Customer acquisition is always top-of-mind for startup founders, especially at the very early stages. “Will people like us enough to buy? How do we reach them? What do they care most about? What do they really need?” For some inspiration, I asked #dctech founders:
How did you get your first customer?
Pure luck. I was having lunch when I bumped into a friend who was chatting with an acquaintance of his. Turns out the acquaintance was interested in learning more about LegCyte. We talked for a minute or two and he said that he had 5 minutes for a demo. I pulled out my laptop and the 5 minute demo turned into an hour. I sent him a sales contract that evening. His firm became our first client the next day. Pure luck.
- Aneet Makin, LegCyte
Right now, we are in sign ups for Beta, but the feeling of getting that first sign up was great – we have since had over 200 sign ups without a product yet; which we got mainly by social media and press.
- Crystal Plew, Amazi
Our first “customer” was Palantir, and it was funny because they initially reached out to us through a Google form we had sent around through some alumni. I set up a phone call with her and sent her our sponsorship doc, with the most expensive option being $2,000, because I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to give us more. At the end of the phone call she was like, “This sounds super exciting, be sure to count us in for $5K!” The phone call ended pretty soon afterwards, and until the check actually came in I was worried that she actually said $500 and I had mistakenly heard $5k.
- Mayank Jain, Pilot
First customers were previous friends and previous customers from my day job. If you don’t have customers lined up before you start, either find some or do something else.
- Marty Cornish, EasyPaint
When I sent my “I’m leaving my job to start a business” e-mail to my former Fannie Mae co-workers, one reached out to me asking if he could be my first client! I worked with him, in addition to two other “beta” clients before I started really promoting my services. Two of three are now married!
-Erika Ettin, A Little Nudge
Gave it away! We had several betas which allowed us to get our feet wet, gain experience and work out the major challenges, bugs and hiccups. Not that we don’t still have them, but it allowed us to speak to our experience and knowledge gained, which ultimately gave us credibility.
- Emily York, Sade Wellness
Twitter and Facebook really helped me to get my first customers due to my use of hashtags for my services and products.
- LaToria Brent, NextBrides
GoodShuffle made our first public appearance at this past month’s Columbia Heights Day. We had amazing feedback from the community and saw a lot of action on the website in the following days and weeks. Lo and behold, a fellow neighbor of mine need to borrowed a Socket Wrench Set after signing up at the event.
- Erik Dreyer, GoodShuffle
The post How Did You Get Your First Customer? 8 DCTech Startup Founders Answer appeared first on ÜberStories.