Ask HN: How did you get your first paying customers?

You should have customers before launch. Read the first four chapters of: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steve-Blank/dp/09...

For my latest business (a productised service that provides unlimited UI design for software teams http://fairpixels.pro) I simply contacted my previous customers.

It's surprising how many of us are always looking for new customers, when sometimes, contacting people who you already have a relationship with works best.

Even if it's your first business. Maybe you know a few folks from your previous job, an internship. These people already trust you, know you and interacted with you before... the easiest way to get your first customer, I think, is through the network you already have.

Browse through your phone and email contacts. Your first customers and users might be sitting in your pocket as we speak :)

A recent HN discussion which may help: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14191161

I had an ongoing relationship with a company and got them to pay a deposit for a product before we even started the company.

We would not have started the company without that deposit and I would have done something else in that case.

Anyway I think you should know who your first paying customers are going to be before you start anything. But don't take anyones word for anything. Lots of people will say "yeah I'll buy that if you make it" but not everyone will follow through.

I built up a list of early access users for www.sanitycheck.io from a small Twitter following, small podcast listenership, and two seo Facebook groups I was a member of. Got about 50 users in total. 9 months of being in beta and then switched on pricing and got first 10 customers from that.

I found the first few customers for my SaaS problem archive -https://www.oppslist.com/subscribe

Through running a newsletter that provided similar content and promoting there.

B2B SaaS - Used networks, cold emails and showing up (cities, events, conferences). For everyone you meet, ask for a referral to someone else at the end. When you have an idea that has some level of product-market fit, that should be enough to get traction.

My very first startup I was naive and just did cold calling. Got a huge number of no's (200+) before getting a yes.

Next time I'm much smarter, seek partnerships and even better if your product is an upsell, then you can have others sell it for you

I the first costumers almost by just releasing the app, because the community was small and anything "new" would definitely sell at least 1 copy.

The product(s) being of high quality still have sales after some years.

I found people who shared content from my competitors and sent them cold emails using BuzzSumo http://buzzsumo.com

I used social media to find influencers who could help promote my product using tools like CrowdTangle and Followerwonk

Met a guy on a relevant reddit :)