Get your first customers

The scrappy, unscalable work of going from zero to your first paying users.

5 steps, 90 questions, laid out in the order you'll hit them

Each step is a topic with the real questions founders ask; open whichever one you're stuck on for the answer and the resources on it.

1. 1
   Getting your first 10 customers

   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 →
2. 2
   Founder-led sales

   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 →
3. 3
   Cold outreach & email

   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 →
4. 4
   Content & SEO foundations

   Get found by the people already searching.

   What is SEO and do I even need it as an early-stage startup? 2 → How do I do keyword research to find what my customers search for? 2 → What are the basic on-page SEO things I must get right? 2 → How do I get started with content marketing without a big team? 2 → How long does SEO take to actually bring in traffic? 2 → All 18 questions in Content & SEO foundations →
5. 5
   Distribution & channel strategy

   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 →