Finding Your First Customer

Your first customer matters more than your product. This sounds backwards, but it's true. The product you build for your first customer shapes everything that comes after.

The Wrong First Customer

Friends and family who buy to support you. Enterprise customers who need extensive customization. Anyone who won't push back honestly on what doesn't work.

These customers feel validating but teach you nothing. They create false confidence or pull you toward a market of one.

The Right First Customer

Someone who has the problem you're solving and knows they have it. Someone who's already tried to solve it themselves. Someone who will tell you what's broken and keep using the product anyway because they need it.

This customer is hard to find but infinitely valuable. They'll shape your roadmap, refer others like them, and stick around through the inevitable early-product jank.

Where to Find Them

Communities where people discuss the problem. Competitors' unhappy customers. Your own network, but only people who genuinely have the problem. Direct outreach to people showing signals of the pain you solve.

Not ads. Not launches. Personal conversation with potential users until you find the one who lights up when you describe what you're building.