Video · ~20 min

How to Get Your First 10 Customers

Max Kolysh (Y Combinator) · YC Startup Library Free Beginner

A step-by-step, modern YC walkthrough of identifying buyers, starting conversations, and converting them into your first customers. Very actionable for a founder starting cold.

  • Identify the right buyers before you spend effort reaching out.
  • Start real conversations rather than broadcasting.
  • Convert conversations into your first paying customers deliberately.
  • Founder hustle, not automation, gets you the first ten.
Open on ycombinator.com ↗

It answers 11 questions

  1. How do I get my first users for the MVP?
  2. How do I build a targeted list of the right people to cold email?
  3. What tools should I use to send and track cold outreach without spamming?
  4. How do I find my first 10 customers to sell to when I have zero network and no inbound?
  5. What's the difference between a customer saying they'll pay and actually pulling out a card, and how do I test the real one early?
  6. How many people should I actually reach out to before I expect to close my first 10 paying customers?
  7. I'm building for Indian SMBs who use WhatsApp for everything. How do I get my first 10 without a fancy sales process?
  8. Should I try to close my first 10 customers one by one, or run a small launch to get them all at once?
  9. Should I use my personal email and name or a company address for cold outreach?
  10. Investors passed and said 'we love the space but aren't sure you're the right team for it'. How do I fix that?
  11. When does cold outreach stop scaling, and what do I move to next?

Read with it

  1. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  2. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  3. An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · ~50 min How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader Prime Venture Partners
  4. A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to win your first 10 B2B customers Lenny Rachitsky
  5. A YC partner and ex-Airbnb growth lead gives a tactical, no-fluff talk on landing early customers for both B2B and B2C. It's... YC Startup Library Video · ~30 min video How to Get Your First Customers Gustaf Alstromer (Y Combinator)
  6. When your first ten will come from cold outreach, this guide gives you the full mechanics: building a target list, qualifying,... Close Article · Multi-chapter guide The Ultimate Startup Guide to Outbound Sales Steli Efti
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