How to get your first 100 customers
Entrepreneur Office Hours - Issue #214
Back in December, I shared a poll asking everyone to vote on the topic for my next live class. The overwhelming winner was: “How to get your first 100 customers.”
As the old saying goes: Ask and ye shall receive!
Based on your feedback, I’ve scheduled my next free, live, one-hour class. The topic is, of course, "How to get your first 100 customers.”
In addition, I’m bringing in a ringer to help me teach it — my close friend and CEO of Audience Acceleration Labs, Chris Leithe. Chris is a seasoned startup growth expert who’s helped scale multiple companies from small to 10s-of-millions-of-dollars.
Also, since I know everyone has busy schedules, we’re going to teach the class twice. Register for the time that works best for you from the choices below:
Again, the class is live and free, and we’re going to share actionable instructions for how to find your first 100 customers using email, social media, phone, networking, pitches, tools, and much more. The goal of the class is for you to leave with a new set of tactical skills you can implement right away.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
-Aaron
P.S. If you can’t make either time, still register for a session so I know you’re interested and can send a recording.
This week’s new articles…
These 3 Types of Startup Founders Are Destined to Fail but They Never See it Coming
Could your entrepreneurial dreams be careening toward a horrible ending without you even realizing it?
Crashing Software, Running Out of Cash, Lawsuits and Other Signs Your Startup is Secretly Winning
Are you prepared to embrace the unimaginably chaotic journey that’s the surprising path to entrepreneurial success?
Office Hours Q&A
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QUESTION:
Dear Dr. Dinin,
I am a graduate student in my second year of studying biomedical engineering. I originally thought I was going to go into research and teaching, but I’ve recently been inspired to pursue a more entrepreneurial professional path (inspired, in part, by your journey).
I’m curious to know more about how you balanced your academic studies and your entrepreneurial career. I’m working on a startup with a close friend, and I find I don’t have nearly enough time for both my school work and my startup work. I’m constantly falling behind on one or the other (or both!!!) and often feel bad as a result.
What is the secret to balancing startups and school?
Sincerely,
Brooks M.
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The simple answer here is that I did a terrible job of balancing the two. I was a horrible graduate student. In fact, I sometimes feel like my university kicked me out with a PhD just because they wanted to get rid of me.
At the same time, I wasn’t the best founder because I was often busy doing things for my degree.
One semester, in particular, I remember being in a tech accelerator in Philadelphia while still trying to finish my dissertation. I would literally get up at 6:00 AM every morning to get four or five hours of solid writing time in before having to turn my attention to my startup. I’d then work on the startup until 1:00 AM, go to sleep, wake up, and repeat the entire process. And I did that seven days a week for three months.
Yes, it was a difficult few months. And, incidentally, it’s also the only way to balance any type of full-time responsibility alongside building a startup.
Simply put, startups take time. It doesn’t really matter what else you’re trying to do, whether it’s school, another job, raising children, or playing video games, something is going to suffer.
As a result, you have two options, and neither option is perfect.
Option #1: Keep trying to do both school and your startup and accept you won’t be the best possible version of yourself.
… or…
Option #2: Choose one and be OK giving up the other.
I can’t tell you which to do. But, if I’m being honest, I can tell you my startup career hasn’t been as successful as it could be, and my academic career hasn’t been as successful as it could be, and the reason for both outcomes is likely my inability to choose one over the other.
At the same time, I love the variety of professional experiences I’ve had in my life, and I don’t know that I’d give up half of them for the sake of having more success in the other half.
So… what does all this mean?
One way to interpret everything I’ve just written is that I haven’t provided any meaningful guidance, and that might be true. But let me share a different interpretation (and my actual meaning):
There’s no wrong choice!
As a result, the worst thing you can do is waste time choosing. Whatever you decide, I suspect you’ll find a fulfilling outcome. Don’t worry so much about making the “right” decision and focus, instead, on making a quick decision and then embracing (and enjoying) whatever decision you’ve made.
Got startup questions of your own? Reply to this email with whatever you want to know, and I’ll do my best to answer!
