Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

docs.google.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 128 posts

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#51

Post by PopeDotNinja »

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!

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#52

Post by mikekchar »

This is a really interesting document. I literally cringe reading it. At first I thought that I'd really like something like this document but with less random quotes, less facile language, less cheer leading, less fill in the blanks, etc. But then I thought... I wonder if I am reacting this way because this is exactly what I need to be reading. What if the way of thinking espoused by this document is precisely why I never start a business? Maybe it's the fact that I roll my eyes and completely disregard what people are saying when they start talking in this fashion that I haven't actually done anything.

Food for thought.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#53

Post by [deleted] »

enraged_camel wrote: post #33
csytan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What does it take to... join the same market space?" Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. What does it take to join the same market space? Here's some strategies: 1. Find a niche that is being ignored and really needs your specific product. This is getting harder to do. 2. Raise money.…

>>Speaking on the SAAS space. IMO the bar for entry is getting higher every year. It's getting easier and easier to build apps, and the number of developers keeps growing. The flip side of the coin is that demand for software is increasing, as software is "eating the world". This is why average salaries for software developers have been increasing: growth demand is outpacing growth in supply.

[deleted]

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#54

Post by earthscienceman »

mikekchar wrote: post #52

This is a really interesting document. I literally cringe reading it. At first I thought that I'd really like something like this document but with less random quotes, less facile language, less cheer leading, less fill in the blanks, etc. But then I thought... I wonder if I am reacting this way because this is exactly what I need to be reading. What if the way of thinking espoused by this document is precisely why I…

I feel like you're implying that in order to start a successful business you need to think/talk like this. I can't imagine any reason that would be true. However, if you want people to listen to your theories after you're successful, this type of language is exactly what you should use. He's maximizing his audience. It's proven that this type of speaking works well to build an audience (at least in the United States). In contrast, it's not clear that this way of thinking is required to start a successful business.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#55

Post by tugberkk »

daniel_iversen wrote: post #3

Looks very interesting, but the doc is very busy right now. If you want to download a PDF copy of the doc for reading on the go, here's the link (let it load for a while): https://docs.google.com/document/d/104qgagSsp2rQQEDORGbYC0uq...

I was also wondering putting a PDF version on a Github would be more efficient to everyone. Thanks.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#56

Post by devons »

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.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#57

Post by alexchamberlain »

itsbenlee wrote: post #23
kornish wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

swaggyBoatswain's comment is responding to csytan's comment, not your post.

Ah...sorry lads! couldn't tell on mobile :-)

> sorry lads

Come on, we can do better than that. This isn't an ol' boys club.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#58

Post by samzer »

boxcarr wrote: post #29
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #8

I have an interesting question. Say there is an already established business that has more than proven the idea is viable. What does it take to... join the same market space? Can you offer the same features at the same price? Can you offer the same features at a lower price? Can you offer less features at a lower price? Are there cases where there is only room for one player and no matter what you do, you will not be…

Super simple. No matter the industry, you can beat the competition with AI + blockchain written in Rust.

Don't reinvent the wheel, just use SQL.

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#59

Post by scrollaway »

alexchamberlain wrote: post #57
itsbenlee wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah...sorry lads! couldn't tell on mobile :-)

> sorry lads Come on, we can do better than that. This isn't an ol' boys club.

"Lads" is an appropriate, albeit very british, way of addressing men, which the poster above was doing. Why the noise?

Re: How to Acquire Your First 100 Customers

#60

Post by eps »

samzer wrote: post #58
boxcarr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Super simple. No matter the industry, you can beat the competition with AI + blockchain written in Rust.

Don't reinvent the wheel, just use SQL.

It is spelled XML actually. Geek jargon is hard to get right sometimes.
Post reply on HN