Show HN: Hideout – to explore the cold-start problem

Hi HN,

I’m building Hideout, a small web-based chat app inspired by Discord-style rooms, but stripped down to the minimum.

I started this project because I was curious about one specific problem: how do you make a real-time chat app feel alive with very few users?

Right now:

Hideout has ~35 users

One main room

Text chat only

No moderation tools, bots, or servers to configure

The app is intentionally simple. When someone joins, they’re dropped directly into the active room so conversations aren’t fragmented.

The hardest issue so far has been the cold start problem — users joining at different times and finding empty rooms. I’m experimenting with:

activity concentration (one room)

time-based prompts

system messages that encourage interaction

This is very early and not polished, but it’s usable today.

I’m mainly looking for:

feedback on the experience

thoughts on approaches to early community formation

ideas for making small real-time apps feel social before scale

I’ll be around to answer questions and discuss what I’ve learned so far.

Thanks!