How to Get Your First 10 Customers

Choose outreach channels based on how your target buyers work and where they look for information. One founder struggled with email and LinkedIn for months, then closed more business in three days at an industry trade show. If you cannot describe a buyer’s typical day or where they seek recommendations, spend more time with customers before choosing a channel.

Max says the first two or three customers often come through friends, former colleagues, classmates, or warm introductions, because early buyers need to trust the founder. Ask for specific introductions and make them easy to forward. Founders also described closing deals through office visits, small industry conferences, and dinners for six to ten ideal customers.

For consumer products and small businesses, look for public places where people describe the problem, such as Reddit, Facebook groups, Discord, YouTube comments, or industry forums. Founders found customers by posting product videos, messaging people in old complaint threads, and responding regularly to posts. Reddit discussions can remain searchable for years.

Once warm and in-person channels have been tried, Apollo can help build an initial lead list, while Clay supports more specific research and LinkedIn Premium provides fresh professional data. Some founders opened conversations by genuinely asking for advice, product feedback, or a whiteboarding session. Keep outreach under 75 words, make the requested next step clear, read it aloud to check that it sounds human, and follow up three or four times over a couple of weeks.

Max describes customers one through three as usually coming from a founder’s personal network, and customers four through ten as requiring manual, unscalable work such as tailored messages, travel, or free consulting. After roughly 10 to 50 customers, founders may have a clearer pitch and case studies, making tools and higher-volume outreach more useful. The early manual work also signals that the founder is invested in solving the problem.