We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 151 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Launch & get your first customers

Your first 100 orders

The unglamorous moves that get you to 100.

Level All Beginner Intermediate
Market All India Global
Who's asking Everyone Aspiring Brand Builder Maker / Artisan Just-Launched Founder Scaling Brand Bootstrapped Side-Hustler Product Person Tier-2/3 Founder
Where do my first 100 orders actually come from if I have no brand yet? Almost never ads - your first 100 orders come from your personal network, their network, and anyone who already trusts you (past colleagues, colleg... Beginner 3 resources → Is it worth personally delivering or calling my first customers instead of just shipping and moving on? Yes, unreasonably so - Wakefit's founders personally delivered their first 100 mattresses from their own cars, doing on-the-spot video interviews, ... Beginner 3 resources → I have zero following and almost no ad budget - how do I still get to 100 orders? Go narrow before you go wide: pick one hyper-specific community (a local market, a college, a hobby WhatsApp group, a regional-language audience) w... Beginner 3 resources → Which single channel should I put all my energy into for the first 100 orders? Apply the Bullseye framework literally at this stage - test 3-4 cheap channels (Instagram, WhatsApp broadcast, a local offline pop-up, referrals fr... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I know if my first 100 orders actually mean I have product-market fit, or if I just got lucky? Look past the order count at who's reordering and who's referring - 100 orders from 100 strangers who never come back tells you less than 40 orders... Intermediate 3 resources → How do I turn my first 100 customers into a base that keeps buying and referring others? Put every one of your first 100 buyers on a WhatsApp broadcast list or small community from day one - Indian D2C brands with 90%+ WhatsApp open rat... Intermediate 3 resources →

Related in Starting Up

Every founder hits these, so they sit in the wider founder hub.

Founder mental health, burnout and loneliness
Founder mental health & burnout → Founder mindset & resilience → Solo founder survival guide →
Family, social pressure and the quit-your-job decision
Making the leap →
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