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Get your first customers

Getting your first 10 customers

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

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How do I actually get my first 10 customers when nobody has heard of me? You go get them by hand, one at a time, email people you already know, people your investors/friends know, and strangers in the exact niche you're ... Beginner 19 resources → Isn't doing things that don't scale a waste of time, shouldn't I automate from day one? No. Automating too early is how you build a machine that efficiently delivers something nobody wants. The unscalable, unglamorous work, hand-recrui... Beginner 17 resources → Where do I find the very first people to even talk to about my product? Start with the channels that already have trust and work outward: your personal network, then your extended network via warm intros, then the influ... Beginner 18 resources → Should I charge my very first customers or give it away free to get traction? Charge them. Free users tell you polite lies; paying customers tell you the truth, because money is the clearest signal that you've solved a real p... Beginner 18 resources → 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 → I only have a landing page and a waitlist, how do I turn signups into paying customers? A waitlist is not traction; it's a list of people to email personally. Reach out to each signup one-on-one, get on a call, understand their problem... Beginner 17 resources → My first 5 customers were friends who signed up to be nice. How do I know if any of them actually want the product? Friends will smile and sign up, then quietly never use it, which feels like traction but is just kindness. The signal you want is behavior, not wor... Beginner 19 resources → How many people should I actually reach out to before I expect to close my first 10 paying customers? Assume most early outreach ends in silence or no, so plan for volume: landing 10 paying customers often means starting real conversations with 50 t... Beginner 19 resources → How do I get customers who don't already know me when I have no brand, no audience, and no case studies yet? With nothing to point to, you borrow trust: go where your customers already gather (a niche community, a subreddit, a local WhatsApp or Slack group... Beginner 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 →

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