We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 13 cities confirmed, 698 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
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 → 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 → 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 → 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 →
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