I need my first customers

The first ten come from you talking to people, not from a growth channel.

The lessons, in order

1. Defining your ICP — The customer who gets the most value and is easiest to reach. If your definition does not tell you where to find them tomorrow, it is not specific enough. (12 min)
2. Positioning and messaging — Positioning is the place you occupy against the alternatives. Messaging is the words. Most startups get the second one wrong because they skipped the first. (12 min)
3. Getting your first ten customers — Not from a channel. From you, personally, one at a time — and that is the correct way to do it. (12 min)
4. Founder-led sales for people who hate selling — Selling early is not persuasion. It is finding out whether this person has the problem badly enough to pay — and that is a question, not a pitch. (12 min)
5. Running a discovery call — A structure for the first real sales conversation, and how to end it with a next step that actually exists. (12 min)
6. Handling objections — Most objections are information, not resistance. The four you will hear constantly, and what each actually means. (12 min)
7. Closing and following up — Most deals are lost to silence, not to a no. Asking clearly and following up systematically wins more than any technique. (10 min)

All Founder Academy subjects