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. Barry built ConvertKit's growth almost entirely on flywheels, content, community, and audience, rather than outbound, and this... nathanbarry.com Essay Creator Flywheels: The Operating System for Your Business Nathan Barry
  2. Sheridan's pool company went from near bankruptcy to a category leader by answering every question a buyer might have in public... marcussheridan.com Book They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today's Digital Consumer Marcus Sheridan
  3. This is a VC's field guide to the small community half of the short answer: what makes a founder built community actually drive... Bessemer Venture Partners Essay Five laws for community-led growth Bessemer Venture Partners
  4. Zerodha reached crores of customers in India without ever running an ad or an outbound campaign, growing almost entirely on... Indian Startup News Article 'Customer love is a real superpower for us': Nithin Kamath on how Zerodha grew without advertising Indian Startup News
  5. Dozens of founders answer in the comments with what actually worked for them, and cold email is a minority answer among stories... Hacker News Thread Ask HN: How do you get first 10 customers? Hacker News
  6. Written for founders who would rather be building product than selling, this is a grounded guide to identifying and... Y Combinator Article Sales Advice for Technical Founders Y Combinator
  7. Lemkin has watched thousands of B2B SaaS companies try outbound and this piece is his blunt verdict: it works, but only when it... SaaStr Article · 8 min read Outbound Always Works. If You Do It Right. And You Put In The Time. Jason Lemkin
  8. Gong analyzed over 100,000 real cold calls to find what actually correlates with booking a meeting, so this is data, not... Gong Article · 12 min read Essential Cold Calling Tips: 17 Proven Techniques for Success Chris Orlob

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 →