I work for a lean startup and we can't afford to spend a lot to find participants. Depending on what we are trying to learn, we usually do one of the following:
Contact existing customers for meetings or web conferencing
Approach random people at starbucks/cafe of your choice
Usertesting.com
I think the participants you need will depend a lot on:
1) the kind of product you have (if you have a more niche product you may need to be more picky)
2) what you are trying to learn. For example are you trying to figure out what is usable or use research for broad product development or validate specific ideas?
I work for a lean startup and we can't afford to spend a lot to find participants. Depending on what we are trying to learn, we usually do one of the following:
Contact existing customers for meetings or web conferencing
Approach random people at starbucks/cafe of your choice
Usertesting.com
I think the participants you need will depend a lot on:
1) the kind of product you have (if you have a more niche product you may need to be more picky)
2) what you are trying to learn. For example are you trying to figure out what is usable or use research for broad product development or validate specific ideas?