How to find your first ten customers

When someone agreed to try Stripe in its first months, the Collison brothers asked for their laptop and set them up on the spot. Airbnb’s founders went door to door in New York, signing up hosts and helping them improve their listings. Paul Graham wrote about both in 2013, and called recruiting users by hand the most common unscalable thing founders have to do at the start (Paul Graham).

The first ten customers of most companies that went on to grow came this way, one at a time, found by the founders themselves.

Where the first ten actually came from

In 2020 Lenny Rachitsky looked at how some of the fastest-growing B2B companies found their first ten customers (Lenny’s Newsletter). Nearly all of them used two routes, usually together.

People they already knew. Slack started with six to ten companies the founders talked into trying it. Gusto’s first ten came from friends and their Y Combinator batch. Workday’s early customers were mostly chief executives who knew the founders.

Places their customers already were. Shopify’s early customers came from the Ruby on Rails community the founders were part of. Segment found its first users on Hacker News. Square’s team walked into local shops. Figma’s founder found designers on Twitter and emailed them himself.

Press shows up in the list too, but Rachitsky’s own conclusion was that it’s rarely how anyone gets started.

What to do this week

1. Write down fifty names. People or companies who match your customer, with how you’ll reach each one: an email, a mutual friend, a community where they post. Aim for fifty, because most won’t reply, and a short list runs out by Wednesday.

2. Send ten short messages a day. Mention their situation, name the problem, and ask for fifteen minutes to hear how they deal with it now. Keep the product out of the first message.

3. In the conversation, ask about the last time. When did the problem last happen, what did it cost, what did they do about it? Listen more than you pitch, and write down the exact words they use, because you’ll reuse them in your offer.

4. Ask for a deposit. Ask everyone who said yes for a deposit, a signed pilot or a booked start date, in writing. People who were only being polite usually drop out at this step, which is what you want to find out.

5. Follow up, then count. Plenty of replies only come after a second or third message, so follow up everyone who went quiet. On Friday, count the people who committed in writing or paid.

When ten doesn’t come

A real week that ends with two committed customers still tells you a lot. Look at what those two have in common and narrow your customer to people like them. Then reread what the others said. Usually the offer is too vague, the problem costs this group too little to act on, or the person you spoke to doesn’t hold the budget.

Change one of those and run another week before you go back to building.