How to get your first customers [video](ycombinator.com) |
How to get your first customers [video](ycombinator.com) |
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 be ready.
And my second target was the person who runs the co-working space I used to be at. Which are lining up with the claim that the first three will be in my personal network!
Also, TIL about Startup School, and there's a whole bunch of videos to absorb and I subscribed to their YouTube channel!
In this episode of Startup School, YC Visiting Partner Max Kolysh draws on dozens of YC founder stories to explain how to identify the right buyers, start conversations, and turn them into your first customers.
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.
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
I guess the YC folks have not caught up yet on this.
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 I think is good and fairly priced. But I don't buy the entire store every time I visit. But, if someone in the store shows me one item and gives me a good story, pretty good chance I'm walking out with it. One item out of thousands. Why? Because a human moved me from 2 to 3.
Water doesn't boil at 100° - you have to add a little bit more energy to initiate a phase change. No different.
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 treated like a walking cash vault whose access code is to be guessed so money can be extracted.
If I ever wander into a store without purpose, it would take a genuine human interaction to engage me and convince me to buy anything. When I say "genuine," I mean that the seller/employee/whomever is truly interested in a conversation, isn't trying to steer it into a commissionable sale, and listens to me pontificate aloud my interests in the products available.
This is kind of a tragedy of the commons. If people like you didn't fall for these scammy tactics, the people in the shop wouldn't attempt to use them on the rest of us.
If I do need to speak to someone, I'm friendly. I can read people and know whether some small talk will be beneficial to the interaction. Employees not being paid extra to harass me are much easier to talk to - they're on my side - neither of us is fanatical for CompUSA corporate, we're just trying to get through our day.
It's the commissioned salesweasel that's the problem. I'm over here looking for a watch charger, and they're in my face asking if I'm an AT&T customer. Just don't. I'm not even cellphone-adjacent at the moment.