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How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

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Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#101

Post by playpause »

goodJobWalrus wrote: post #97
marcosdumay wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's exactly the kind of stuff the OP was complaining about.

We’ll have to disagree here. The ‘why’ thing is based off scientific research on goal setting and motivation. As such there is an essential distinction from motivational quotes.

A sentence like "How you become unstoppable is finding your 'why' for doing it" is unscientific. That doesn't mean it's wrong, it's just completely open to interpretation. There are too many different ways to refine that idea into a testable hypothesis. So it doesn't mean much to say it's based on scientific research. It doesn't have any bearing on the original comment about vague, facile language.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#102

Post by goatherders »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #51
csytan wrote: post #7

My wife and I are bootstrapping a business, and we're nearly at 100 customers (92 right now). I would not say it's an easy road. We've been working on it full time for 1.5 years so far. A couple things I've realized while doing this: 1. Business is a competition. Much like in sports, skills are only built up through practice. For an entrepreneur this means actually selling something. You will start at level 0. There…

> The bigger you grow, the easier it gets I guesstimate it's easier to grow until start hiring, and hit the point where you can no longer directly manage everyone who works at the company. And if you've never hired & managed people, being new to having employees is it's own kind of adventure!

My perception from going through growth again this past year is that the sooner you can get your organization organized the easier it gets. I can't recommend the eMyth books enough for most anyone starting a business. Systemizing things, particularly the things that are rudimentary, is the fastest way to get to a healthy business. I also ran around for months like a chicken with my head cut off. Once I hired some help (contractors mostly) to do some of the tiny tasks that were massive time sucks my life got easier and my business got healthier.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#103

Post by taejo »

playpause wrote: post #101
goodJobWalrus wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ll have to disagree here. The ‘why’ thing is based off scientific research on goal setting and motivation. As such there is an essential distinction from motivational quotes.

A sentence like "How you become unstoppable is finding your 'why' for doing it" is unscientific. That doesn't mean it's wrong, it's just completely open to interpretation. There are too many different ways to refine that idea into a testable hypothesis. So it doesn't mean much to say it's based on scientific research. It doesn't have any bearing on the original comment about vague, facile language.

"Telling people to become unstoppable helps them succeed in starting businesses," on the other hand, is a testable hypothesis, as is "people who believe they are unstoppable are more likely to start a successful business", and that's how interpreted the comments in this thread.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#104

Post by huhtenberg »

eps wrote: post #60
samzer wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't reinvent the wheel, just use SQL.

It is spelled XML actually. Geek jargon is hard to get right sometimes.

Kids these days. Clearly not familiar with the glory days of let-stuff-everything-in-xml of the early 00's.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#105

Post by fiatjaf »

freehunter wrote: post #94
quakenul wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does the author have to write a book just to get your E-Mail? It's a transaction. Obviously as the consumer you would prefer having the upside without the downside. The same is true for the vendor. We usually meet somewhere in the middle and call it a day.

GDPR would strongly disagree with you. Your personal information is not a currency and you should never be forced to part with in in exchange for goods and services. If you're worth dollars, you should be paying dollars.

You're not being forced at all.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#106

Post by freehunter »

fiatjaf wrote: post #105
freehunter wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR would strongly disagree with you. Your personal information is not a currency and you should never be forced to part with in in exchange for goods and services. If you're worth dollars, you should be paying dollars.

You're not being forced at all.

According to GDPR you are. If your personal information is not required (from a technical standpoint) in order to use the service, you're not allowed to block access to the service if the user refuses to give you their personal information. That particular law is quite clear that requiring someone to give you their email address in exchange for digital goods that do not need your email address in order to function (like a PDF) is in violation.

GDPR may not apply depending on what jurisdiction this site falls under, but it sets the expectation for all digital goods anywhere in the world. If you're demanding someone's personal information as a currency rather than as a requirement, that is a scam.

If you want to make money, charge money. If you're not trying to make money, there's no need to require my email address in exchange for the product.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#107

Post by puranjay »

sp332 wrote: post #93
puranjay wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In that case, you shouldn't expect this information for free. If you want free stuff, you should be okay being advertised to.

Sure but there's no way to offer any actual money in exchange.

You're right. IMO, there should be a "Download with your email OR pay $1 to access this file" option.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#108

Post by anongraddebt »

devons wrote: post #56
anongraddebt wrote: post #47

I took a startup course in the MBA program at one of HBS/GSB/Wharton/Kellogg that was taught by a (in my estimation) great VC. Arguably the most insightful class I've ever taken. I'll give two sets of insights: anecdotes and principles. (A1) The founders of a successful custom apparel startup didn't get even close to 100 customers until after they had tried two different distribution channels. First, they opened a st…

Those are excellent insights, thank you. Do you have any pointers to get started on this for someone whose last practice of scientific method was a middle-school science fair project? (Asking for a friend) I picked up the book "Uncontrolled" by Jim Manzi, which is ostensibly about this subject. Would love to hear any recommendations you picked up from learning about this material and applying it.

I just created a gmail account you can contact me at ( anongraddebt@gmail.com ). I'll give you the syllabus, assorted materials, and a bulleted list of take-aways that I've written up for others in the past.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#109

Post by quakenul »

freehunter wrote: post #106
fiatjaf wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not being forced at all.

According to GDPR you are. If your personal information is not required (from a technical standpoint) in order to use the service, you're not allowed to block access to the service if the user refuses to give you their personal information. That particular law is quite clear that requiring someone to give you their email address in exchange for digital goods that do not need your email address in order to function (l…

Interesting perspective!

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#110

Post by godDLL »

playpause wrote: post #101
goodJobWalrus wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We’ll have to disagree here. The ‘why’ thing is based off scientific research on goal setting and motivation. As such there is an essential distinction from motivational quotes.

A sentence like "How you become unstoppable is finding your 'why' for doing it" is unscientific. That doesn't mean it's wrong, it's just completely open to interpretation. There are too many different ways to refine that idea into a testable hypothesis. So it doesn't mean much to say it's based on scientific research. It doesn't have any bearing on the original comment about vague, facile language.

Treat that sentence as an awkward summation of personal experience then. That's how I took it, and it reflects perfectly my own.
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