Your first customer

Enough with the top-down total addressable market (TAM). Enough with the press releases, the ads, the unsolicited e-mails, the planning, the strategizing and the writing of comprehensive business plans. Your first customer is the hardest one you’ll get, and by far the most important. And the best way to get it is to pitch your idea to people that might want to buy your product.

That first customer will provide market validation – i.e. someone actually needs your product. It will provide feedback – i.e. the little hints, tips, tricks and tweaks that focus your product offering to best service the customer. And finally it provides you with a reference, meaning someone that can actually communicate that the product had value to your second, third, your forth and so on, customer.

So pick up that phone and start pitching!