Get your first customers

The scrappy, unscalable work of going from zero to your first users.

What founders use for get your first customers, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · ~50 min How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader Prime Venture Partners In 31 answers
  2. Jen Abel has coached over 300 early-stage founders through their first sales, so this is grounded in what actually happens when... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 1 hour 16 minutes The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (JJELLYFISH) Lenny Rachitsky with Jen Abel In 23 answers
  3. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia In 11 answers
  4. An Indian SaaS founder on how he found and won real customers by identifying a large underserved market and solving its biggest... The Neon Show Podcast · 60 min How To Sell Global Tech Products From India (with Sharath Narayana) Sharath Keshava Narayana In 10 answers
  5. Run by the managing partners of Prime Venture Partners (Sanjay Swamy, Amit Somani, Shripati Acharya and others), this is a... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Prime Venture Partners Podcast Prime Venture Partners In 7 answers
  6. A practical, listen-on-a-walk companion to Founding Sales where Kazanjy walks through the actual anatomy of a founder sales... First Round Review Podcast (In Depth) Podcast · ~60 min Founders: Here's How to Get Your Sales Pitch in Ship-Shape Peter Kazanjy (host: First Round) In 5 answers
  7. Arvid Kahl bootstrapped and sold a SaaS solo, and now publishes the most practical ongoing guidance for one-person and... thebootstrappedfounder.com Podcast · long The Bootstrapped Founder (blog & podcast) Arvid Kahl In 4 answers
  8. Pete Kazanjy is blunt about defining a tight ICP from real signal (who actually buys and closes) rather than from who you wish... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 90 minutes Founder-led sales | Pete Kazanjy (Founding Sales, Atrium) Lenny Rachitsky (host), with Pete Kazanjy In 4 answers
  9. A relaxed, honest conversation about founder selling aimed at exactly the bootstrapper or first-timer who dreads sales. Steli... Indie Hackers Podcast Podcast · ~60 min Sales Tips Every Founder Should Know, with Steli Efti Courtland Allen, Steli Efti In 4 answers
  10. Podcast · 50 min How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader (500 cold emails to first customers) Khadim Batti with Prime Venture Partners In 4 answers
  11. If your warm interest is coming from larger companies that never sign, this Indian podcast episode digs into why enterprise... The Neon Show Podcast How Startups Can Sell to Big Companies (The Neon Show) Siddhartha Ahluwalia In 4 answers
  12. 200+ candid conversations with Indian founders and investors on how they actually found their idea, spotted a trend, and... Apple Podcasts Podcast · podcast series (45-90 min episodes) The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) Siddhartha Ahluwalia In 3 answers
  13. If you would rather hear the thinking than read it, this is Rahul Vohra on Lenny's Podcast talking through the same... Lenny's Podcast Podcast Superhuman's secret to success: ignoring most customer feedback, manually onboarding every user, and positioning around one attribute | Rahul Vohra Lenny Rachitsky In 3 answers
  14. The CRED and Freecharge founder on building in India, including his line that Indian founders rush to solutions and underinvest... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · ~90 min Kunal Shah on winning in India, second-order thinking, and the philosophy of startups Kunal Shah (with Lenny Rachitsky) In 3 answers
  15. Chesky tells the Airbnb story in his own voice, including flying to New York to meet hosts and re-shoot their listing photos by... Masters of Scale (Reid Hoffman) Podcast · 35 min Airbnb's Brian Chesky: Do Things That Don't Scale Reid Hoffman In 3 answers
  16. A short, direct conversation between two founders on when cold email works, who to send to, and how to write the subject line... The Startup Chat with Steli and Hiten Podcast · 18 min The Startup Chat, Episode 014: Cold Email Steli Efti and Hiten Shah In 3 answers
  17. Ryan Hoover has watched more product launches than almost anyone through Product Hunt, and this conversation covers exactly... Lenny's Podcast Podcast How to launch and grow your product | Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund Lenny Rachitsky, Ryan Hoover In 3 answers
  18. The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) is one of India's deepest founder-and-investor interview podcasts, covering pricing,... neon.fund Podcast · podcast series (200+ episodes) The Neon Show, Indian Founders on Pricing, Sales & Building Siddhartha Ahluwalia In 2 answers
  19. A leading early-stage Indian VC firm answering the questions founders wish they could ask a VC face-to-face, including how they... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · 30-50 min per episode Prime Venture Partners Podcast: Fundraising Masterclass for Founders Prime Venture Partners In 2 answers
  20. An Indian founder who actually built and scaled a SaaS business at home talks bluntly about pricing, instead of a generic... The Neon Show Podcast 7 Myths About Selling B2B SaaS In India (ft. Unicommerce founder Kapil Makhija) Siddhartha Ahluwalia (host), Kapil Makhija (guest) In 2 answers
  21. McKenzie went from zero consulting clients to a full pipeline using direct, honest outreach with no case studies to point to,... Kalzumeus Software Podcast · 50 min audio Ramit Sethi and Patrick McKenzie on Getting Your First Consulting Client Patrick McKenzie, Ramit Sethi In 2 answers
  22. The author of Crossing the Chasm explaining beachhead selection in plain, modern language, the fastest way to absorb the... Lenny's Podcast / Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · ~75 min Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market Lenny Rachitsky & Geoffrey Moore
  23. India's best long-form podcast with B2B SaaS founders who cracked global GTM from India, hosted by a 2x founder and Neon Fund... The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) Podcast · podcast series (200+ episodes) The Neon Show (Indian SaaS founders on GTM & sales) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  24. Asia's largest volunteer-driven community of product leaders and founders, with talks, a podcast, and events packed with... The Product Folks Podcast · community + podcast + events The Product Folks (India's product & GTM community) The Product Folks

Show the next 24

The questions

Getting your first 10 customers 18

Do things that don't scale to get to ten.

How do I actually get my first 10 customers when nobody has heard of me? 19 → Isn't doing things that don't scale a waste of time, shouldn't I automate from day one? 17 → Where do I find the very first people to even talk to about my product? 18 → Should I charge my very first customers or give it away free to get traction? 18 → How did real successful startups actually land their first customers? 20 → All 18 questions in Getting your first 10 customers →
Launching (again and again) 18

A launch is a tactic you repeat, not an event.

When is my product 'ready' to launch? 19 → My launch flopped and nobody cared, did I mess it up? 20 → How do I actually launch on Product Hunt and not embarrass myself? 15 → What's the best channel to launch on, Product Hunt, Reddit, Hacker News, or LinkedIn? 17 → How do I build up an audience before I launch so it's not just crickets? 18 → All 18 questions in Launching (again and again) →
Founder-led sales 18

Nobody sells your product better than you, yet.

I'm a technical founder and I hate selling, do I really have to do sales myself? 18 → How do I run a sales call without sounding like a pushy salesperson? 15 → How do I handle objections and prospects who go silent on me? 17 → When do I know it's time to hire a salesperson instead of doing it myself? 19 → What sales process should I follow if I've never sold anything before? 17 → All 18 questions in Founder-led sales →
Cold outreach & email 18

Start conversations with strangers who need you.

How do I write a cold email that people actually reply to? 19 → How many times should I follow up before giving up on a cold prospect? 18 → Cold email or cold LinkedIn/DM, what works better for reaching first customers? 19 → Is cold outreach even worth it, or is it just spam that hurts my brand? 19 → How do I build a targeted list of the right people to cold email? 18 → All 18 questions in Cold outreach & email →
Distribution & channel strategy 18

The channel is the strategy.

How do I figure out which distribution channel is right for my startup? 2 → Why does everyone say 'distribution is more important than product'? 2 → What are the actual distribution channels I can choose from? 1 → Should I focus on one channel or spread across many? 2 → How do the fastest-growing B2B companies find and scale their distribution? 2 → All 18 questions in Distribution & channel strategy →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →