for EVERY tech startup to create visibility, gain early adopters that will socially promote your startup, and build an interactive community around a startup's aggregated social activity streams. Social Customer Development. It's going live this week.... so stay tuned :)

Wait a minute. The owner of a start up that helps other startups gain early adopters is asking for advice on how to gain early adopters?

If you really think about it, @nickfrost is probably gaining early adopters by posting this. Nearly everyone that reads this post will be interested in http://startupli.st

Plus, no one has all the answers and I am glad that @nickfrost is welcoming other ideas.

Good point! Just as @swgoof said, I posted the question to view other people's perspectives on the topic of gaining early customers. It's great to read and perceive the present mindset of our fellow HN users in regards to this topic. Thanks a lot for your comment and your time!

The OP's startup is www.startupli.st, which is collaborating with betacandy

Thanks for doing that research! It's great to see that you have made the correlation between StartupLi.st and BetaCandy.com. StartupLi.st will launch first, and BetaCandy will launch in June. Those two brands are both under Beta Inc. Please read http://BetaHacks.com for more details.