How to find your first few customers?

its much easier said than done ... its a much much longer process...

Finding your first few customers-is a question of "Do you know where they hang out?" I have been part of 3 0-1 Launches of products and 90% of the time what works is finding users from online/offline spaces or communities where they hangout. Let me give an example We launched a Gourmet products-ecommerce space- we tapped into whatsapp groups of Premium Gated Communities. The logic being, mostly the residents will be middle aged - well off users who cook their food instead of ordering in and will have kids

Hey, we are launching soon. So we haven't many testimonials and not much money to invest in creating full infrastructure and marketing. However we now ideal portrait of the client. So we can advertise efficiently on Reddit, FB. Also invest to content marketing and launching here.

Share your building experience on twitter. Ship the product improvements. Along with this, cold dm's and emails to followers of your competitors. Best platforms to get your initial users, reddit and twitter. Once you have around 70 users, PH launch will give you the push you need.

Whenever you try to provide a freemium service or offer a lifetime offer, it doesn't work https://www.realstyle1.com/

hey bro, congrats on your venture and taking the first steps to find your early adopters! 🚀🎉 finding your first customers begins with understanding who they are - their needs, pain points, and where they hang out. start with a customer persona - it's a map to your treasure. 🧭💡 once you've defined your audience, reach out. forums, online communities, social media platforms - wherever they engage. not as a salesperson, but as a problem-solver. your product is a solution, isn't it? 🎯🌐 early adopters are usually more open to trying new things, they're the risk-takers of the customer world. they might hang out in the cutting-edge corners - think Product Hunt, Hacker News, or industry-specific platforms.🚀🔍 personal connections can't be overlooked. tap into your network, ask for introductions. warm leads can yield rich feedback. 🤝🌟 feedback, yes. early customers are valuable not just for the initial revenue, but for their insights. engage them, learn from them. they can refine your product, your approach. 💡🔄 and lastly, patience. customer acquisition is a slow dance, not a sprint. it's about building trust, understanding needs, and iterating till you hit the sweet spot. keep iterating, keep reaching out. success comes to the persistent. 🐢💥 and, every journey begins with a single step. your first customers are the beginning. best of luck on this journey!

While there are multiple platforms available, ProductHunt is a great way to reach out to people who are related to your niche. You may also use Linked In and other social media to spread awareness of your product. However, word of mouth works the best if you consider offline marketing. Your own network could be your first few customers, people whom you deal with on daily basis. In a gist: 1) People around you who may need your product 2) People who's problem inspired you to build that product 3) Social media : Linked in, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter to find such people 4) Product platforms: ProductHunt, BetaList, Startup stash

You try to provide freemium or offer lifetimedeal

Good read for early stage startups. I've had some success with cold emailing and networking events too.

Your early customers are anyone who are facing the problem your product is trying to solve. To acquire these customers, follow the IRP Framework (something I came up with :P). Let's take the example of identifying customers for an Indian Crypto Exchange. 1. Identify First you need to identify your ideal customer, i.e. a person who for sure will use your product given the chance to. For eg. A person aged between 18-35 yeras, living in India and interested in Crypto. 2.Reach Try reaching out to the people you identified in Step 1 and try to locate them on the following platforms- - Product Hunt - LinkedIn - Twitter - Instagram - Discord communities - Redit communities - Telegram groups 3. Pitch Now pitch your product to the above customers by telling them about your product and the problem it solves for them. Once you've done this, next step is to keep improving your product as per the feedback received from your users. Hope this helps, this is what I am trying to do with the product I am building.

Hey Matthew adding my unfiltered notes that I have on this that are not specific to what we are building and launching on July 17th Hands on Recruiting - Friends and Family - Easy to get customers (Knowing intensified targeted customer persona is important here) - Willing to work with early-stage companies - Intensely have the problem we are looking to solve - Charge Customers immediately - A signal of how intense the problem is Have 4-5 questions to qualify customers Build a network with entrepreneurs - Microconf connect - Indiehackers.com Launch on - Product Hunt - Tech Crunch - Hacker News - Quora - Youtube Hope this helps as this is a portion of what I often look at to remind me of our strategy as we approach our launch of the first half of our platform.

Thanks to everyone that responded really learnt a lot from each response!