My first startup grew from 0 customers to a $3.7 billion acquisition. But how did we actually get our first customer? Getting those first few customers required finding our "desperate users." This is the approach I took to find customer #1: 1) Create a cold emailing process. Go wide, and then segment. I created a target list of hundreds of potential prospects by searching on LinkedIn and sending cold inMails. In my case, I focused on people who were responsible for IT operations. Then I analyzed where the responses were coming from. Was I getting more responses from small companies or large enterprises? A certain job title? 2) Get responses by asking for feedback — don't push for a sale this early. The key is to engage them in the process and make them feel like they're partnering with you in solving a problem that they care about. But simply getting responses isn't enough. 3) Separate the desperate from the curious. Find the customers who are desperately seeking a solution — right NOW. Their feedback is the most valuable and they're most likely to become an initial customer. To find your "desperate users" ask closing questions like: - If we build this product, would you be willing to buy it? - What's pushing you to buy something *now*? - How would you articulate the business case of buying our product to your boss? By finding the right set of potential customers, we were able to change our messaging based on their feedback and offer a solution that addressed their most urgent problems. #Startup #CustomerDiscovery #FounderAdvice #CustomerAcquisition

I’ve gone $0-1M ARR three times as CEO. Here’s how you find your first 10 customers: 1. Start with warm intros from your network Forget cold email, ads, or other “scalable” tactics. You haven’t earned the right to scale yet. You haven’t proven that what you do even works—let alone that it scales. And you’re not ready to hire a Head of Sales or even a rep. In the zero-to-10 phase, you are the best (and only) seller that works. Your early traction will come from warm intros. No network? Then borrow one. Lean on your investors. Tap advisors. Ask for 10 intros, not advice. Your first 50–100 customers can all come from warm referrals. Save “scalable” for later—when the model’s proven, you’ve got budget, and your personal + investor networks are fully tapped. 2. Find your “1 in 100” buyer Most founders waste time chasing decision-makers. But your first 10 customers won’t come from job titles—they’ll come from personalities. You need believers. People who want to be first. The ones who light up when they see something new. The ones who forward it to 5 teammates, unprompted. These buyers are rare. But they exist in every market. They’re not just early adopters. They’re internal disruptors—with just enough political capital to get your weird, half-baked product through the finish line. They’ll move fast. They’ll tell you the truth. And they’ll help you scale, not just sell. I call them change agents. They’re startup gold. 3. Be radically transparent If your product is fully baked, you started selling too late. Early customers know they’re buying something unfinished. So don’t pretend you’ve got more than you do. Lead with the problem you’re solving. Show them what’s real—and what isn’t built yet. The right change agents want to co-create the future. 4. Ask your early customers to help. After the sale, stay close and learn from your customers. They’ll understand their problems way better than you do. Listen to how they talk about their problem, your solution, and it’s benefits. Take notes on their product usage and feature requests, listening for the things more customers may want. Your best source to find customers 4-10 is customers 1-3. They’ll know who at the next company will want to solve the same problem. Have any questions about going $0-1M? Or finding your first 10 customers? AMA in the comments ??

The real secret to early-stage (0 to 1) startup growth? Forget the fancy demand strategies, funnels, and positioning statements for a moment. (*Gasp* I know. Stay with me.) Start with this instead: → Talk to potential customers → Sell your solution → Make them successful → Learn & repeat Here's why I always recommend prioritizing selling before marketing. When you're in the trenches selling and delivering, you naturally discover: → Who actually needs your solution → What messaging resonates with them → Which problems are worth solving → How to find more customers like them Sales conversations and customer fulfillment are the best ways to understand your go-to-market foundations––the stuff you can then scale with marketing. Phase 1: Sell and learn Phase 2: Build your marketing engine Too many founders try to skip straight to Phase 2. Don't make that mistake. The foundations of great marketing are built on the insights you gain from those early customer wins. Focus on revenue and happy customers first. The rest will follow. --- I had a great conversation about this (and more) with Eric Eden on the Remarkable Marketing Podcast recently. Check it out and let me know what you think. #startupgrowth #b2bmarketing

In my work as a growth advisor, I have a lot of conversations with Founders. Their most common question: “What’s the marketing secret to scaling my startup?” The answer isn’t really a secret: Develop high-converting messaging. That is, messaging that is compelling to your target audience and differentiated from alternatives in your category. Extra points for having personality. Of course, this is much easier said than done. There are TONS of messaging frameworks out there. Some are too academic and hard to put into action. Others are superficial and lead to generic messaging that doesn't land with anyone. After years of tinkering, I’ve come to rely on a proven six step framework that we use for our clients at Lantern: 1. Build a Customer Persona 2. Construct the Benefit Ladder? 3. Develop the Brand Pyramid 4. Anticipate the Barriers 5. Test with Target Consumers 6. Launch & Iterate Today’s post will cover the first step and over the next few weeks, I’ll lay out the others?in enough detail that you can put this framework into action for your business. Step 1: Build an In-Depth Customer Persona The most important thing to do when marketing a startup is to ground yourself in your customer. This goes beyond “we're targeting millennials.” Instead, paint a complete picture of who you are speaking to. This allows you to craft resonant messaging that speaks directly to your customers' needs and beliefs. Consider: ? Basic demographics: Age, gender, location, and income level. Who is this person on paper?? ? Motivations: Your customer’s pain points and desired outcomes. What problems do they want to solve? ? Awareness journey: How they discover your product. Where is the friction and points of delight? ? Perceptions: Your customers beliefs about your category. What opinions do they already have? ? Decision process: Their path to purchase. How do they research? Who is involved in their decision to buy?? ? Ideal experience: The best case user interaction with your product. How can you deliver their dream scenario? Here’s an example of how this work informs marketing strategy: Both Signos and Sequence are weight management startups, targeting women in their 30s and 40s who want to lose weight. Yet they have totally different consumer personas based on different core insights. The Signos insight: many consumers want to be in control of their journey and don’t believe in easy solutions. They want to put in the work — they just need guidance on how to make their weight loss efforts more successful.? The Sequence insight: another segment of consumers have tried everything to lose weight and have given up. They feel stuck. They need a significant push to restart their weight loss journey. These are two companies in the same category with totally different consumers. These insights led my team to devise totally different messaging for each company. What are some other pieces that traditional "target consumer" frameworks miss??

Startup founders struggle to recruit the right people for customer discovery. As founder of a venture studio who's conducted 1000+ customer interviews, I can tell you the problem: Paid interviews. Example: Paid research panels or expert networks. If you can't prove a real connection to a real market—you're doing discovery wrong. Experts are great at giving advice, but that's not what you're looking for in customer discovery. From taking 70+ products to market in the last decade, I've seen the outcomes of relying on paid insights — poor actual traction, results, and ultimately a closed business. An impersonal approach questions the very foundation of my product ideas. Picture this — You've spent a small fortune to learn what the experts think, only to get product messaging that misses the market. It sounds so positive. It feels right to you as a student of the industry. It mirrors all the best books and advice—yet the customers don't really care. Sound familiar? But there's a better way. Through years of refining our approach, we've developed a method that's yielded these results at scale: - targeted prospects to connection — 40% avg. - connections to calls scheduled — 30% avg. - calls scheduled to conversations — 50% avg. Here's the secret sauce → Leverage your social profiles to scale your own earned audience through outbound 1:1 messaging. Why does this work? 1. Authenticity: Your personal identity opens doors that generic outreach can't. 2. Control: You own the relationship, not a third-party platform. 3. Depth: Real conversations lead to nuanced insights you'd miss otherwise. Here's how to do it right: 1. Create a compelling connection message: "Hey [Name], I'm exploring [specific problem] in [industry]. Based on your experience as [Title] at [Company], I could really learn from you. Can we connect?" 2. Follow up with purpose: After they accept, dive deeper: "Thanks for connecting. I'm particularly interested in [specific problem or opportunity]. Would you be open to a 30-minute call where I could ask you some high-level questions?" 3. Prepare for the call: Use the "CURSE problem" framework - is the problem C-rucial, U-biquitous, R-ecurring, S-pecific, and E-xtreme enough to warrant a solution? 4. Listen more than you talk: Use the JTBD (Jobs to be Done) approach to understand their underlying motivations and challenges. By following these steps, one of our clients managed to schedule 41 customer interviews in just 3 months, all while building genuine relationships with potential customers. Don't settle for the surface-level insights from paid audiences. Dive deep, build real connections, and watch as your 'problem-solution fit' comes into crystal-clear focus.

I’ve been running ads for over a decade. Here’s why you need to stop fixating on early metrics like CTR and CVR: Click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates (CR) provide good signals. But they don’t paint the full picture. Enter the First Touchpoint Misconception. With billions of dollars poured into ads... The competition for consumer clicks is fierce. This has led companies to hyper-focus on optimizing for that "first" interaction. Great creative and copy are keys to a successful paid acquisition strategy. But it’s far too easy to get stuck in a first-touch mindset. Let’s look at a typical customer journey: Ad click → retargeting ad → lifecycle email → another ad click → purchase It’s surprising how often companies ignore these crucial follow-up touch points. I’d rather have a fully developed lifecycle than a CTR above 50%. If you want to maximize your paid acquisition efforts: You need retargeting, email marketing, and tailored messaging across each stage of the funnel. Here’s how to approach it: 1. Retargeting Every startup should have an “always on” retargeting campaign. Converting a retargeted user is almost always more cost-effective than acquiring a new one. Dedicating just 5% of your budget to retargeting can deliver serious returns. 2. Email (and Push) Marketing Email marketing should be a priority from day one. This doesn’t mean you need complicated drip sequences. Keep it simple instead. When someone shows interest by signing up but doesn’t convert, use email to stay on their radar. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of timing or giving them an extra nudge. 3. Diversified Messaging To boost your conversion rates, vary your messaging across touch points. Your first message should be different from the second, and so on. Look at how companies engage with you as a customer. Often, you’ll notice educational content upfront. Followed by social proof and urgency later. This is intentional and effective. Experiment with messaging styles. Find out what resonates most at each stage of the journey. From initial ads to lifecycle emails and retargeting, every touchpoint should feel fresh yet cohesive. Sounds like a lot? You don’t have to tackle this alone. Resources you can tap into: ? Adbrownie ? Really Good Emails ? Facebook Ad Library Here’s something to consider: As a customer, how often do you make a purchase after just one interaction? Even though CTR and CVR are good metrics to track... Make sure your approach considers the full journey.

For a startup, there’s nothing harder than getting your first 10 customers. Here’s how we got ours ?? A lot of early stage founders reach out to us asking how we got our first few customers at Clueso (YC W23). While it may vary from product to product, here are some things that worked for us: 1. Warm Intros ?? - Reach out to your network –?investors, friends, family – for intros to the right people in your target companies. Warm intros build trust from the start, which is really helpful when you’re very early in your journey. - Two of our first 10 customers came through warm intros! One was through an investor intro to their portfolio company and the other one was through an intro from one of our customers. 2. Leverage your alumni networks ???? - If you're part of any accelerator programs or University entrepreneur groups, reach out to fellow founders if they’re a good fit. They will surely try to help you out! - In our case, we were able to utilise the Y Combinator and Indian Institute of Technology, Madras alumni network to get 4 out of our first 10 customers! 3. Stay active in relevant communities ?? - Join WhatsApp, Slack, Reddit, Discord communities relevant to your domain where your target audience hangs out. Be helpful, engage, and spot opportunities to showcase your product’s value. - One of our first 10 customers was through a whatsapp group I’m a part of. 4. Build in public ?? - Stay active on LinkedIn and X. Continuously connect with relevant folks. Post things that are helpful to your audience, product updates, and learnings from your personal experience. - My cofounders and I try being active on LinkedIn by posting regularly. It has been working well for us and we get demo calls booked regularly through our LinkedIn posts. - Two of our first 10 customers came from our product/feature launches on LinkedIn! 5. Personalized Outreach ?? - I used to manually go through hiring JDs of open customer success/education roles at companies to see if the job responsibilities included creating customer education materials. After that, I would reach out to them with how Clueso could help. - One of our first ten customers came through this channel. It took us close to 3 months to get our first 10 customers! Now, we’re onboarding close to 40 new customers a month. And at much higher contract values too! Keep pushing – with every new customer, there are new learnings and it gets slightly easier to close the next one! ?? Here’s a picture from our YC batch event last year. We all still catch up every month to share our progress and learn from what’s working for others. What an amazing bunch of people! Kriti Arora Mitch Patin Jacob Shadbolt Rishabh Srivastava Akash Anand Medha Basu #startups #saas #sales

In the last 4 years, I’ve helped dozens of European startups expand sales into the US. I’ve learned that while pushing hard, you must take the time for the right preparation work. The mix is the key to success. Here are 3 ways to get this balance right: 1. Don't’ jump into selling - do the discovery work first. The urge is strong to use every customer meeting to try and make a sale right away. This invariably leads to one objection frustration after another. Don’t get ahead of yourself: Do the customer discovery groundwork to uncover every possible objection. Then, find solutions for all of them. Only now are you ready to sell to US customers while confidently knowing that you have an answer to every possible “No”! 2. Don’t just follow expert opinions or the hunches of your first hires. We see again and again that their past experiences do not guarantee your future success. Accept their inputs as hypotheses to be validated with potential customers. Customer voices are the only gold currency! 3. Don’t just emulate your American competitors. You will never beat them at their own game. These incumbents have had decades to dig in and develop their unique business systems. Customers will never accept you as them. Use your foreign origin as a strength to build your own unique positioning. Celebrate being different, and intrigue your US customers to get their interest! Take the time you need. Be methodical. Systematic customer discovery is time well spent. Remove every possible obstacle to a sale first. And only then switch to selling mode. P.S: Here’s a pic of my visit to the Swiss startup days 2024. A day full of methodical inputs for companies that want to grow

How founders can land their first few customers by building a Roster of Advisors Cold outreach works better when there’s ‘air cover’ via marketing awareness (who answers an email from an unknown brand?), but founders can and should attempt cold outreach to decision-makers early on. The trick is doing it well. Building a Roster of Advisors—compensated via cash, equity, or goodwill—is an effective way. I’ve worked with about twenty pre-seed startups on this exact tactic—here’s how to do it: Note: this works well with SMB or mid-market prospects, and if your (presumed) ACV is on the low end (<6 figures). It’s possible for higher ACVs, but not a tactic I recommend for Fortune 500 / C-level execs. I’m talking about reaching out to decision-makers most people haven’t heard of—so skip this if you’re trying to get the CFO of Delta Airlines on a call. 1. Figure out the characteristics of your IICP (Initial Ideal Customer Profile). Be specific, like “home health clinics with fewer than 500 caregivers, located in the Southeastern United States.” 2. Make a list of decision-makers at those businesses. Use Upwork or another service to scrape the owners / CEOs; tools like Apollo or LinkedIn Sales Navigator help too. 3. Write a short email + LinkedIn sequence with a CTA around compensated advisory services. Subject line can be: “Equity Compensation for Expertise - Startup building [Specific Thing they will care about] - 10-minute call to learn more?” 4. Once you get someone on the phone, make it clear you’re early-stage and that their unique expertise is key to improving [Specific Thing they care about]. 5. Most people enjoy talking about their expertise. Once the conversation starts, let them talk—you’ll learn a lot. 6. If you think their expertise is worthwhile—you should have vetted them, but you’ll get more signal from a call—explain that you’re building a Roster of Advisors you’d like to keep working with in exchange for compensation. 7. The economics are up to you, but a rough guide: $100s/hour of time, or 10–20 bps (higher end only for VVIPs) vesting over 1–2 years with no cliff. 8. If you do this right, the people you reach will be early adopters excited to help. They may not ask for much equity—they just want to be on the journey. If they’re mercenistic about it, be a little suss. 9. Build a list of ~50 of these Advisors. They don’t need to know each other or meet—this isn’t the board of Chevron. They’re just helping you get smart and build your product/vision. 10. Some subset will shape your MVP with feedback—and then turn around and buy it from you when it’s ready. (Or even before it is.) These are your first few customers.

I had a call this week with a founder who has been running an open, free beta. The product has been really well received, and a significant (impressive, actually) number of users have come from many different industries and sectors. Now, he wants investment to develop the product further and market it. Here's what I told him: 1. Investors need to know who your target customer is, how big of a market that is, and where you will get to them. Niches = Riches and Broad = Broke. 2. Investors want to see traction, which means revenue (for his business). You must show them the customer is willing to pay for your service (metric: Monthly Recurring Revenue) and stick with it (metric: Lifetime Value of the Customer). That's all easy for me to say, right? Well, I gave him specific action items: 1. Nail down who your target customer is going to be. a. Survey your customers - give them something small to encourage participation (like an Amazon gift card) and ask them: i. Their industry - see if you're naturally already serving a specific customer type you can focus on. ii. What problems you've solved for them with your product. Sometimes, it's different from the original problem/solution you thought it would be. iii. How much they are willing to pay for the services. This is key - the product can't be free forever. iv. To rank the features in order of importance to them. Again, you might be surprised, plus you'll see what is the most valuable. v. What features they'd be interested to see in the future. Keeping the customer is just as critical as acquiring them. b. Review the data. Find the lowest-hanging fruit. c. Find out how big the market through industry data/stats. d. Ask your current customers in the identified target market to make introductions and give them a free month of service for every new client they bring in (i.e., an affiliate program). 2. Turn on payment for the full product offering and limit the features for the free model. a. Figure out what you can charge through A/B testing. b. Survey the customers unwilling to pay to find out why and what they'll use instead (which will help identify the competition). c. Measure customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer retention (Lifetime Value of the Customer), monthly recurring revenue (MRR), user growth, and revenue growth for at least six months. Here's one thing I didn't need to help this founder with - understanding the value of his customer. He knows that his customers ARE his business. And that, along with the above and more, will make him investable.