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. Video 50+ Cold Email Subject Lines To Test (Free Download) Alex Berman
  2. A YC partner walks through the mechanics of actually landing an investor meeting, not just pitching once you're in the room.... Y Combinator (Aaron Harris) Video How to Get Meetings With Investors and Raise Money Y Combinator (Aaron Harris)
  3. Video How I Write Cold Emails That Get 15%+ Response Rate YouTube (Smartlead)
  4. Video How to Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for Your Domain PowerCert Animated Videos (YouTube)
  5. Video · about 10 minutes No Replies? Increase response rates using THIS cold email template Steli Efti
  6. Video Cold Email is Changing Alex Berman
  7. Video I Sent 10 Million Cold Emails - These 5 Scripts Made the Most Alex Berman
  8. Video · ~12 min How to Write Emails That Get Opened Ramit Sethi
  9. Video · ~75 min Founder-Led Sales, with Pete Kazanjy Pete Kazanjy, hosted by Lenny Rachitsky

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 →