How to get your 1st customer

I assume you have a product but 0 audience and $0 for marketing.

Here are 4 marketing strategies I use as solopreneur to get customers for all my startups.

1/ Launch 

List your product on popular launch platforms like Product Hunt.

It’s the fastest way to get results. And it’s free.

• How to launch a startup on Reddit

• How to launch a startup on Product Hunt

• How to launch a startup on Hacker News

Spend at least 1 hour crafting your headline. It’s 80% of a successful launch.

If you’re building an AI tool and have a few bucks to spare, list on AI directories like TIAAIFT & Futurepedia.

2/ Cold outreach 

Developers like myself are scared of this task. But it works.

I made my first $1 online and grew a SaaS to $4,000 MRR using cold emails.

Cold DM on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram works too — If you do it right. I get 30 cold outreachs per day. 99% are generic. 99% end up in the trash. Quantity doesn’t matter. Quality does. Spend hours carefully crafting your message:

• Benefit-oriented 

• Ultra personalised

• Short (5 sentences max)

Cold outreach works best if you’re doing high-ticket clients or B2B.

If you can afford it, sponsor niche newsletters (like mine, but I don’t do sponsorships, sorry!). It’s a clever way to do cold outreach at scale without being salesy.

3/ Build an audience 

It changed my life.

But unlike the other marketing channels, it takes a lot of time and it’s not for everyone.

This part could be a book, so here’s the 80/20:

1. Pick a platform where you’re comfortable sharing your work: Twitter if you like writing, Instagram if you’re good with photos, YouTube if you prefer videos.

2. Build cool stuff. People need a reason to follow you.

3. Communicate using the platform’s code. Learn from creators who are already successful.

4. Respect people’s time. Too short is better than too long.

5. Find your signature: Start by getting inspired by others, shine by being you.

4/ Code, code, code

This is for you if you’re a developer who can’t close VSCode.

• Build free tools you can launch anywhere and go viral

• Rank hundreds of pages on Google, for free, with pSEO

If you tried all the strategies above but none is working, it’s usually one of these:

1. Your product doesn’t solve a real problem, consider moving on

2. Your landing page copy isn’t converting, improve it

Your first endeavor won’t magically be a success. But if you show up for long enough, luck will find you.