How to get your first 100 customers?

Detailed Explanation

First 100 customers playbook: (1) Personal network (First 10-20)—Message everyone you know: friends, family, colleagues, LinkedIn connections. "I built [product] to solve [problem]. Can you try it and give feedback?" Offer free access. (2) Online communities (Next 30-40)—Join relevant Reddit communities (r/entrepreneur, r/startups, industry subreddits), Facebook groups, Slack communities, Discord servers. Don't spam—genuinely help people, mention product when relevant. ProductHunt launch can get 500+ signups. (3) Cold outreach (Next 20-30)—Find potential customers on LinkedIn, Twitter, email. Personalized messages (mention their company/tweet). "Saw you're struggling with [problem]. Built tool to solve it. Can I show you?" 2-5% response rate typical—send 500 to get 20. (4) Content marketing (Next 10-20)—Write blog posts, Twitter threads solving problems your target customers have. Link to product at end. Example: "How I reduced customer churn by 40%" → link to your retention tool. (5) Referrals (Next 10-20)—Ask happy users to refer friends. "Know anyone struggling with [problem]? I'll give you both free month for referral." Early users are evangelists. (6) Be everywhere (Final 10)—Comment on Hacker News, answer Quora questions, join Twitter spaces, speak at meetups. Visibility builds interest. Key principle: DO THINGS THAT DON'T SCALE. Founder should manually recruit first 100 customers—calls, demos, onboarding help. Build relationships. Get feedback. Only after 100 paying/engaged users should you think about scaling channels (ads, content, sales team).