6 ms·

How I acquired my first 10 customers

80 points by kareemm 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
peacetreefrog 8y ago
This is cool, seems like getting this article on HN should be helpful for you. I like the total net revenue figure, $710 and low expenses. I'm in a similar range for my side project, a few thousands of dollars (prob a similar net revenue figure to yours) but not nearly enough to take it full time and (by itself, from a pure financial perspective) not enough to justify the huge amounts of time I spend on it it. A lot of people say getting the first X (3 or 10 or whatever) customers is the hardest, but for me it's definitely been expanding on that and taking it to the next level. One book that seems promising to me is Gabriel Weinberg's book, tractionbook.com, though I haven't had a ton of time to try and implement all the ideas yet.
baccredited 8y ago
Couple of thoughts: - I'm already a paying customer and this product is seriously awesome - The net revenue number is depressing as hell.
- icedchai 8y ago
  Yes, it is depressing. Getting a SaaS running that makes any real money is a ton of work. This goes way beyond software development. Why do you think real companies spend millions on marketing and sales? At the small scale, with rare exceptions, it's build it and almost nobody shows up.
Cpoll 8y ago
I imagine some of your potential customers would opt for Dead Man's Snitch, since they've been around longer (and they're a bit cheaper). What does your product do to differentiate itself from that?
kapauldo 8y ago
Congrats. This is awesome and thanks for sharing.
craftoman 8y ago
How to get your first 10 customers using the following formula: 1. Find a job on a big trustworthy corporation (50 respect points) 2. Start writing articles on medium (25 respect points) 3. Learn how to sell yourself the right way (15 respect points) 4. Be the real boss on social media. (30 respect points) After you collect enough respect points, start side projects and let them grow naturally like a plant and always remember that people will start using your projects once they find out who's really behind them. Pro tip: If you worked on companies like Google or Facebook you automatically get 1000 respect points so you don't need 2,3,4 steps.

80 points by kareemm 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

This is cool, seems like getting this article on HN should be helpful for you. I like the total net revenue figure, $710 and low expenses. I'm in a similar range for my side project, a few thousands of dollars (prob a similar net revenue figure to yours) but not nearly enough to take it full time and (by itself, from a pure financial perspective) not enough to justify the huge amounts of time I spend on it it. A lot of people say getting the first X (3 or 10 or whatever) customers is the hardest, but for me it's definitely been expanding on that and taking it to the next level. One book that seems promising to me is Gabriel Weinberg's book, tractionbook.com, though I haven't had a ton of time to try and implement all the ideas yet.

baccredited 8y ago

Couple of thoughts: - I'm already a paying customer and this product is seriously awesome - The net revenue number is depressing as hell.

icedchai 8y ago
Yes, it is depressing. Getting a SaaS running that makes any real money is a ton of work. This goes way beyond software development. Why do you think real companies spend millions on marketing and sales? At the small scale, with rare exceptions, it's build it and almost nobody shows up.

Cpoll 8y ago

I imagine some of your potential customers would opt for Dead Man's Snitch, since they've been around longer (and they're a bit cheaper). What does your product do to differentiate itself from that?

kapauldo 8y ago

Congrats. This is awesome and thanks for sharing.

craftoman 8y ago

How to get your first 10 customers using the following formula: 1. Find a job on a big trustworthy corporation (50 respect points) 2. Start writing articles on medium (25 respect points) 3. Learn how to sell yourself the right way (15 respect points) 4. Be the real boss on social media. (30 respect points) After you collect enough respect points, start side projects and let them grow naturally like a plant and always remember that people will start using your projects once they find out who's really behind them. Pro tip: If you worked on companies like Google or Facebook you automatically get 1000 respect points so you don't need 2,3,4 steps.