4 ms·

The only person you should ever ask if they like your startup idea are potential customers. Share with them the problem you’re tackling and the solution you’re

by krm01 4y ago

The only person you should ever ask if they like your startup idea are potential customers. Share with them the problem you’re tackling and the solution you’re building. opinions from anyone who is not your potential customer means literally nothing. Be it positive or negative. Friends, investors, strangers on the internet. Nobody matters except for customers. When I started a tiny design agency [1], I got the same reaction from random people (not scalable, why are you only focussing on B2B etc). We’re doing very well luckily and it’s a joy working with customers who love what you are offering. [1] http://fairpixels.pro http://fairpixels.pro

soperj 4y ago
And how do you find these potential customers to ask?
- krm01 4y ago
  Where ever they are. Customers are school teachers? Go to FB groups where they gather. Targeting Marketing execs? Send them an email.
  - soperj 4y ago
    I'm doing a meal planning app[0], didn't really think there'd be a facebook group for that, but lo & behold... Now I guess i have to get a facebook account :/ [0] - www.reciped.io
    - soperj 4y ago
      So I've just tried joining a few of these facebook groups, and a number of them ask specifically if you're going to try marketing to the group, and have rules against it. Seems like they've had enough of this tactic.
      - garrickvanburen 4y ago
        You can learn a lot by not marketing.
        soperj 4y ago
        That's a good point. I'm not a very good marketer, so that should be pretty easy haha.
      - fragmede 4y ago
        It's less organic, but you can just pay Facebook to run ads once you've identified the particular niche.
        soperj 4y ago
        I didn't even have a facebook account before, I hate their business model, last thing I really want to do is to give them money. I hate the way they do ads.
      - mdorazio 4y ago
        If you're planning to immediately market to your target customer segment you're doing it pretty wrong since you almost certainly don't have product market fit yet. You should be talking with them, asking questions, learning, and trying to understand their pain points, existing solutions, & decision making processes. I recommend the book The Mom Test here. Marketing comes after all of that and there are many posts on how to do it with small ad spends, a landing page, and an email signup form.
      - riku_iki 4y ago
        you may be buy some ads targeting these specific group. If your app is really solving some problem, you likely will get good conversion rate.
      - nl 4y ago
        You don't join FB groups to market to them! You join to do customer development. There's a huge difference between going in and going "try my app" and "hey I'm an app developer, building this thing, and I'm wondering if people here would find X or Y more useful". Do it the first way and you'll get banned. Do it the second way and you'll get people asking to try it.
- raunometsa 4y ago
  What I've often seen with startups on MicroFounder – cold outreach. "We started with cold outreach to creators, Indie Hackers, and startup founders, who might be interested in our product." – Marie from Tally ($24k/mo) Depending on the product, some communities can be also helpful, but this probably doesn't work for everything. It did for Julien who is building NotionForms though (now $11k MRR): https://microfounder.com/startups/notionforms https://microfounder.com/startups/notionforms
  - daniel-cussen 4y ago
    That's what Steve Jobs did. Got featured in the Ashton Kutcher movie. When he screams after getting hung up on--that's the 150th call he made that day. They were rude as shit with him. That rejection is too lightly touched on. And it's like a club for a novat after you ask every girl to dance and nothing, then go ask every girl to dance again. Wander. No validation. Get their contempt. He didn't add up to shit in the eyes of VCs. Nothing. His resume was just...and he didn't have chapitas, badges of eg graduating from the right schools, and then a smooth up-and-to-the-right career trajectory that had to trace an exponential curve. Dropouts were nothing then, like you could open up a photo booth be a hippie or yes be an inventor--sort of in the late seventies, very limited, not open to everybody by that point like in the 1920's. VCs only got more open-minded by people like Jobs--him more than absolutely anybody--opening those skulls with the rippling effect of figurative kicks to the ass. Missing out. Getting bounced. And for a few with already open minds, absurd riches. Work the club.
- yomkippur 4y ago
  again and again it is this road to customers that is tough as a technical founder, who can I hire on upwork that can take on this task of doing cold out reach? Business development? How would I structure the compensation (per lead or per hour or both?) so many ideas fail because they cannot get through this grind. I got my customers from a simple tweet that was retweeted. It's literally rolling dice because when I posted the same thing years ago there was no response. I wonder if successful people just got lucky at rolling dices early on that puts them in a good mentality position to build their chips for the bubbles in a poker tournament.
- mbesto 4y ago
  This is basically the one thing that no one ever teaches you but is arguably the hardest part. I think Steve Blank's Customer Development Manifesto nails it on the head: https://growthorientedsustainableentrepreneurship.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/en-customer-development-manifesto.pdf https://growthorientedsustainableentrepreneurship.files.word... This is the reason you often see older (person's age) entrepreneurs more successful because they've already created network of trust, or people who have exited multiple companies...getting intros to potential clients for customer development is stupidly easy because you're already pre-sold because of those relationships. That being said, I've found in my career that as long as you're willing to listen to early potential customers most individuals of any size company are motivated to tell you all about their issues. Trust me, get someone on the phone and they'll air all of their dirty laundry. You gain trust with those early potential customers (and eventually payments) by being a good listener - replay back what you heard, explain how you're going to fix it, and then deliver. As Steve Blank says "There are no facts inside your building, so get outside". I'm going to generalize here, but I think the reason too may technically minded entrepreneurs fail is because they're simply too introverted to get outside.
- nazka 4y ago
  You do a super neat hero page with the features your product will have. You say you are working on it but they can preorder. When they click on preorder with the price you actually say that no payment is required but you will shoot them an email when the product will be ready to be tested. That way the person saw your product, saw the price, and was ready to buy it.
- PeterisP 4y ago
  I think that at least for B2B it's key to have someone among your founding team who either is/was a potential customer (e.g. has worked for some years in the role&industry who would be buying this) or personally knows a few such customers (e.g. because they have worked in a different role but in the same industry, or in a similar role in a different industry). If you don't have that, you can "import" that knowledge but that will take a lot of effort and time, and you risk making some very wrong assumptions early on. And IMHO there are no shortcuts, to understand your market you have to walk a mile in their shoes, and if you haven't already done so before starting the startup, doing that will take out a big chunk of your runway. So it's not about some specific activities, but about choosing a project that fits your team or a getting together a team that fits your project.

by krm01 4y ago

soperj 4y ago

And how do you find these potential customers to ask?

krm01 4y ago
Where ever they are. Customers are school teachers? Go to FB groups where they gather. Targeting Marketing execs? Send them an email.
- soperj 4y ago
  I'm doing a meal planning app[0], didn't really think there'd be a facebook group for that, but lo & behold... Now I guess i have to get a facebook account :/ [0] - www.reciped.io
  - soperj 4y ago
    So I've just tried joining a few of these facebook groups, and a number of them ask specifically if you're going to try marketing to the group, and have rules against it. Seems like they've had enough of this tactic.
    - garrickvanburen 4y ago
      You can learn a lot by not marketing.
      - soperj 4y ago
        That's a good point. I'm not a very good marketer, so that should be pretty easy haha.
    - fragmede 4y ago
      It's less organic, but you can just pay Facebook to run ads once you've identified the particular niche.
      - soperj 4y ago
        I didn't even have a facebook account before, I hate their business model, last thing I really want to do is to give them money. I hate the way they do ads.
    - mdorazio 4y ago
      If you're planning to immediately market to your target customer segment you're doing it pretty wrong since you almost certainly don't have product market fit yet. You should be talking with them, asking questions, learning, and trying to understand their pain points, existing solutions, & decision making processes. I recommend the book The Mom Test here. Marketing comes after all of that and there are many posts on how to do it with small ad spends, a landing page, and an email signup form.
    - riku_iki 4y ago
      you may be buy some ads targeting these specific group. If your app is really solving some problem, you likely will get good conversion rate.
    - nl 4y ago
      You don't join FB groups to market to them! You join to do customer development. There's a huge difference between going in and going "try my app" and "hey I'm an app developer, building this thing, and I'm wondering if people here would find X or Y more useful". Do it the first way and you'll get banned. Do it the second way and you'll get people asking to try it.
raunometsa 4y ago
What I've often seen with startups on MicroFounder – cold outreach. "We started with cold outreach to creators, Indie Hackers, and startup founders, who might be interested in our product." – Marie from Tally ($24k/mo) Depending on the product, some communities can be also helpful, but this probably doesn't work for everything. It did for Julien who is building NotionForms though (now $11k MRR): https://microfounder.com/startups/notionforms https://microfounder.com/startups/notionforms
- daniel-cussen 4y ago
  That's what Steve Jobs did. Got featured in the Ashton Kutcher movie. When he screams after getting hung up on--that's the 150th call he made that day. They were rude as shit with him. That rejection is too lightly touched on. And it's like a club for a novat after you ask every girl to dance and nothing, then go ask every girl to dance again. Wander. No validation. Get their contempt. He didn't add up to shit in the eyes of VCs. Nothing. His resume was just...and he didn't have chapitas, badges of eg graduating from the right schools, and then a smooth up-and-to-the-right career trajectory that had to trace an exponential curve. Dropouts were nothing then, like you could open up a photo booth be a hippie or yes be an inventor--sort of in the late seventies, very limited, not open to everybody by that point like in the 1920's. VCs only got more open-minded by people like Jobs--him more than absolutely anybody--opening those skulls with the rippling effect of figurative kicks to the ass. Missing out. Getting bounced. And for a few with already open minds, absurd riches. Work the club.
yomkippur 4y ago
again and again it is this road to customers that is tough as a technical founder, who can I hire on upwork that can take on this task of doing cold out reach? Business development? How would I structure the compensation (per lead or per hour or both?) so many ideas fail because they cannot get through this grind. I got my customers from a simple tweet that was retweeted. It's literally rolling dice because when I posted the same thing years ago there was no response. I wonder if successful people just got lucky at rolling dices early on that puts them in a good mentality position to build their chips for the bubbles in a poker tournament.
mbesto 4y ago
This is basically the one thing that no one ever teaches you but is arguably the hardest part. I think Steve Blank's Customer Development Manifesto nails it on the head: https://growthorientedsustainableentrepreneurship.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/en-customer-development-manifesto.pdf https://growthorientedsustainableentrepreneurship.files.word... This is the reason you often see older (person's age) entrepreneurs more successful because they've already created network of trust, or people who have exited multiple companies...getting intros to potential clients for customer development is stupidly easy because you're already pre-sold because of those relationships. That being said, I've found in my career that as long as you're willing to listen to early potential customers most individuals of any size company are motivated to tell you all about their issues. Trust me, get someone on the phone and they'll air all of their dirty laundry. You gain trust with those early potential customers (and eventually payments) by being a good listener - replay back what you heard, explain how you're going to fix it, and then deliver. As Steve Blank says "There are no facts inside your building, so get outside". I'm going to generalize here, but I think the reason too may technically minded entrepreneurs fail is because they're simply too introverted to get outside.
nazka 4y ago
You do a super neat hero page with the features your product will have. You say you are working on it but they can preorder. When they click on preorder with the price you actually say that no payment is required but you will shoot them an email when the product will be ready to be tested. That way the person saw your product, saw the price, and was ready to buy it.
PeterisP 4y ago
I think that at least for B2B it's key to have someone among your founding team who either is/was a potential customer (e.g. has worked for some years in the role&industry who would be buying this) or personally knows a few such customers (e.g. because they have worked in a different role but in the same industry, or in a similar role in a different industry). If you don't have that, you can "import" that knowledge but that will take a lot of effort and time, and you risk making some very wrong assumptions early on. And IMHO there are no shortcuts, to understand your market you have to walk a mile in their shoes, and if you haven't already done so before starting the startup, doing that will take out a big chunk of your runway. So it's not about some specific activities, but about choosing a project that fits your team or a getting together a team that fits your project.