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![[YC Startup School] How to get your first customers](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252F79%252Fd6%252Fb2%252F79d6b2718a01183a52c7de59cdc62e2c.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D0d56bf76-0a61-4eed-aa3a-b2977eabb069%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
![[YC Startup School] How to get your first customers](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252F0d%252F3d%252Ff9%252F0d3df93312e3542222ceadcc257eeba9.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D0d56bf76-0a61-4eed-aa3a-b2977eabb069%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
YC Startup School Playlist on YouTube:
Previous Blog Post:
[YC Startup School] Notes on “Should you start a startup?”
![[YC Startup School] Notes on “Should you start a startup?”](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252Fd0%252Ffb%252F9a%252Fd0fb9a12b981c3046fe7d09b1c918ba2.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D32de22e0-3953-4481-9dbe-c4c42063a139%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
[YC Startup School] Key takeaways from “How to get and evaluate ideas”
![[YC Startup School] Key takeaways from “How to get and evaluate ideas”](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252F9b%252Fae%252F4b%252F9bae4b08bc97ebdd93ea4d4b58be6c7c.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D2cdac9cc-6db9-4019-acd9-1ac4904ba8fe%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
[YC Startup School] Startup Business Models and Pricing
![[YC Startup School] Startup Business Models and Pricing](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252Fea%252Fdb%252Fb8%252Feadbb830ad3d4baa28a94bc67cd68fd6.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D484c36d5-908f-49b8-bedb-5403e14848c9%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
[YC Startup School] How to talk to Users
![[YC Startup School] How to talk to Users](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.notion.so%2Fimage%2Fhttps%253A%252F%252Fi.pinimg.com%252F564x%252F7d%252F48%252Fb0%252F7d48b03cb020a1601431766003e2c350.jpg%3Ftable%3Dblock%26id%3D6c787bd9-8675-4af9-8f12-29fb870f65a7%26cache%3Dv2&w=3840&q=75)
A good product is rarely built in isolation — it is built with the feedback of the customers
Do things that don’t scale
→ Be aggressive about customer acquisition. Go out, go door to door to find users
→ Go out of your way to make the User Experience (UX) amazing and make the user happy
→
“Collision installation” for the technique that the Collision brothers (founders of Stripe used): Not waiting for customers to come to them or sending them a link of their beta, instead setting up customers with their product right on the spot.
Founders should learn how to do sales. Why?
→ Sales is the way you will learn about your customer’s needs and expectations. Founders don’t know what to build when they don’t understand the problem they are trying to solve (when they don’t talk to customers)
→ Learning sales gives you control over the destiny of your startup
→ Don’t hire a sales team until you know how to do sales yourself!
→ ‘How to sell’ is a skill you can learn
Writing a good sales email
→ It should be short (6-8 sentences)
→ Clear language
→ Address the problem
→ No HTML
→ Say you’re the founder and describe your success (in solving the problem)
→ Include your website (or embed a video)
→ Ask for a call (call to action)
The Sales Funnel for founders
- Create a list of potential customers
- Email or message them
- Schedule meetings
- Disclose the price
- Revenue + onboarding to the product
Note: Your first customers should be your easiest
→ Have a big pipeline of potential customers and then prioritize from that list
→ Sell to your network
→ Sell to startups
→ 95% of people aren’t early adopters so avoid them
Why you have to charge your first customers
- If you don’t charge, you are not a company
- It is a sign that you are providing value
- If the customer doesn’t want to pay, it is a sign that you should move on to the next one
- No free trials - offer a money back guarantee
- Increase your price until customers are complaining but still paying
Working backwards from your goal
→ Track the drop-off rate. Keep a CRM to keep track of your sales conversion rate
→ Outbound sales is a ultimately a numbers game (You can’t close 5 sales from 10 leads)
→ Most founders don’t get sales done because they don’t work their way backwards
Most common sales mistakes
- Founders don’t send enough outreach
- Believing that something other than sales will solve your sales problem
- Outsourcing sales
- Not qualifying your customers enough in your first call
