Get your first customers

Getting your first 10 customers

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

Showing 6 of 18 questions. Clear filters

How did real successful startups actually land their first customers? Almost universally through unscalable, personal effort: Airbnb's founders knocked on doors and re-shot listing photos themselves; Stripe hand-insta... Intermediate 20 resources → Everyone says do things that don't scale, but where's the line between that and just wasting weeks doing manual work? The point of unscalable work is learning and love: you do it manually to discover what customers actually need and to win them personally, not to p... Intermediate 18 resources → I'm a solo technical founder and hate selling. How do I get my first customers without becoming a salesperson? You do not need to become a salesperson, but as a founder you cannot outsource the first conversations, because nobody else can hear what customers... Intermediate 17 resources → I'm building for Indian SMBs who use WhatsApp for everything. How do I get my first 10 without a fancy sales process? Meet them where they already are: for many Indian small businesses that is WhatsApp, a phone call, or a walk-in, not a polished demo funnel or a se... Intermediate 18 resources → Should I try to close my first 10 customers one by one, or run a small launch to get them all at once? For your very first customers, one by one usually beats a splashy launch, because each hand-sold deal teaches you why people say yes or no, and a l... Intermediate 20 resources → I keep getting warm interest and 'this is great' but no one pays. How do I turn the first yes into money? Enthusiasm that never opens a wallet usually means the problem is real but not urgent, or you have not actually asked for the money clearly. Stop d... Intermediate 19 resources →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →