The inability to acquire and retain customers is one of the primary reasons for the high failure rate of many startups. If you're launching a new startup, one of the biggest challenges you'll face is acquiring your first batch of customers.
Without customers, there's no business. It's a vicious cycle—you need money to get customers, but you need customers to make money. Like the chicken-and-egg problem, which comes first, customers or revenue?
Fortunately, many successful startup founders have been in your shoes and have shared their best tips for getting those critical first customers. We'll explore the proven tactics they have used to attract and convert their first customers and learn from their experiences.
Here are 11 Proven Strategies to Find Your Startup's First 100 Paying Customers
Understand Your Ideal Customer Profile
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to customer acquisition, however, you must be crystal clear on who your product or service is designed for. The key is to laser-focus on your ideal customer profile rather than trying to cast a wide net. Get
Sure, the audience size may be smaller, but the quality of leads is likely to be much higher, improving your chances of converting the first 100 customers. Many startups fail by trying to market to everyone, thereby diluting their message. By focusing on an ideal customer, you’re sure to see results.
Leverage Your Personal Network
When Airbnb was just getting started, the founders reached out to their personal network of friends, family, and former colleagues to book their first listings. CEO Brian Chesky explained, that the company’s first 100 Airbnb bookings were all from personal networks.
Reach out to your friends, family, and professional network, don't be afraid to ask for referrals. Incentivize your existing customers to refer their friends and colleagues. Offer discounts, credits, or other rewards for successful referrals.
Dropbox founder Drew Houston says the company's initial growth was driven by referrals from early users in his personal network. By tapping into existing relationships, your startup can quickly get its first customers on board.
Manage Your Online Presence
Ensure your website, social media profiles, and online listings position you as an authority in your industry. This builds trust and credibility with potential customers. Outline a comprehensive marketing strategy that incorporates various channels and tactics to reach your target audience through multiple touchpoints.
Engage with industry-specific forums, Reddit threads, Facebook groups, and other online communities where your customers congregate. Storytelling is an important way to capture your audience online, so explore it.
Create Valuable Content
Notion, the popular all-in-one workspace tool, grew its user base through an extensive content marketing strategy. The company published detailed guides, tutorials, and how-to articles that educated customers on using their product.
Consistently publishing valuable, SEO-optimized content can drive organic traffic and help you get found by potential customers. Share valuable content through blog posts, videos, or podcasts that address the pain points and questions of your ideal customers. This positions you as a thought leader.
Attend Industry Events
Conferences, trade shows, and meetups are great places to connect with your target customers face-to-face. Come prepared to network and showcase your offering.
Networking at events allows for direct interaction with potential customers, partners, and new audiences. Many tech startups have found success at events like TechCrunch Disrupt, where they can connect with investors and customers alike.
Cold Email Potential Customers
Research your ideal customers and reach out to them directly via email. Ensure your email copy is engaging and valuabel with a clear call-to-action. Here are some effective tips for gathering emails to use for cold emailing:
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Use LinkedIn: Search for prospects in your target market on LinkedIn. Send connection requests and engage with their content before reaching out via email.
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Utilize online directories relevant to your industry (e.g., Crunchbase, Yellow Pages) to find businesses and their contact information.
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Collect business cards and contacts during industry events. Follow up after the event for a personalized touch.
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Use Email Finder Tools: Tools like Hunter.io, Clearbit, or VoilaNorbert can help you find professional email addresses based on names and domains.
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Offer a free resource (e.g., eBook, whitepaper) on your website in exchange for visitors' emails. Promote it on social media to attract your target audience.
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Include email signup forms on your website. Use pop-ups or dedicated landing pages to encourage visitors to subscribe for updates or newsletters.
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Scrape Publicly Available Data: Use web scraping tools or services to extract emails from public sources (like company websites) while ensuring compliance with privacy laws.
Display Social Proof
Demonstrating that others trust and value your product can influence potential customers. Showcase client testimonials, case studies, and positive reviews to highlight the value you provide. In addition, encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on platforms like Google and Trustpilot.
Experiment with Advertising
Relying solely on organic growth may limit your reach, however, paid advertising can speed up customer acquisition significantly. It can quickly expand your reach and attract potential customers.
Test paid channels like Google Ads, social media ads, or industry publications to get in front of your target customers.
Offer Free Information or Trials
Give away free downloads, samples, or trial periods to entice new customers to experience your product or service. Incentivize new customers by offering free trials, discounts, or other promotional offers.
Before Spotify had a paid subscription model, they offered a free, ad-supported tier to get users in the door. This "freemium" strategy helped Spotify rapidly build its user base.
Similarly, Zoom founder Eric Yuan says the company's free Basic plan was critical to its early growth. The free plan is how the company got its first 100,000 customers. People tried it, liked it, and then moved up to paid plans.
Attend Trade Shows and Events
Industry-specific trade shows, conferences, and events are excellent opportunities to connect with your target customers face-to-face. Prepare ahead with an engaging strategy like a giveaway or game to attract attention at events.
Team Up with Other Business Owners
Collaborate with complementary businesses to cross-promote to each other's customer bases. These could be other businesses that serve the same target audience but don't directly compete with you.
When Calendly was just starting out, the scheduling software company partnered with productivity apps like Asana and Trello. This allowed Calendly to tap into the user bases of these complementary tools. Calendly actively went after those types of integration partnerships, admitting it was a cost-effective way to get the product in front of its target audience.
Final Take
Finding your first customers can be tough, but it's not impossible. As we've seen in this blog post, lots of successful startups have done it. With the right plan, you can get your first paying users without too breaking your back.
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