We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. The next eChai Startup Demo Day is on 29 August in Bengaluru and Pune. The next after that is on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 374 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
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SaaS Club

1 resource from SaaS Club we point founders to, and the questions each answers.

🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

This is a curated run of founder interviews on The SaaS Podcast about landing the very first paying customers, and the recurring theme is exactly your question: the founders who got traction did it through direct conversations and pilots that led to a payment, not open-ended free access. Hearing several founders describe what actually converted (and what stalled) is more useful than one framework, because you see the pattern across different products. A good listen while you are still deciding how to price your first pilot.

Getting Your First SaaS Customers (Founder Interviews)

On SaaS Club by Omer Khan, The SaaS Podcast Ongoing series, ~45 to 60 min episodes

  • Early traction almost always comes from direct, personal outreach and hands-on pilots, not self-serve funnels.
  • The first payment, however small, is the real validation signal; a free pilot that never asks for money teaches you little.
  • Founders repeatedly warn that a pilot without a clear end date and a yes-or-no decision point quietly becomes free forever.
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