Answers.
Straight answers to the questions first-time founders actually ask, every claim sourced. A new one every day.
The Humble Edge · Sunday email
One founder problem and one thing to do before Monday.
Should your first customers get it free?
A founding price gets you early users and tells you whether they value what you've built. Free only does the first.
Read it Validate · The questionIs a waitlist proof that people want your product?
A waitlist proves interest. Here's how to turn it into evidence of demand before the interest fades.
Read it Idea · The argumentIs SaaS dead? Wrong question
What's dying is generic software sold to people who can now build it themselves. Software tied to a specific, painful problem is selling fine.
Read it Built it, nobody came · The questionI have visitors but no sign-ups. Where is it breaking?
Before you redesign the page, check whether you have enough visitors to judge it, and whether they're the right people.
Read it Validate · The toolThe Problem Receipt: write the problem the way your customer says it
One sentence in your customer's words, with what the problem costs them and what they do about it today. Here's how to fill it in, and a free copy.
Read it Built it, nobody came · The answerI launched and nobody's buying. What to do on Monday
Find out which of three things is broken, the people, the problem or the offer, and fix that one before you build anything else.
Read it First customers · The answerHow to find your first ten customers
Slack, Gusto and Shopify found theirs by hand, through people they knew and places their customers already gathered. Here's how to do the same in a week.
Read it Validate · The answerHow to validate a business idea
Find the belief your idea can't survive without, and test it this month with something that could prove you wrong.
Read itHow we write
Four rules for every piece.
- One question per pieceEach answers something founders actually ask, in public, this year.
- Every claim sourcedNumbers and quotes link to the page they came from. Guesses are labelled as guesses.
- Nothing inventedNo made-up founders, stories or results.
- Kept currentPieces are re-dated when the facts change. Spot something wrong? Email info@humble.inc.