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Paulwyn

How did you acquire your first paying customer?

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As an early stage startup founder, my big million dollar question at the moment is to find the first set of customers who will pay for an early stage product. Keen to understand how other founders / makers reached this milestone. 🙏

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Rob Woodgate
I've learnt that whenever I find myself asking "who would I sell this too", it usually means I've gone about the project the wrong way. So many times in the past, I've created something I think people should want (or that I think is cool) and then realised others don't share my enthusiasm. I've learnt that it's far easier to find the audience FIRST, establish a relationship and find out what they need / will pay for, and then build that! I know that doesn't particularly help if you are already knees deep in the product already... but if I were you, I'd figure out the audience and how to reach them before spending more time developing it. Otherwise, as I've done so many times in the past, you'll end up with a solution looking for a problem to solve... rather than the other way around. Cheers Rob Ps - please don't take this message the wrong way... we are all prone to doing this, and there are some very famous examples of amazing products built the same way. Pixar's renderman software is a classic example... it's an amazing product, but they didn't have an audience of buyers, so they pivoted their entire business into USING their own product... and the rest is history! Pps - to directly answer your question, I usually get the first paying customers by offering a 'charter membership' to my audience.... they get the best deal ever, and can help shape the product as it grows.
🔨 Travis Page 🔨
@robwoodgate its crazy how most people do not believe audience-first is the way to go. If you want to be an inventor, go product first. If you want to build a BUSINESS, go audience first.
Paulwyn
Thank you for the detailed response! We are in a position where we are building our audience and product side-by-side. We researched the space through over 100 interviews, lived experience and desktop research before we started building anything. As the product progresses, and our audience grows, we are continuing to validate whether we are progress towards product-market-fit by talking to our early adopters. But, it is still nerve wracking to cross that threshold of acquiring the first paying customer! I'm curious to hear the 'in the trench' stories of people who have done this before. Sounds like there is a lot we could learn from your experiences. :)
Rob Woodgate
@paulwyn Sounds like you have it very much in hand, much more than your question suggested! My motto is to reward my early adopters and never make them regret jumping in early. You can do this in many ways… eg a big discount framed as an introductory or charter memeber offer, or if you haven’t settled plan features yet, give them the fully featured version for their money. The important thing, however, is to make an offer to your audience and frame the value of early action vs waiting. Cheers Rob
James Li
@paulwyn @robwoodgate Thank you for the insight Rob! I do wonder however, you can have so many ideas, and many potential audiences, how do you narrow down who and what to target? "I've created something I think people should want ... then realised others don't share my enthusiasm " <--- Where would your starting point be if it doesn't start with something that you're enthusiastic about? Or is this a matter of build something you're enthusiastic about and get feedback asap to assess if that is what they need? Thank you :)
Rob Woodgate
"Where would your starting point be if it doesn't start with something that you're enthusiastic about?" @jamesli_ For me it's something like: 1) Find an AUDIENCE you are enthusiastic about serving 2) Establish communication and a relationship with them THEN find something they want you are enthusiastic about building. Or, if I've had a product idea am enthusiastic about and I don't have the audience, I now try to find one asap before I get too far into the build.
Richard Gao
Through an influencer post. Did some dropshipping in high school. But for evoke-app.com? It was from our discord server announcement on launch day.
Leo Kim
I searched the internet to find someone who seemed to need my solution and made a cold call. The first meeting was easier than I thought. But even though he didn't become my first customer, I was able to prioritize and quickly modify my product to fit someone with a more real need. At some point, someone appeared who wanted to use my solution regardless of money. within 3 months.
Deniz Can Ilgın
F&F.'s friends & family circle have always been the first payers in my journey. It is like a wave, your F&F.'s pay, then their F&F.'s pay, and so on.
Swapnil D Puranik
1:1 outreach. Plain and simple. If you are launching a product, chances are you have already spoken to your ICPs. Those are your first paying customers. If you haven't, I'd suggest that you identify your ICPs, reach out to them, get them on beta for feedback. Makes it easier to convert them to paying customer, if they truly love your product/service.
Paulwyn
Thanks Swapnil! Cold outreach can sometimes feeling like shouting into the void, but totally get why we need to put ourselves out there, specially in the early days. Trust takes time to build!
Ramya Chinnadurai ✨
We got our first paid user by replying to a tweet about our product. He got interested and scheduled a call and we gave our first product demo on a call. He got converted immediately after giving the product demo. That was our short story! :)
Mehdi Rifai
- Family and friends - Cold outreach on the community where you have the biggest legitimacy (Linkedin/ Twitter) - Cold email potential customers
Sneha Saigal
Hey Paulwyn, it's best to start with low-hanging fruits to who you can offer even some discounted products or services. It doesn't have to be free but to understand even their willingness to pay as well as to build trust.
Neil Roy
Through a user interview.
Peyt Spencer Dewar
Added subscriptions for users to enjoy premium features as they are released
Mighil
By sun-setting the open beta and adding a paywall.
Pleasure Meditation
Still looking. :-)
Sarp Duyar
Kickstarter. If you know how to market things well, Kickstarter is a great start.
O. Mateen
First paying customer is like a angel comes to rescue you in the most difficult time; I can feel that really hard.
Kajal Jain
Paulwyn, have you seen done some deep analysis on your ICP?