> Hopefully you're solving a problem that either you or someone that you know has, so your first customer, your first couple of customers, should be folks that you know[^1] - Michael Seibel ![[Pasted image 20240502142446.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=0jnydMGaNvpTSr7u&t=186 _ # Where to find them, and what they look like _Most of these notes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAXLTG9n7Kw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyYCn_kAngI _ YC's advice is always to find 10 people that love your product, and do that in a way that doesn't scale.[^5] They shouldn't come from some marketing scheme or viral post - they should be hand selected and reached out to.[^2] There's no magic advertising button that will do this for you.[^5] Also, they should be easy-to-get customers.[^3] Don't make them hard to find customers![^7] These are the 3 golden things to look for in your first 10 customers. - They intensely have the problem you're solving - Willing to work with a startup - Are willing to pay to have the problem solved ![[Pasted image 20240502143531.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=_tcckQyVsWtOrOKL&t=769 _ Don't target people who: - Don't intensely have the problem you're trying to solve - Aren't willing to pay for a solution - Aren't "early adopters"[^8] You should have 4-5 questions to qualify them for being your first customers - you shouldn't be just trying to close the first 10 people who walk through your door.[^4] These questions should filter those who are interested, and turn away from people who are just browsing. Here's an email Brex sent to their YC batch to qualify their first 10 users: ![[Pasted image 20240502142727.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=I30syAT2tVJ22_cp&t=384 _ # You should be good at sales All founders, whether technical or not, should learn how to do sales.[^6] **Do not hire a sales team until you know how to do sales yourself**. Don't worry, it's the easiest job you can learn for your startup.[^6] # Cold email & LinkedIn outreach This is probably how you're going to be reaching your first few customers (unless you know them personally) if you're doing some b2b SaaS. To setup cold outreach with Apollo like I have, checkout [[Apollo Email Marketing]]. Relevant reddit threads & resources on this: [How many cold messages did it take for you to land your first customer?]() [cold email setup steps](https://www.reddit.com/r/ycombinator/comments/18zibcg/cold_email_setup_steps/) ^ This link is super useful, teaches you about how to setup emails as to not trigger spam etc [How do you get your first medium-size-B2B SaaS customers?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ycombinator/comments/1b78m2w/how_do_you_get_your_first_mediumsizeb2b_saas/) [Need help with cold emails to get customers](https://www.reddit.com/r/ycombinator/comments/1btm45p/need_help_with_cold_emails_to_get_customers/) [Feedback from early stage founders](https://www.reddit.com/r/ycombinator/comments/183z4s2/feedback_from_early_stage_founders/) [Sent 5,000 cold emails with only 30 clicks on links](https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/x1jawz/sent_5000_cold_emails_with_only_30_clicks_on_links/) [Cold email templates](https://woodpecker.co/templates/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=templates&utm_campaign=reddit_11) [How to write a cold email that actually works in 6 steps (2024)](https://woodpecker.co/blog/how-to-write-a-cold-email-that-actually-works-six-step-tutorial/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=reddit_11) ["Ultimate framework for cold emails" (Twitter thread)](https://twitter.com/heyshounak/status/1430503265049878532?t=0LVAPyCqHXt7FDz98XU0zw&s=19) ^ Continuation from this guy, [he had a pdf on some best practices](https://attachments.convertkitcdnn2.com/548607/bd9775bb-2383-4854-8782-9bec3d3c6b36/E-book%20(2).pdf) [The B2B Cold Email Mastery Guide: How to send 1000 emails daily with a 75% open rate](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qZtrJ7idU7L8jou6FEOfV7XYhm1kcdLFlH_mDpaBKFU/preview?tab=t.0#heading=h.y4f84x19b8l9) ## How to write a great sales outreach email ![[Pasted image 20240502143150.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=5W6FJep_7jHZK6Dr&t=402 _ Examples: _sources: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=r8MkGkOTuhppY0kc&t=1174 _ ![[Pasted image 20240502164505.png]] ![[Pasted image 20240502164541.png]] ![[Pasted image 20240502164553.png]] ## The sales funnel ![[Pasted image 20240502143226.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=I5cFQ3Dr_1rHTWg7&t=539 _ 1. Create a list of potential customers 1. use google sheets or anything 2. Send them an email 3. Schedule a demo where 4. Discuss pricing if it's useful for them 5. Onboard them and closely monitor usage and help them use the process 1. Make sure you do the onboarding! # Always make sure you charge If you don't charge upfront, you're not getting data on whether or not solving a problem like this is actually valuable to people.[^10] - No free trials - If you don't charge, you're not a company - It's a sign that you're providing value - If they don't want to pay, you should move on - Increase your price until customers are complaining but still paying # Working backwards from your goal from your sales funnel ![[Pasted image 20240502143919.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=cZT_lI_mYA9SgA4O&t=971 _ ![[Pasted image 20240502162019.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=KCbhwbfsRR8mVGxn&t=1092 _ ![[Pasted image 20240502162537.png]] # Future scalings (doing things that don't scale vs scale) ![[Pasted image 20240502164843.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=zC9OjjriC1y6GEIA&t=1297 _ # Common misconceptions - "If you build a good product, people will come"[^5] - "I just need better advertisements to attract people"[^5] - "I'll let them use it for free since we're a new company"[^9] - "I should outsource sales"[^11] - Believing that something other than sales will solve your sales problems[^11] - Not sending enough outreach[^11] - "Everyone that walks though the doors is my customer" - you need to qualify your customers[^11] # The "Product hunt / Twitter / Virality" pathway This pathway is less reliable, and in general works for less people than you'd expect. You should probably do these things as an auxiliary method to the methods above, and not expect much from it. Generally, you'll lose nothing from trying these methods, just don't waste too much time focusing on them, and don't think they're even close to all you'd need to get the ball rolling unless you get lucky. #### Twitter From what I've seen, the people who successfully launch on Twitter got lucky or [already had a following](https://youtu.be/1CDBbEVBtBU?si=9_FTRBKm6TDyJWNe&t=440), or had some mega clickbait feature that caught eyes. #### Product hunt On the other side, Product Hunt launches can help but there's a ton of competition and it's been extremely gamified, and is hard to organically rank. If you do well on Product Hunt, you can also get repeat spikes in traffic from 3rd party newsletters promoting your product. ![[Pasted image 20240502165239.png]] _source: https://youtu.be/1CDBbEVBtBU?si=xU_4VBn1DqEKq2ap&t=436 _ #### Hackernews Can bring in a lot of eyes and in general good discussions about your product.[^12] Also hard to go viral on though - a bit oversaturated. #### /r/sideproject Filled with quite a bit of spam, but still has some active users every now and then.[^13] [^1]: https://youtu.be/WAXLTG9n7Kw?si=jsL6wIPCkjjLyR_K&t=10 [^2]: https://youtu.be/WAXLTG9n7Kw?si=NnBjrrd8JOQk6tB8&t=40 [^3]: https://youtu.be/WAXLTG9n7Kw?si=NnBjrrd8JOQk6tB8&t=62 [^4]: https://youtu.be/WAXLTG9n7Kw?si=In89FwTV5_cKZGAX&t=149 [^5]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=jMLkXAaQ_9lnyFsp&t=71 [^6]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=HM5FIOEnjdmHExyw&t=221 [^7]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=-LjKXt56QYQjCVQQ&t=660 [^8]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=_tcckQyVsWtOrOKL&t=769 [^9]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=SEXzVoSwQAvpACvy&t=850 [^10]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=SEXzVoSwQAvpACvy&t=850 [^11]: https://youtu.be/hyYCn_kAngI?si=fT1P3VU-2sdnQq9P&t=1194 [^12]: https://youtu.be/1CDBbEVBtBU?si=G3IxE4Ux7FMg2nuy&t=455 [^13]: https://youtu.be/1CDBbEVBtBU?si=phPBn1e2G1EE12EE&t=476