50 Founders Share How They Got Their First Customers
Summary
TLDRThe video script details various entrepreneurs' journeys to secure their first customers. Techniques ranged from cold emails and LinkedIn outreach to leveraging personal networks and friends. Some started with a minimum viable product, while others used social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter to attract attention. The stories highlight the importance of persistence, creativity, and the power of community in finding initial support and validating their business ideas.
Takeaways
- π§ The first customer was acquired through a well-crafted cold outreach email.
- πͺ Another customer was acquired by going door-to-door and capitalizing on a chance encounter with the owner.
- π¨ A voicemail left for a physical therapist led to a call back and a successful pitch, resulting in a customer.
- π€ The founders' background and approach resonated with the first customer, leading to a partnership.
- π‘ Initial customer discovery calls helped to refine the product and understand market interest.
- π» The first version of the product was developed in just seven days and deployed to the first customer.
- π LinkedIn was used effectively to connect with potential customers and understand their needs.
- π A mock-up website with a waitlist posted on Reddit attracted significant interest, indicating a strong market fit.
- π A successful beta launch on Twitter led to a rapid increase in followers, GitHub stars, and website visitors.
- π Networking and making introductions within the industry helped to secure initial customers.
- π‘ Leveraging personal networks, including friends and family, was a common strategy for acquiring early customers.
Q & A
How did the company initially find their first customer?
-The company found their first customer through a combination of cold outreach and going door-to-door, eventually capitalizing on a chance encounter with the owner of a food truck.
What was the method used to secure the first customer after the initial encounter?
-The first customer was secured through a voicemail left for a physical therapist, who showed interest and decided to work with the company after hearing their background and intentions.
How did the company validate the interest in their product before having any code?
-They conducted customer discovery calls to understand if there was interest in their product and sold a basic version of it to a company for $250 a month, which they developed in seven days.
What was the strategy behind creating a mock-up of the personal finance product?
-The company created a mock-up and website with a waitlist to gauge interest and collect potential customers' information, which helped them understand the market need better.
How did the company leverage Reddit to gain traction for their product?
-They posted their mock-up and waitlist on a Reddit group, which resulted in nearly a thousand sign-ups within 24 hours, indicating a strong resonance with the target audience.
What was the impact of launching a beta version of the product on Twitter?
-The launch on Twitter led to a significant increase in followers, GitHub stars, and unique visitors, effectively attracting a large number of customers to the company.
How did the company acquire their first paying customer?
-The first paying customer was acquired through sharing their work on LinkedIn, which led to inbound interest and a growing waitlist from which the customer was sourced.
What networking strategy did the company employ to find potential customers?
-The company used networking, leveraging introductions from an advisor to connect with individuals at large AG tech companies.
How did the company plan to approach potential customers in the production industry?
-The plan was to visit Los Angeles, make the rounds of production companies, and see who was interested in their tool.
What unconventional method did the company use to convert potential employers into customers?
-The company responded to companies interested in hiring them as a software engineer by suggesting they buy the software that does the same job instead.
How did the company utilize their network to find initial customers?
-They started by launching with friends and family to test processes and pricing, and then received referrals through their networks, including extended family holiday home pages.
Outlines
πͺ Door-to-Door Sales and Cold Outreach Success
The first paragraph details the journey of acquiring the first customer through various methods, including a door-to-door approach and cold outreach. The founders capitalized on a chance encounter with a food truck owner during his break, leading to their first sale. They also utilized LinkedIn to engage in conversations that helped refine their understanding of customer needs. A mock-up of their product, coupled with a waitlist on their website, attracted significant interest from a Reddit post, resulting in nearly a thousand sign-ups within 24 hours. This demonstrated a strong market need for their solution.
π Leveraging Social Media and Networking for Customer Acquisition
This paragraph highlights the use of social media platforms like Twitter and GitHub to attract attention and customers. The company experienced a surge in followers and GitHub stars, leading to a high volume of unique daily visitors. The founders also received their first paying customer through a waitlist generated from sharing their work on LinkedIn. Networking played a crucial role, with introductions to industry professionals facilitating potential customer connections.
π« In-Person Networking and Direct Outreach for Customer Engagement
The third paragraph focuses on the strategy of in-person networking and direct outreach to potential customers. The speaker plans to visit Los Angeles to meet with production companies to gauge interest in their tool. They also mention converting companies interested in hiring them as a software engineer into customers for their software product, demonstrating a proactive approach to sales.
π€ Friends, Family, and Referrals as a Foundation for Customer Base
In this paragraph, the founders discuss starting with friends and family as their initial customers to test processes and pricing. They received referrals through their networks, which helped in naturally evolving their customer base. The paragraph also mentions the stress and benefits of having a close relationship with their first customer, who happened to be a friend.
π Building Customer Trust Through Personal Connections and Market Techniques
The final paragraph emphasizes the importance of personal connections and industry experience in securing the first few customers. The founders leveraged their professional network to pitch their product, which led to real financial support from investors who believed in their vision. They also express hope that positive feedback and effective market entry strategies will help accelerate customer acquisition by their demo day.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Cold Outreach
π‘Customer Discovery
π‘LinkedIn
π‘Mock-up
π‘Waitlist
π‘Beta
π‘GitHub
π‘Networking
π‘Referrals
π‘Pricing
π‘Go-to-Market Techniques
Highlights
Found first customer through a cold email on Reddit.
Obtained first customer by going door-to-door and waiting for the owner.
Closed a deal with a physical therapist who called back after a voicemail.
Started with background explanation to gain trust from the first customer.
Sold the first product for $250 a month without any existing code.
Developed a rough version of the product in just seven days.
Utilized LinkedIn to acquire the first customer.
Gained significant traction on Reddit, with nearly a thousand people signing up for the waitlist within 24 hours.
Launched a close beta and started onboarding customers from the waitlist.
Experienced a viral launch on Twitter, gaining 10,000 followers and 20,000 GitHub stars.
Received 150,000 unique visitors a day after the Twitter launch.
Acquired the first paying customer through inbound interest from LinkedIn.
Leveraged networking to get introductions at big AG tech companies.
Planning to visit LA to meet production companies and gauge interest in the tool.
Converted companies interested in hiring the founder as a software engineer into software customers.
Launched with friends and family to test processes and pricing before expanding.
Received referrals from friends and family, expanding the customer base.
First system was installed at an extended family member's holiday home.
Many founders get their first few customers from their personal network.
Shared the startup's progress on LinkedIn to attract early customers.
Transcripts
did you find your first customer
surprisingly a cold email that's a good
question a lot of calls and emailing on
Reddit actually we don't have them yet
we are currently looking
[Music]
the first one was actually just kind of
very crafted cold Outreach we got our
first customer just literally going door
to door standing in the sun waiting for
the owner to just
show up because he was just in his food
truck all day and ended up taking a
break and then we just capitalized and
closed it actually I'd left a voicemail
for one of our physical therapists that
we're working with and she called me
back and she was like oh tell me more
about you know what got your start we
actually gave our background on like
this is why we got into it and she
thought it was like you know we were
coming from a good place so she wanted
to work with this and it should be just
a customer Discovery calls to try and
figure out if this was something people
would be interested in and we sold it to
one company for 250 for a month and we
didn't have any code and we just made
like made like a version of it in seven
days and deployed it it's pretty rough
seven days though yeah we got our first
customer by using LinkedIn
and at some point we got some
conversations with those customers and
we started like better understanding the
needs better understanding like what
kind of solution than it did so we made
a mock-up of our Dream personal finance
product we made a website for it with a
little wait list and we posted it on our
Reddit group and within 24 hours there
was like close to a thousand people that
had signed up for the waitlist it really
resonated with a lot of people that were
having the same like Financial pain
points as us we launched our close beta
and started onboarding those customers
for us it was a bit of a wild week in
which we launched on Twitter and
suddenly a few days later I went from 50
followers to like 10 000 we had 20 000
stars on GitHub we had 150 000 unique
visitors a day and so we're really
fortunate to have the lightning in a
bottle and have all these customers come
to us you're asking a great time we
actually got our first customer paying
this morning how did you find that first
customer so we launched we shared what
we were doing about two and a half weeks
ago on just our linkedins and shared
with our friends and a lot of people
came inbound people were really curious
about what we were building here
um got a great wait list and this
customer came through that wait list
which was really exciting we don't
really have any customers yet but we've
got like one really good advisor who
sort of made some introductions to Folks
at a couple of the big AG tech companies
so sort of networking our way in really
we are in data so immediately after I
get out of here I'm getting on a plane
to go to La for a few days and we're
kind of we're going to make the rounds
of the production companies and see
who's interested in this tool how are
you going to try to get that first
customer I take all the companies that
message me trying to hire me as a
software engineer for their biotech
company and I respond saying No but
how would you like to buy software that
does the same thing we have users
um and we are currently converting them
into paid customers first customer we
got was a friend of ours it's like
hitting up friends talking to other
people in the space that I was close
with we launched with friends and family
so that way we can test our processes
out our pricing and see what was working
what wasn't and then from there it kind
of naturally evolved we started getting
referrals from our friends and family
through our networks trice's extended
family holiday home pages to put in the
first system which has been great like
talk about the best customer for me for
him having you know his in-laws holiday
home has been a little bit more
stressful but I'm like this is great as
with a lot of Founders uh your first few
customers come from your network and so
I was fortunate enough to work with some
amazing folks across a wide range of
Industries went and kind of told them a
little bit about what we were building
and they liked where we were building
enough to put real money behind it and
so that's how we got the first few
customers and you know hopefully the
good word we get from them and a few
other kind of go to market techniques
we're trying will help us really
accelerate get way more customers by
demo day
foreign
[Music]
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