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. This is the founder essay that made the case for validating before you build, from the person who did it with Buffer. Gascoigne... Medium (Joel Gascoigne, co-founder of Buffer) Essay How to successfully validate your idea with a Landing Page MVP Joel Gascoigne In 5 answers
  2. This is the rare cold email piece written by someone who has actually sent thousands of them (Steli Efti built Close, a sales... Close Article 15 Best Cold Email Templates That Actually Get Replies (Proven Examples) Steli Efti In 5 answers
  3. The fastest way to stand up a fake-door landing page. Build a one-page site in an afternoon, add an email capture, and measure... carrd.co Tool Carrd carrd.co In 5 answers
  4. Savoia, who led early Google AdWords, argues most ideas fail because nobody wanted them, and teaches pretotyping: cheap... Alberto Savoia Book · ~250 pages The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed Alberto Savoia In 5 answers
  5. Braun's four-sentence formula (proof you did your homework, the specific problem you think they have, a sliver of social proof,... Josh Braun Article · 8 min read How To Get A 35% Cold Email Response Rate Without Selling Your Soul Josh Braun In 5 answers
  6. A tight five-part framework (short, personalized, credible, valuable, clear ask) with real examples of emails that led to... The Curiosity Chronicle Essay · 10 min read The Cold Email Guide Sahil Bloom In 5 answers
  7. Steli Efti built his sales career on the belief that unanswered outreach is a maybe, and a maybe is what kills deals. This... Close Article The Winning Cold Email Follow-up Plan for Sales Teams Steli Efti In 5 answers
  8. Video · ~13 min How to Plan an MVP Michael Seibel (YC) In 4 answers
  9. The definitive playbook for network and community-led products, drawn from Andrew Chen's a16z experience and interviews with... Harper Business Book · Book (~368 pages) The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects Andrew Chen In 4 answers
  10. Patrick Campbell built ProfitWell on pricing data from thousands of companies, and this is the single best free deep-dive on... lennysnewsletter.com Article · long-form guide Pricing Your SaaS Product Patrick Campbell (ProfitWell), via Lenny's Newsletter In 4 answers
  11. 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
  12. Video · ~20 min How To Talk To Users | Startup School Gustaf Alstromer In 4 answers
  13. 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
  14. Before any of your outreach copy matters, you need the right person's actual email, and Hunter is the most widely used,... Hunter.io Tool Hunter (Email Finder and Verifier) Hunter In 4 answers
  15. Video · 6 min watch How To Cold Email Investors Michael Seibel In 4 answers
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. The other side of the question, honestly told, including when a coordinated launch is actually the wrong move. It shows how... Lenny's Newsletter Article · 15 min read How to Successfully Launch on Product Hunt (When It's Right for Your Startup) Leo Bosuener In 4 answers
  19. 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
  20. This is the book that made outbound prospecting a repeatable discipline instead of a guessing game, built on the Salesforce.com... predictablerevenue.com Book · ~250 pages Predictable Revenue Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler In 4 answers
  21. The nuanced counterweight: PMF isn't a single binary moment, it can be lost, and 'market' is doing more work than founders... a16z.com Article · ~20 min read 12 Things About Product-Market Fit Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) In 3 answers
  22. 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
  23. The most-quoted primary source on why founders should launch fast and iterate, short, canonical, and from the co-founder of YC.... paulgraham.com Article · ~8 min read Startups in 13 Sentences Paul Graham In 3 answers
  24. The most concrete guide to actually measuring what customers will pay, including survey methods and tier design. It turns... lennysnewsletter.com Article · long-form guide The Ultimate Guide to Willingness to Pay Lenny Rachitsky & Patrick Campbell In 3 answers

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 →