Startup to Last

How to acquire customers in the early days


Listen Later

Acquiring customers will be different for every business, but there are a few themes we discussed that should apply to almost any business:

  • There are two goals when acquiring early customers: 1) Growing your business, and 2) Learning what works and what doesn't. Some growth channels might work for one or the other, but the best approach is to do both at the same time.
  • Identify what type of person you want to sell to. You can use intuition for this, but if you already have a few customers, it's helpful to start by looking at what they have in common and trying to find more people like that.
  • Conversations are key to learning. Even if you don't plan on selling your product one-on-one forever, you need to talk to customers (in person, over the phone, over email, whatever) so you can learn from them.
  • If you don't already have access to the right people to have conversations, you can try advertising or cold outreach. Every business will be different, but the key is to identify the right people and go where they are.
  • It's very difficult to change someone's behavior, so try to find people who are already doing whatever your product is meant for.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Startup to LastBy Rick Lindquist and Tyler King

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

21 ratings


More shows like Startup to Last

View all
Startups For the Rest of Us by Rob Walling

Startups For the Rest of Us

694 Listeners

Bootstrapped Web by Bootstrapped Web

Bootstrapped Web

58 Listeners

Rogue Startups by RogueStartups

Rogue Startups

23 Listeners

No Plans to Merge by Daniel Coulbourne & Caleb Porzio

No Plans to Merge

50 Listeners

FounderQuest by The Honeybadger Crew

FounderQuest

28 Listeners

Slow & Steady by Benedikt Deicke, Benedicte Raae, and Brian Rhea

Slow & Steady

4 Listeners

Notes On Work - by Caleb Porzio by Caleb Porzio

Notes On Work - by Caleb Porzio

17 Listeners

Above Board by Fathom Analytics

Above Board

11 Listeners

The Bootstrapped Founder by Arvid Kahl

The Bootstrapped Founder

33 Listeners

MicroConf On Air by Rob Walling

MicroConf On Air

10 Listeners

Searching For SaaS by Josh Ho & Nate Bosscher

Searching For SaaS

3 Listeners

Open Threads by Brian Casel

Open Threads

3 Listeners

Hackers Incorporated by Ben Orenstein and Adam Wathan

Hackers Incorporated

17 Listeners

Mostly Technical by Ian Landsman and Aaron Francis

Mostly Technical

15 Listeners

Talking Businessly by Daniel Coulbourne & John Drexler

Talking Businessly

2 Listeners