5 most common tactics great companies use to get their first customers.

May 15, 2020

I’ve researched startups, unicorns and companies from Apple to Uber and found 5 tactics many used to get their first customers.  While not an exhaustive list, these are the most common and the most actionable for startups and new projects.

Let’s start with Apple.

Back in 1975, Steve Wozniak met with other computer enthusiasts at a local group called the Homebrew Computer Club.  Wozniak built the first Apple-I from scratch and showed it off to the  group.  Realizing that others wanted to do the same, Wozniak and Jobs built and sold an etched and silkscreened circuit board that others could use to build their own computer.  They sold about 50 boards and got their first paying customers.

Which brings us to the first tactic.

1. Visit the Watering Holes

Your best chance to get your first customer is to find places where people with related interests already hang out.  The watering holes.

For the Steves, this was the Homebrew Computer Club.  You couldn’t find a better place to sell a do it yourself computer board than a garage full of do it yourself computer enthusiasts.

The Steves picked a physical event.  But there are many online places where people group and talk about common interests.  Subreddits, forums, Twitter, Hackernews, ProductHunt to name a few.  Find the watering holes where your potential customers hang out and get involved.

Another great example is Etsy.  Can you guess where an ecommerce platform for handmade goods got their first users?

They went across the country to craft fairs and other physical events where crafters and handmade artisans sold their work.  Etsy found the best vendors at each event.  Then pitched them on opening an online store on the platform.

The next tactic is similar to the watering hole.

2. Use Your Network

When Ryan Hoover started Product Hunt (a site for new startup products), he first got traction by inviting people in his network to join a daily list of new products.  He focused on people in his network who were interested in new products, like founders, investors and other startup people.  

The daily list was an MVP for what would later become Product Hunt.  When Ryan built the beta version of the site, he invited the daily list subscribers to test it out.

The early users provided feedback and helped him build a better product.  They also become the foundation of users to help Product Hunt grow and have a successful public launch.

You probably have people in your network right now who are interested in your product.  And if they aren’t interested, they can probably introduce you to someone who is.  Don’t be afraid to ask your network for an introduction or a referral.   Make a list of relevant contacts and start with them.  

Once companies found their potential customers, they applied the third tactic.

3.  Recruit users manually

When Tinder wanted to get their first users onboard they hit the road.  Whitney Wolfe, Tinder co-founder, literally went on a tour to various prominent colleges and met face to face with sorority chapters.  She would do her presentation and then get them to sign up on the spot.  Once the girls were signed up, it was easy to convince the boys to join.

We saw similar tactics from Wozniak and Jobs at the HomeBrew Computer club and Etsy at the craft fairs.  They both met face to face with prospects and told them about their products.

Same with Stripe.  They used what came to be known as the  “Collison installation”.  If a person was interested, the Collison brothers (founders) wouldn’t just send a link and hope that the person would sign up later.  No time to wait.  They’d immediately grab the person’s laptop and set them up on the spot.

Stripe was a much needed product. But even so the founders were very proactive in signing up their first customers.

The point here is, if you want to get your first users, you’re going to have to find the watering holes and sell it.  It might be face to face, over email, on a subreddit, or the phone.

Sign them up one at a time if you have to at first.

Which brings us to the next tactic.

4.  Do things that don’t scale 

In the examples above, each company did a lot of manual things to get their first users.  

Etsy visiting craft fairs.  Tinder going on a college tour.  Jobs and Wozniak going to the Home Brew Club.  Stripe’s founders signing up users one at a time.  I could go on.

When Airbnb couldn’t figure out why people weren’t booking rooms, they flew to New York and visited their hosts to find out.  The founders realized that the hosts were taking poor quality pictures.

Chesky and Gebbia hired professional photographers to go take quality pictures of the rental properties.  Not scalable.  But it was exactly what they needed at the time.  The better pictures gave customers the confidence to book.  Sales went up.

What is the one thing you could do right now that would get someone to sign up?  Do it manually now, even if you plan to automate it later.

Doing things that don’t scale is an idea by investor Paul Graham.  If you haven’t read his essay, go read it here.

Further improve your odds with the last tactic

5.  Target High Demand

It can be difficult to get users to try something new.  But new services like Uber and Airbnb found a smart way to do it.

They launched during times of high demand when users are more likely to try something new.

Uber got some of its first users by running promotions during large concerts and sporting events.  Demand was high because lots of people all needed a cab at the same time.  They also researched which cities had the largest discrepancies between the supply and demand for taxis and launched in those markets first.

Airbnb took a similar approach by launching at the 2008 Democratic National Convention where all the hotels were completely booked.  Out of options, 600 people used Airbnb during the convention.

Go Get Your First Customers

It’s hard to imagine the founders of unicorn and multi million dollar companies recruiting one user at a time.  The truth is, that’s often how they got their first customers.  And it’s likely how you’ll get yours too.

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References

Apple – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.

Product Hunt – https://www.fastcompany.com/3024472/how-we-got-our-first-2000-users-doing-things-that-dont-scale

Uber, Airbnb, Etsy – https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-uber-airbnb-and-etsy-attracted-their-first-1-000-customers

Airbnb – https://getpaidforyourpad.com/blog/the-airbnb-founder-story/

Tinder – https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/how-to-get-first-customers/

Do things that don’t scale – Paul Graham – http://paulgraham.com/ds.html