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How to get your first customers [video]

ycombinator.com

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Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#21

Post by JimsonYang »

backend_dev82 wrote: post #9

I guess I am very atypical. My first customer came from Reddit outreach, and also my second, and third and so on. None came from personal network (never really even tried that, maybe i should) I know its going to stop being so effective at at some point, but so far so good. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

there was an older yc video where they asked founders where they got their first customer. a lot of people said * cold outreach/sales * personal network * reddit

Obv the videos these are general brushes, I would imagine they put this video in a counter reaction to the many startups thinking they need an expensive product launch video in order to get their first few clients

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#22

Post by raphinou »

Synthetic7346 wrote: post #19
raphinou wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good timing for me too. I'm currently looking for a first customer with whom I'd possibly shape the product a bit. The development phase was fun, now comes the hard part. Additionally I'm working on a security related product (digital artifact authenticity validation) and I feel like security is a hard sell especially in my network as they don't seem to correspond to the product's target (or I'm a poor promoter of th…

It's not you, security is indeed a hard sell (coming from the other side, as security engineer trying to push for adoption of solutions). There's some products like Wiz that you don't really need to push hard for, but everything else seems like a struggle

Damn! Would you have the opportunity to share experiences? My emails is in my profile, it would be great to hear from you. (It is an open source project, which makes it even harder to sell probably, so every hint might help!)

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#26

Post by backend_dev82 »

JimsonYang wrote: post #21
backend_dev82 wrote: post #9

I guess I am very atypical. My first customer came from Reddit outreach, and also my second, and third and so on. None came from personal network (never really even tried that, maybe i should) I know its going to stop being so effective at at some point, but so far so good. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

there was an older yc video where they asked founders where they got their first customer. a lot of people said * cold outreach/sales * personal network * reddit Obv the videos these are general brushes, I would imagine they put this video in a counter reaction to the many startups thinking they need an expensive product launch video in order to get their first few clients

But as someone who sells Reddit leads, i can tell you first hand that Reddis has gotten more hostile to these kinds of self promotion as of late. Here is a nice write up from one of my competitors: (https://www.reddit.com/r/SaaS/comments/1qg2f5n/im_pivoting_m...)

I guess the YC folks have not caught up yet on this.

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#27

Post by procyberpunk »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #17

As a first time founder, I'm making my first product right now, and this video was perfect timing! I like the advice that the first three customers almost always come from personal network, and then 4-10 will come from warm network, and through techniques that don't scale. It was kind of spot on, as I do have my first pledged customer after showing them the proof of concept demo. They keep asking when it's going to b…

[flagged]

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#28

Post by Schiendelman »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #15
Beestie wrote: post #11

Imagine 3 states of a potential customer: 1. They have no knowledge of your product/service; 2. They are aware of it and consider it valuable and correctly priced; 3. They actually buy it. Digital media (email/LinkedIn/Insta/X/etc.) moves people from 1 to 2. Moving people from 2 to 3 ain't gonna happen with "awareness." You have to get in front of someone and close the sale. There is a lot of stuff in the store that…

> ... if someone in the store shows me one item and gives me a good story, pretty good chance I'm walking out with it. I don't comprehend this. I'm in the store for a purpose. I don't want a sales pitch. I don't need a story. If I need human interaction, I want the facts that I request and nothing more. Even when I have disposable cash, I've likely already decided on The Thing I'm spending it on. I don't want to be t…

I think this is a bummer of a way to go through life. I urge you to flip this script - ask the employee how they are! BE the genuine person you're hoping they'll be too, and they're a hell of a lot more likely to reciprocate.

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#29

Post by jagged-chisel »

Schiendelman wrote: post #28
jagged-chisel wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... if someone in the store shows me one item and gives me a good story, pretty good chance I'm walking out with it. I don't comprehend this. I'm in the store for a purpose. I don't want a sales pitch. I don't need a story. If I need human interaction, I want the facts that I request and nothing more. Even when I have disposable cash, I've likely already decided on The Thing I'm spending it on. I don't want to be t…

I think this is a bummer of a way to go through life. I urge you to flip this script - ask the employee how they are! BE the genuine person you're hoping they'll be too, and they're a hell of a lot more likely to reciprocate.

You make it sound like it's a shame I'm not trawling for friends in the employee pool at the Best Buy. I get my socials elsewhere, not when I'm shopping.

Re: How to get your first customers [video]

#30

Post by Schiendelman »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #29
Schiendelman wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is a bummer of a way to go through life. I urge you to flip this script - ask the employee how they are! BE the genuine person you're hoping they'll be too, and they're a hell of a lot more likely to reciprocate.

You make it sound like it's a shame I'm not trawling for friends in the employee pool at the Best Buy. I get my socials elsewhere, not when I'm shopping.

Read what you wrote. You're asking store employees to be genuine with you when you have no interest in being genuine with them. This is the attitude that's giving you bad experiences. Nothing else.
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