How to Get Your First Customers | Startup School
Y Combinator
22 min, 54 sec
Gustav Alströmer from Y Combinator discusses strategies for startups to move from talking to users to acquiring their first customers.
Summary
- Gustav emphasizes the importance of doing things that don't scale in the early stages of a startup.
- He argues that founders should personally handle sales initially and explains the sales funnel process in detail.
- The significance of charging for your product from the start is highlighted as a sign of providing real value.
- Gustav advises on how to work backwards from sales goals using the sales funnel and the necessity of tracking conversion rates.
- He recommends tools and resources for sales and emphasizes the differences between early stage sales tactics and growth strategies at scale.
Chapter 1
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Gustav Alströmer introduces himself and outlines the topics he will cover in the presentation.
- Gustav Alströmer, a partner at Y Combinator, introduces himself and prepares to discuss transitioning from user engagement to customer acquisition.
- He plans to cover the concept of doing things that don't scale, the importance of founders doing sales, charging for the product, and working backwards from goals.
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Chapter 2
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Gustav underlines the critical mindset of doing things that don't scale and why it's essential for startups.
- He references Paul Graham's essay 'Do Things That Don't Scale' and the early days of Airbnb as an example of a startup that succeeded by not initially focusing on scalability.
- A good product is necessary but not sufficient; founders must engage with customers and manually recruit them, which often feels uncomfortable and is commonly avoided.
- Startups take off because founders make them take off, not due to automated growth channels.
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Chapter 3
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Gustav explains the startup curve and the phases startups typically go through.
- Startups often go through a launch phase, followed by a drop in energy as early adopters leave, entering the 'Trough of Sorrow'.
- Many companies fail at this stage, but those that persist and iterate based on user feedback can reach the 'Wiggles of False Hope' and eventually product-market fit.
- Founders make the critical difference at every stage, either by learning new skills, such as sales, or pivoting to a better market.
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Chapter 4
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Gustav discusses why founders should handle sales and how to effectively approach it.
- Founders need to understand their customers deeply, which is why they should be involved in sales to learn about customer needs and problems.
- Knowing how to sell and what constitutes good sales is essential before building a sales team; this helps in understanding product feedback.
- Passion for solving customer problems is infectious and can be a powerful sales tool.
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Chapter 5
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Gustav shares stories of successful founders who took on the sales role and excelled in it.
- Founders of successful companies like DoorDash, Front, PlanGrid, and even Steve Jobs, took on the sales role initially.
- An example is provided for the Brex founders who recruited their first 10 customers from their YC batch by identifying a simple value proposition that was directly useful to startups.
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Chapter 6
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Gustav provides detailed advice on crafting short, clear, and compelling sales emails.
- Sales emails should be brief and to the point, with no jargon or buzzwords, addressing the potential customer's problem directly.
- Use plain text, include social proof and authority, link to a simple and informative website, and always end with a clear call to action.
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Chapter 7
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Gustav breaks down the sales funnel process into understandable 'founder speak' and 'sales speak'.
- The sales funnel includes making a list of prospects, reaching out, scheduling demos, discussing pricing, closing customers, and onboarding them.
- Tracking each stage's conversion rates is crucial and can be done using simple spreadsheets or CRM software.
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Chapter 8
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Gustav advises on choosing the easiest initial customers and avoiding those who slow down the sales process.
- Start with the easiest potential customers to close and avoid those who are less responsive or present complex barriers.
- Selling to startups is generally easier due to less bureaucracy and faster decision-making processes.
- Focus on early adopters and avoid spending time trying to convert those who are not naturally inclined to try new products.
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Chapter 9
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Gustav stresses the importance of charging customers from the start to validate the product's value.
- Offering free trials or unpaid pilots can be tempting, but paying customers provide real validation of value.
- A money-back guarantee is preferred over free trials in B2B sales, and prices should be increased until customers start complaining but still pay.
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Chapter 10

Gustav explains how to set and achieve sales goals by working backwards using the sales funnel.
- Understanding drop-off rates at each stage of the funnel is crucial, and these rates will become clearer as more sales activity occurs.
- Tracking conversion rates is essential to gauge what works and what doesn't in sales tactics.
- Startups often fail to send enough outreach messages, resulting in incorrect conclusions about their sales process.
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Chapter 11
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Gustav recommends tools and additional reading for founders to improve their sales processes.
- Apollo.io, Close.com, Pipedrive, and Hunter.io are recommended as sales CRM tools.
- The book 'Founding Sales' and Lenny Rachitsky's newsletter are suggested as helpful resources.
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Chapter 12
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Gustav differentiates between early sales tactics and scalable growth strategies.
- He notes that even companies like Airbnb that rely on scalable growth channels now did not start with those strategies.
- Finding early adopters and leveraging personal networks is key in the initial stages before transitioning to scalable channels like SEM and SEO.
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