I can't seem to get the hang of customer growth

There are two rules in the book "Go-Giver" that I think you might try applying here.

1. The law of value
2. The law of compensation

The law of value says that your worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. So first I would ask if you are giving enough value? Are these relationships based on your need to push your product on them? Or is it legitimately going to provide value that they have yet to unrealize. A bit of guilt is fine at first, but if you TRULY feel guilty, then I would re-evaluate your offering. Focus on giving them something that is valuable, and in return you will also accomplish rule 2. The rule of compensation, meaning your income, is determined by how many people you serve and how well.

Have you seen the movie Inception?

If I tell you to do something, you will likely never do it.
If it is YOUR idea to do something, you are extremely likely to do it.

Even if the event is the exact same thing.

I am telling you this because I learned it over the last 5 years growing 2 SaaS companies to $400k ARR.

You need to create a way for people to FIND you or your product and realize they want it.

The best part? It sounds like you already found where you targeted users hand out. Now all you have to do is change the way you post.

Try

• Check out this X I built to fix my Y problem
• I go tired of Y so I built X, now I have Z number of users
• My customer saved Y (time or money) using X
• If I could solve X for you, would you buy Y?
• I built X to solve my problem with Y, would you like to try it for free?

Joe, if none of the above work or you have no customers in general, you have to do the following

1. Give your product away for free
2. Get on zoom calls with customers and ask what they like or dont like
3. Build features they like and make them sticky
4. Ask for testimonials and dump logos onto your site.

Anyways, hope this helps. Cheers

Hi Joe,

I work with a lot of start ups and founders on this (and VCs pay me good money for it, but I help indiehackers for free :). Ping me and I'll send you my calendly if you want to jump on a quick call to unpack what the problem is.

To me, it sounds like you're conflating two different things...

1. Customer Development: This is all about UNDERSTANDING your customer, for the purpose of revealing their true desires, pain points, concerns, struggling moments. First this will also be understanding WHO the right customer is. This is NOT selling.

2. Sales (as one "Growth" channel) is different. Once you've done (1), you can then move to selling mode, where you want to be able to communicate your proposition a briefly and as relevant as possible with the goal to win the person as a client.

From what I can see for Nodepath, you're still in an early phase where you're looking for some validation and maybe first beta users?

That means you're not in sales mode yet, but you may have an initial hypothesis who your first customers are.

Focus on those who experience the problem you're solving most frequently/most strongly. While your product might have broad appeal, it's important to start with the people who struggle a lot with this - they will be the ones who will be happy to give you feedback and who'll turn into evangelists later (making sales easier for you).

For example, there's a reason why Superhuman (superhuman.com) started focussing on VCs first:

• they get tons of (cold) emails
• they have to read most of them (looking for new opportunities)
• time is money for a VC and they are happy to spend on saving time
• VCs are mostly techy / nerdy people who like to try new things
• small teams with autonomy who are able to try new software out (not like large enterprises)
  (+ bunch of other reasons + VCs are amazing multipliers once you're in that market)

You need to find your first audience, and that's what customer development is for :)

Happy to chat more.

Best
Johannes

A few years back a sales person I respect a lot explained to me the idea that there’s an average of “seven touch points to a sale”.

A touch point might be an email, a call, just hearing about the product on the grape vine or the even the people behind the product, it could be a landing page link or visit, a demo, a tweet (eg via build in public) etc etc.

With that in mind, rather than waiting to “pounce with a pitch” you can go about interacting with people freely and confidently in a way that helps them, and may lead to your pitch, either directly (oh boy do I have the solution for you!) or indirectly - an email signature, social media profile links or whatever. You see this often on social media and when done well it’s not a problem.

Perhaps just a slight change of frame like this might make the process more natural and comfortable than trying to be “hot” and salesy, ready for a direct pitch.

🍻

I've been reading some books on marketing and they all seem to recommend providing something of value to others for free. They often suggest things like writing up an article to help your target market and making it available on your website after providing an email. That sort of thing.

The idea is you provide free value to your target market. Maybe you don't get them to buy your product today, but they may later. It makes sense since "the rule of reciprocity" kicks in when you get something for free from someone. You want to return the favor somehow.

The other nice thing is that if you write lots of content, you end up providing lots of value over time, and generating a lot of potential customers. Even if they don't buy your product today, if you provide lots of value in this way, you become an option in the long term.

So, instead of thinking "how can I sell to this target user?" maybe ask "how can I help them in some way?"

Hi! I totally feel you on this one. For me, part of the challenge is how much TIME this takes. I mean, I'm trying to build a business! I've got a million things pulling me in a million directions! (And I'm also freelancing for income.) And when I log on to Twitter or Reddit or FB or whatever, trying to find ways to provide value and connect with people, it's like I can kiss the next 2 hrs goodbye.

So I'm no expert, but here's what I've been trying: timebox it and put it on the calendar. Just keep chipping away at it, a little bit every day.

Seems like at least you're moving pretty quickly, which is awesome - kudos! - keep at it :)

If you're scaling a saas I can help you get through this tough early sales stage and scale the project. DM me on twitter.

Does your product help them or not? I assume so. Maybe you should shift it in your mind from "push your product on them" to " providing them with the best solution".

What's your product and who do you think are your target users?

Actionables : 1) write some posts/blog about unique perspective on your industry/space. No-strings attached, add value to your industry via your POV and expertise. Build that reputation. 2) genuinely add value by answering the questions in the space/related space that are connected to the problem you're solving.