24 ways to get your first customers—based on real examples from the last 100 episodes.
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Dec 26, 2024
Getting your first customers can be daunting, but inventive strategies can pave the way. The podcast highlights 24 real-world examples, featuring companies like Reddit and Rappi. Learn how building communities and seeding demands can generate interest. Discover the power of connecting with audiences through proven tactics, like cold emailing and in-person outreach. Innovation and resourcefulness are key to overcoming initial hurdles. With these insights, you'll find effective methods tailored to kickstart your startup's growth.
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volunteer_activism ADVICE
Pay Your Customers
Pay customers to use your product, especially if you're confident it generates revenue.
Andrew from Stay22 paid early customers, demonstrating his product's value and gaining traction.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Seed Content
Reddit's founders initially populated the platform with content themselves.
This bootstrapping method created initial value and attracted early users.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Hack the Marketplace
Rappi initially added top restaurants to their app without permission, creating a compelling offering for users.
They then used couriers to fulfill orders, hacking the supply side of their marketplace.
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There are a few things harder when building startups than getting your first few customers. When you're on a standstill, getting momentum is incredibly hard. Going from zero to one takes an incredible amount of effort—you have absolutely no credibility, no proof points.
So to help you out I went through 24 ways of getting your first customers using 24 different examples from this show.
Why you should listen:
Figure out how to land your first few customers. You are guaranteed to find at least one example that works for you.
Timestamps (00:00:00) Intro (00:01:35) Stay22 - Pay your Customers (00:02:25) Reddit - Creating your Community (00:02:58) Rappi - Seeding Supply (00:04:04) Wattpad - Seeding Demand (00:05:05) Cameo - Finding Someone With an Audience (00:05:43) Noibu - Showcasing the Value of the Platform (00:06:41) Bridgit - Showing up in Person (00:07:24) Rewind - Attaching to an Ecosystem (00:08:36) Clio - Adding Friction to the Funnel (00:09:06) Wealthsimple - Lunch & Learn (00:09:29) Athennian - Classic Customer Discovery (00:10:00) Carbon Robotics - Presales from Customer Discovery (00:10:34) StackAdapt - Creating Custom Software (00:11:21) ApplyBoard - Identifying Power Users (00:12:27) Forma AI - Sheer Force of Will (00:15:01) Blockthrough - Starting with an Obvious Problem (00:16:25) GoBolt - Finding Problems Close to You (00:17:08) Shopify - Building a Waitlist & Showcasing the Product (00:17:43) Fullscript - Cold Emailing (00:18:30) Spellbook - Running Experiments Exceptionally Quickly (00:19:27) Legion - Finding a Design Partner (00:20:18) Knak - Consulting (00:20:54) Dabble - Building Distrobution (00:21:55) Zeffy - Making the Product Free