What if the first client you're chasing is the wrong one?

Keith Newman says your first client should grab the attention of everyone else in your market.

Keith is Managing Partner at The GTM Firm, where he advises early and growth-stage founders on go-to-market strategy and revenue acceleration. He's been operating at the intersection of startups, media, and technology for over three decades, longer than most founders have been building companies. His career spans well-known names in tech media and entrepreneurship, with roles including President at IDG (International Data Group), Head of Business Development at Recode, and VP of Programming and Partnerships at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, where he connected over 500 founders to institutional resources and investor networks.

In this episode Keith breaks down exactly how the team landed that first client, what made that one account unlock dozens more, and what his decades in startups has taught him about getting clients and building momentum.

What you'll learn:

• Why Keith says your first client should open doors, not just generate revenue
• Why reframing every no is an opportunity to learn what a client actually needs
• How you know a business has real momentum when clients start calling you first
• Why you should talk to 50 potential prospects before you commit to starting a business
• What he tells every founder who thinks they understand how hard the journey really is

Where to find The GTM Firm:

• Website: https://www.thegtmfirm.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-gtm-firm/

Want to be featured on First Money Stories?

• Email us at [email protected]

Find us on:

• YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStories
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/ 

Two legacy players needed four weeks to onboard a company.

Barkin Doganay did it in two days.

Barkin came to the US from Turkey for Yale, where he studied Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and Economics. He worked at Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse before spending a decade in startups. He later earned his MBA at MIT on the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Track, where he set out to build something of his own.

He previously co-founded Kintsugi, one of the fastest growing sales tax automation start ups in the Bay Area. In 18 months, it scaled from three founders to over 100 people and raised $28 million, with Vertex as its largest investor.

Now, Barkin serves as Co-Founder and CEO of Reven AI: a comprehensive financial operating system covering accounting, bookkeeping, sales tax, payroll, compliance, reporting and finance workflows. It learns from your team and reduces manual input all in one connected platform.

In this episode Barkin breaks down exactly how he won that first client on speed and what a decade in finance and startups has taught him about identifying a problem worth building a company around.

What you'll learn:

• How a conversation turned into his first client, who he onboarded in 2 days while competitors needed 4 weeks
• How to tell if you're solving a real business problem clients will pay to solve
• Why quickly letting go of your own ideas might be one of the most important skills in entrepreneurship
• Why he believes you should charge your first client at least $1,000 and why the number matters less than what it proves
• What Barkin would do differently if he were starting completely from zero today

Where to find Reven AI:

• Website: reven.co
• Email: [email protected]

Want to be featured on First Money Stories?

• Email us at [email protected]

Find us on

• YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStories
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-money-stories/ 

Most startups launch to silence.

Nuri Otus launched DUO, an AI-powered matchmaking community built for real relationship outcomes without endless swiping. He expected a slow start. Instead, users showed up the same day.

Nuri has been building companies since 1995. Multiple exits. Featured on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Time Magazine. He's worked with Fortune 1000 companies and high growth startups across his career.

In this episode Nuri breaks down exactly how DUO got its first users, what made them come back, and what decades of building startups has taught him about getting traction when you are starting from scratch.

What you'll learn:

• How DUO got its first users on launch day with almost no marketing budget
• The organic referral strategy that spread DUO from San Francisco all the way to Florida
• What nearly 30 years of entrepreneurship teaches about surviving the early days
• What keeps Nuri going when the first client feels impossible to land
• What Nuri would tell someone who has been trying to get their first client for months with nothing to show for it

Where to find DUO:

• Text “Sign me up” to 645.206.3419
• Visit tryduo.net to get started

Want to be featured on First Money Stories?

• Email us at [email protected]

Find us on

• YouTube: youtube.com/@FirstMoneyStories

Olin Hyde is one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in the room. A 4x Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year regional semifinalist, Nvidia Global AI Challenge winner, and former CEO of LeadCrunch, a global AI B2B marketing company that grew revenues by 7,248% in 3 years to rank #2 on the Inc 5000 for marketing companies. Now he's building Trilight Defence, a business offering the safest way for companies to learn how to survive state-sponsored cyber attacks.

In this conversation Olin pulls back the curtain on exactly how he thinks about landing first clients and why the same approach works every single time.

If you've been struggling to get your first paying client, this is the episode that will change how you think about the entire process.

In this episode you'll learn:

• Why Olin says getting your first client is actually the easy part
• The trust formula he uses to win over even the most skeptical clients
• How he validated demand by talking to clients before he ever built the product
• Why he never pitches and how listening gets him clients faster than any sales deck
• What 9 startups taught him about getting early traction from zero
• The one thing that separates fast growth companies from everyone else
• Why he says if you can be happy working for someone else, don't start a business

Links to Trilight Defence:

• Website: https://www.trilight.sarl/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trilight-defence-sarl

Marino Merlini started a skincare company in 2024 with $20,000, no industry experience, and no guarantee it would work. Within 7 days of launching he had his first sales.

Within a year he went from $30,000 a month to $400,000 a month: after one decision that changed everything.

In this episode Marino breaks down the real story. The manufacturing disaster that almost wiped out $30,000 overnight. The six months of grinding with almost no traction. The moment everything changed. And exactly what he would do differently starting over from zero today. This is what building something actually looks like.

In this conversation you will learn:

• How he validated his product before going all in
• What he did to get his first sales within 7 days of launching
• The one decision that took him from $30K to $400K a month
• Why most people fail in their first year and how to avoid it
• How he uses AI to run and grow the business
• What he would do in the first 7 days starting over from zero today

Find Clean + Kind:

• Website: https://shopcleankind.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqIAUzlJwF37RwVo61e5Ay7Erai-s7CUFhVgTNoU7hDYD2bCAmG
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopcleankind/
• TikTok: https://shopcleankind.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqIAUzlJwF37RwVo61e5Ay7Erai-s7CUFhVgTNoU7hDYD2bCAmG

First Money Stories is where real founders break down how they went from zero to their first dollar and beyond

Nishat Uddin built a community of over 10,000 followers on Instagram before she ever charged anyone a single dollar. No product. No website. No business plan. Just consistent content and genuine relationships.

Then she turned that community into paying clients.

In this episode, Nishat breaks down exactly how she went from a simple Instagram post with zero followers to founding South Asian Care, a healthcare directory where providers pay a monthly or annual subscription to be listed.

In this conversation you'll learn:

• How she built 10,000 followers starting with a free Canva post
• Why she built the audience before the product and why that worked
• What she actually said to get her first paying clients
• How many people she reached out to before someone said yes
• What she would do differently in the first 7 days starting over today

If you're trying to get your first paying client and you don't know where to start, this episode shows you a real path that actually worked.