Lifetime-Deal Math: Net Cash That Funds the Build
A five-step lifetime-deal payout test for founders: check gross sales, refunds, payout timing, support cost, and build funding before you build.
First Customers
First
Set a 34-day first-customer clock before you build
Before you incorporate, set a short sales deadline and decide whether a pre-sale or concierge can prove demand.
Land your first customer before you build: ask a warm contact for $99
Ask a warm contact for a sub-$100 validation payment before you build, then use that receipt as proof for cold outreach.
Get one paying customer in six weeks: a pre-build test
Run a six-week first-charge test before you incorporate: find a stranger, get a written promise, send a payment link, then decide.
Cheapest First-Customer Channel: Test Before ChatGPT Ads
Test cheap channels first, set a spend floor, and stop when the cost to your first customer gets too high.
EU App Payment Route: Check the 12-Month Lock
Compare net margin, support burden, tax handling, the lock-in period, and switching cost before choosing an app payment route.
Get Your First Customer From a Community Someone Else Built
Before spending on ads, find the communities where your buyer already names the problem, then run a short test to get a first sale.
Your first customers are asking someone else
Nobody has heard of you, but the question still gets asked. It just gets answered without you in the room. A first-month checklist.
Before Incorporation: Runway to First Revenue by Model
Choose a model, then plan runway to first revenue before incorporation: budget early revenue small and set go/no-go checkpoints.
Payment Link Pre-Sale Checklist: First Customer Before Build
A payment link turns a landing page into a pre-sale test, so you can get a first customer before building.
Product Hunt Launch or 30-Day Plan: A Checklist
A solo founder should skip Product Hunt unless they can staff a launch team, warm audience, live signup path, and a realistic conversion target.
First SaaS Customer: 7-Day Concierge MVP Script
Sell the outcome by hand, charge a small fee, and turn the first payment into a product spec.
Then
First 10 Customers Before Launch: A Checklist
A practical checklist for landing early customers before the product is finished, with warm intros, manual outreach, and honest pricing.
Get Five Design Partners Before You Ship
Cap your design partner program at five, start with warm intros, and use simple terms that turn early users into committed co-developers.
Land First Customers Before Building: Warm Contacts, Then 10 Cold Asks
Start with warm contacts, then a small batch of cold asks, before content, communities, or paid channels. A checklist for landing your first paying customer.
Turn Your First Customer Into the Second With a Low-Pressure Ask
Ask after the win, name the person, make the yes easy, and keep the pace small.
Onboard your first customer so they don't close the tab in week one
A short, repeatable onboarding sequence moves your first paying customer from signup to a concrete result before they quietly disappear.
Xbox Cloud Gaming caps: a first-customer checklist
Turn Xbox Cloud Gaming's new hour limits into a checklist for finding affected gamers and getting a small first ask.
Development Robot Launch Checklist
A development robot can win its early technical buyers by lowering risk, naming the buyer, and showing a simple app plus specs that prove control.
Before You Go Global, Find the 10 Customers Who Will Pay for the Problem You Actually Solve
Choose your first customers by the painful problem they will pay to solve, then use inbound signals, paid pilots, and retention before testing abroad.
How to Charge Your First Customer: Use a 3-Tier Pricing Ladder to Avoid Discounting and Set Your Reference Price
Quote three tiers, never discount, and make standard the default so your first customer chooses the risk level they can afford.
How to Get Your First 10 Customers Without an Audience
Your first ten customers should come from people who already used the product: pick a narrow ICP, create a value moment, and close with founder-led conversations.
Run an Outage Drill: Find the One Third-Party Tool That Could Break Your First Customer Experience
Map the tools your first customer touches, test the one that could fail, and write the fallback before the outage finds you.
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