5 Growth Hacks to Land your First Customer (No Budget Startup Guide)

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Before the product, before the fame, they were just conversations, a plain human conversation, a spark, a nod. and a willing yes that made the founder take their next bold step welcome to bootstrap banter where we turn your passion into action one bold scrappy and a bootstrap step at a time this episode of passionate pulse is brought to you by atlantic.net the official cloud hosting partner of the san jose earthquakes and the trusted choice for startups and developers get fast secure and compliant cloud hosting plus free credits and a free 8gb server for your first year use promo code pulse50 at atlantic.net while it lasts atlantic.net built for builders trusted by champions hi i'm pranali and today we are deep diving into a sacred milestone for every entrepreneur landing your first five customers the first and foremost important wins of entrepreneur journeys wins Without the fancy tools, paid ads or the giant network. How do you do that? Well, that's what exactly we are discussing in this particular bootstrap banter episode. The first five customers are never just the numbers. In fact, those five customers are your foundations. They are your precious feedback loop to improvise your product. They are in fact your co-creators. And if done right, they are the ones who become your greatest advocates. Welcome to the Passionate Pulse Podcast bootstrap banter episode. In the bootstrap banter episode, we discusses all the fundas that you are supposed to take at a very scrappy and a very early stages. Well, within your shoestring budget, how you can unfold your passion to build a venture out of it, how you can kickstart your startup. Those are the very fundas we discuss in this bootstrap banter masterclass episodes. Well, today's funda is all clear. which is which is something that i'm also deep diving about you know when somebody is starting some products how really they are sustaining how they are validating their ideas and one of the great and bold idea that came across which is proven with multi billion dollar companies when they started scrappy those are the exact fundas that they implemented which i am looking forward to implement in my own passion project if you are someone who is looking to deep dive and look after how you can start your startup at the same time how you are confident about you know getting your product built well this is the important funda you don't want to miss it the first five wins the first five important wins of every entrepreneur journey that becomes your foundation those are the exact funders that we are discussing today so stay tuned and let us know how this episode turns out whether you are taking some important tips from this episode if you haven't heard the bootstrap banter episodes well go to passionate pulse podcast on any podcast medium so wherever you get your podcast they are all there and you know find out what works out for you which funda or which particular tip or which particular master class that can help you unfold your own passion perennial journey we live in a world where we are obsessed with this big big launches the big numbers 100k followers 10k pre-orders but If you're building something real, something small, scrappy, and a heart-led. Well, that is how the foundation starts. Your first five are everything for you. So today, let's just focus how you can really validate your idea, how you can do your testing approach to whatever idea or the product that you're building. How can you get your honest feedback from your real customers or real potential customers? And often referring your six and seven customers if you have done your job right. So those are the funders that we are discussing in today's first five wins. You know what? When I was going with this concept and I was looking at. you know how i really started my episodes how i really started my podcast how really i you know started lining up my guests and one after another the each guest started leveling up the same story if i look at and if i try to extract that the structure or the skeleton out of it whatever that you know went organic what i really found was it was not my first sponsorship which led me to land the bigger guest on my podcast in fact what i did was something which was very clear i had a clarity i started building the social proofs and i started building the momentum i didn't care about you know what number of guests i'm gonna draw on how many listeners i would you know end up building whether my podcast gets selected for the silicon valleys fm radio nothing was in mind nothing was in plan but there was one thing that was constant i was ready for that scrappy startup i was ready to land and talk to first five people who gave me that real validation yes whatever you will do as an audience that means has user base has a customer what i realize is you know what funding really can't give to startups is clarity proof and the momentum All of it can be drawn by your first five wins, for your first five real uses, for your first five bootstrap ideas, whoever is ready to buy or whoever is ready to become your first beta customers. And that is what, you know, make the most when we are looking after how people are building great startups, great ventures. I can start with. N number of examples that have proven these concepts. Today, we'll discuss a few real case studies that are deep diving about how really few scrappy startups became million dollar, billion dollar revenue startups today and even got acquired by bigger companies. They really didn't start with a bang. They really didn't start with a big noise all over the LinkedIn, Twitter or any social media that you tune in or their potential customers or the buyers could out beat. But they really started with a simple message, a relationship. There was no pitch take, but there was a direct ask. And that is what validated them. That is what gives them a confidence to move ahead, to take their first unshackled step towards whatever that they were building. So stay tuned. And this is what we are discussing in today's episode. If you haven't tuned into any time these bootstrap banter episodes, well, if you are hearing out on the radio today, do tune into the podcast medium of Fashionate Pulse wherever you get podcasts and do one favor if you are liking these episodes. just subscribe to these episodes that just gives us the validation that you will like to hear more of a bootstrap banter funders or the masterclasses delivered through this very right podcast and whatever that you are looking forward our loop is always open write us back at info at passionatepulse.com and let us know what is the next bootstrap funder that you would like to know we will be here with action pack episode that you can start implementing today without having a startup advisory board for you these are the funders that can equip you and navigate you for your first roadblocks to avoid so let's deep dive and you know we can discuss few key studies that can help you understand why the first relationship why the first initial conversations with your real users matter and how you can really deep dive into my first lesson when i was deep diving how people have launched their ventures in fact how i have launched my own venture and i just figured out like you know what i was doing was just i was looking around tuning in and finding the intersect between my strengths skills interest and whatever that i was aspiring to build further and started serving someone who was really looking forward for that particular podcast for that one guest who someone you know is really keen to look forward to and that could be my first potential user or that could be my first potential niche where I should be concentrating and exact same funda that i used and i started reaching out within my own inner network i looked up whoever is in my you know the first degree circle it could be on my linkedin it could be twitter it could be my own whatsapp groups or the phone contacts or the discord groups that i'm part of and i started making a list of first 10 people who this particular help is really needed In fact, my first guest was drawn from my first inner circle where I, you know, initially discussed with my couple of friends and said, you know, this is something that I'm looking forward to launch. And I believe the community needs this kind of inspiration. Community needs to know how a certain passion adventure looks like and what it really takes to, you know, take that first step. And one of my friend who. you know is looking forward to pivot was really looking forward to quit that job but then she was still hanging on to that fruit because she wasn't sure what the other world looks like how people pivot how people transition in their career how people really take some unconventional careers in their life and that's when i started onboarding such guests and i started unfolding with that particular angle and boom i figured out people were listening My watchtowers increased, my, you know, the audience metrics increased and 93% of the people were giving me the feedback saying that whatever that you are doing is something that is really helping us. Well, that was something was my initial validation. And believe it or no, this is the same lesson that I see is being implemented when I look at the story of MailChimp. The Ben Chestnut, who was, you know, initially a web designer and he actually had the web designing agency and he was serving a lot of client where, you know, they needed this web designing help. You know, it was not a startup idea at all. In fact, it was a side hustle when, you know, that design agency of Ben was needed, you know, some. broadcasting email media and that's where been deep dive like oh my god such tool doesn't exist you know and i really need to send emails to all of my clients and i really don't want to you know do this repetitive efforts or you know reiterate each email and then copy pay you know why not write down some python script or something and just build one and then just send you know these hundred customers that we are serving one one email well it started with that particular necessity well necessity is always the you know mother of invention that's what we say and that's what exactly it happened so in fact what they did was they wanted to you know work smart so they really built one email tool you know that was not that as fancy as the mailchimp tool that we are today we are observing in fact that got acquired by intuit and You know, so they just built something and then they started sharing with their own trusted clients whom they were already serving as a part of that design agency. There was no press release. In fact, they did not even have a simple investor deck. But what they had was a simple relationship driven. And then they started that product sharing. Initially, the beta customers or the beta clients that they had. got it for free and when they saw that the potential of that particular tool was going to taking them from one height to another and how much you know efforts that was getting saved and the augmented marketing that you know they could basically broadcast with one simple click with one product building of that email one thing led to another one client trusted one review gain the other review you know got absolutely chained through then one person talking about that tool to other person slowly and steadily they started acquiring the real customers initially serve for free then for some basic cost and then it actually penetrated to a vast users in the world in fact globally and of course then you know as and when the revenue started speaking the relationship became stronger and stronger. And today, everyone knows Intuit acquired MailChimp in 2021 for $12 billion. At the time of acquisition, you know, around that time, the revenue that we were looking forward about the MailChimp was approximately $800 million an year. Well, what started as a side hustle project, in fact, what started to serve their own design agency need became a global tool today that also gave birth to many other email marketing tools that we are using today. I myself, you know, have been like a big fan of the email marketing tools because that is something is saving our effort. So if you have to build that kind of a relationship. I would say build your first customer base from your own niche, from your own network. And, you know, sometimes the bootstrap funders do work. MailChimp is an outstanding example that we could witness that the first five wins went to 50 million users globally. And today what we look at. is a big history to witness so remember if you're starting small don't give up well the starting journey are scrappy the starting sketches are rough just hold on to that but at the same time just be little smart and talk to at least five potential users maybe the feedbacks will help you maybe they can tell you that whether that is something is a product that they're looking forward even if you find one particular user who is ready to use that product as a beta customer Maybe, maybe there is a market and that one product that you're building or maybe the one POC that you're building, even if your customer uses that, provides you the feedback, provides you the review, there is a big, big path or the roadmap that you can unfold for yourself. So let me know what is that you're looking forward in your own user on your own customer base. how we can help you to navigate to get your first five wins maybe we can help you strategize maybe we can help you know that will absolutely work or the action that you are supposed to unlock don't forget to ring us at 341-209-0102 at passionatepulse.com and help us understand what is that you're looking forward to start your startup journey to take that first unconventional or you know that first side hustling step what we can equip you with we are here to help you out don't forget to you know ring us back or simply write us to info at passionate purse.com with whatever that you are looking forward as your early customer journey acquisition and we will be here to you know find out what we can do for you to launch your first five customer steps Well, that is the MailChimp journey that I just unfolded. Build your first customer base from your own network was the tip that I just shared. And what is some other fundamental truth behind acquiring your first five wins and what you can really do to get this done? how can you really pre-sale your product before even you build that i myself have witnessed many startups that i'm working with today and i have seen that absolutely no products just with the email list build up people have sold the products people have created the beta user list and then have gone and created their products which was just solving a one particular problem not all the problems that we are looking at as a scale-up journey today but in the past three years of my experience this is what this is the best tip that i have given to the startups that i'm working with to people who are you know looking to see whether there is a market whether this is a right idea to pursue and if i look at the one big case study to unfold and vouch and you know prove you this that you know how really this one validated. So let's take an example of a convert kid. The founder, Nathan Barry, he had an audience, you know, he was a blogger, he was a course creator, he was like that online course creator or the online coach, you could say. But instead of building in silence, he instead, you know, went public and, you know, started saying that i am a creator i know what it takes to be creator i know their problems and you know i know that there are a lot of mailing tools out there but there is nothing specialized which is for the creators you know i know that the creators needs creators for collaborators you know the the collaborators you know need to you know figure out how they can sell each other's product And all of that I have tied in my mail tool. Are you in? Do you want to buy such products? And initially he went creators to creators, which was his own blogger subscribers. And that's how he started basically pre-selling the ConvertKit before even writing a single line of code. You know, the journey is breathtaking. that's how he started and through the honest storytelling and the direct email to his own subscribers to other bloggers he actually landed his first users by explaining what he was absolutely solving and then he was you know constantly in touch with them and looking for for the feedback and pre-orders and you know what they are exactly looking at and from there of course with a massive feature list that was created by his own subscribers by his own beta users he filtered out and weighing and build the weight in the creator's journey of mailing tool that should be solving the problems of creators so what is the lesson here that i drawn and i started using it is your audience you know no matter how small it is is your first focus group they are the ones who are helping you find what exactly you are supposed to build that will you know thrive in further roadmap or you know the further journey of your products so always remember the people love to support what you know you're really looking forward to shape up just leave some trust to them just you know count on them and see how these things can unfold sometimes you know it can absolutely create a massive rippling effect that you just can't predict when you're just off the fence or when you're just you know looking forward to deep dive in the ocean and you're just you know taking out your small speedboat maybe in the route and you are not sure how this is gonna turn out whether you're supposed to take a turn very early or you are you know just going out straight and shooting to the moon. So you never know unless you take that first unconventional step and that's the exact thing we do as part of this bootstrap banter. How you can unfold, how you can take that first baby step. to walk the miles that you're looking forward to. And what are some of the best tips that I take in my own venture that I'm sharing with you in the tech journey or non-tech journey, wherever you are looking forward to venture out from your own passion projects. So whatever it is, however small your audience, however small your circle is. it is about to expand but just count on that first if i have to give you one action step that you could you know do which i am already taking if you're not following me on substack you must where i talk about a lot of fundas in five to nine and how passionpreneurs should be building the five to nine journey follow me on substack at passionate pulse for you and otherwise you know just look up for pranali ubali on substack and you know just see what i'm doing there and the exact steps you can start replicating you know build with me just create a newsletter build with me and see and share in your inner circle and see what effects that it is leading further what your early customers what your early beta users are looking forward to buy and that is where you should you know start knocking the doors this is the exact journey i am on and the substrate newsletter where i'm writing the articles where i'm talking about how certain people can absolutely build from layoff how they can you know transition their careers how they can hone on to their stronger skills from the real examples while i'm building something in public one thing i must update you the examples that i'm talking today in this particular episode none of them have sponsored this episode well ideally they should have been but just to let you know this is not something that is a sponsored media that we are bringing in these are the exact tools that i've used i am using and the actionable steps i am drawing for my own ventures those are the same ones i'm sharing with you so i hope that builds your trust starting out small building out something is really really easy build in public use your email list if you don't have email list create your email list first and foremost is something that you have to build your own subscriber base why can't you do that if not can you you know start blogging on substack or wordpress or behave wherever it is you know just start doing that whichever strong media that you think can build your strong network It could be simple LinkedIn article. I'm telling you, my own LinkedIn articles have, you know, got a huge traction, have landed me one after another opportunities. And those are the ones I started conquering and, you know, getting my next milestones built. So build in public. Don't, you know, build something privately and then, you know, cry silently and find out like, you know, how I can get my real first five users or, you know. opt for all kind of tactics that i'm sharing on this particular episode they're so phenomenal you can absolutely pre-sale your product and there are a lot of online establishments that you could do well stay tuned what kind of online establishments you could do but before that we'll take a short break here this episode of passionate pulse is brought to you by atlantic.net the official cloud hosting partner of the san jose earthquakes and the trusted choice for startups and developers get fast secure and compliant cloud hosting plus free credits and a free 8gb server for your first year use promo code pulse50 at atlantic.net while it lasts atlantic.net built for builders trusted by champions well welcome back after the short break and i was talking about how you can pre-sale your customers before even building the products and for that i'd like to deep dive one interesting case study which is very close to my heart the convertkit the nathan berry he absolutely privately owned bootstrap as a creator he launched that particular toolkit what we are witnessing is almost a 55 million annual recurring revenue of the convertkit there are multiple creators have gone million dollar businesses through ConvertKit there are so many creators are using it today the team size is also not even 100 these are just about 80 plus employees and fully remote and he's operating that 55 million ARR company look at how the technology has moved in today to you know enable that with a very short and concentrated the workforce or the staff force how you can build this you know million dollar companies today you can absolutely build in public have your own user list build and you know even bootstrap what is the you know big thing that you can achieve just being becoming bootstrap and those are the very examples that we are witnessing so There are first five customers which are, you know, giving you a big business. But what you are supposed to understand is, you know, you have to talk to your first five, which are very specific. You cannot be, you know, talking to someone who is not understanding what you're doing. So if you're solving... you know whatever tech problems let's say you're solving a simple problem uh with your tech application let's say you're solving something in the food industry where you know the food industry is disrupting with the technology platforms and now instead of restaurants i mean i'm i'm sure a lot of us are already aware about the shape story you know where the the home chefs are serving uh everyday people who are looking for for the healthy and the home style tiffins but at the same time they are looking forward that you know the chefs are you know rigorously following certain protocols and disciplines of you know how to cook a food in a nice fashion in a in an in a clean environment and you know they are looking for for weighted ships and that's the exact problem the chef the silicon valley based company has solved they started building publicly they knew that the need was there but amongst all what they did was they first talked to many other people who are looking forward to have some healthy lifestyle solution and the home food which you know the immigrant community was absolutely missing on the restaurant is a solution where there are different cuisines exist where there are you know a lot of good food guidelines and the disciplines have been followed but there is something that is you know the mother's hand test that is always lacking and that you get it on homely cooked food and in a homely environment where somebody is pouring hard and you know somebody is bringing out those the niche recipes which in general on the restaurant menus you're not finding it and that's what exactly you know the customer base the chef founders went rapidly and when they realized if somebody really was different boxes at their doorsteps If they could pre-order and pick up certain cuisines and define what they are looking forward to in their menu. And if somebody cooks the home style tiffins and give it to them, there are customers out there. Of course, there is a huge marketing strategy that they used. all sort of marketing like you know the consumer base who is looking forward to have that and the chefs that they were pairing up they started building the trust with the chefs they started waiting the chefs and then all the process that they were about to follow built in public all the social medias they started flooding that these are the chefs that we are onboarding we are thoroughly waited there you know the the place or the kitchen we have certified their dishes we know how they are cooking we have given them the guidelines and they are basically a certified chefs who would be cooking your home meals and the home meals are something that you can trust And we have waited there. And the way they have arranged the delivery is also following all the food guidelines for the United States food law. And, you know, what you're consuming is you don't have to think twice what you are eating is safe or unsafe. So the way they talk to consumer, they also talk to, you know, people who are looking forward to serve, who are looking forward to such platforms where, you know, they don't. really want to you know manage their sales cycle and take off that you know middle layer of you know doing sales and building product and in the sense like you know cooking meals so as a creator and love to cook and love to serve the people but really are very shy or really not interested or keen on to you know building the customer base for them it became the amazing platform to serve similar to airbnb similar to uber the shape concept kicked off and today the shape is thriving and you know look at the model that they onboarded it was a very simple model something that had to be you know pairing up but at the same time taking a lot the nitty-gritty but the first customers that they onboarded were their chefs who are ready to serve with that heart who are ready to guide who are ready to follow the guidelines that you know they can provide and get certified and you know and also the user base who is looking forward to consume that kind of a food what i learned from that is you know you really don't need to chase everyone you know the shape is not solving a lot of family problems where the families are cooking the chef is solving immigrants problems for whom they are missing the home food the other part to it is who don't have time to cook meals and who are very busy in their professional lives that's it that was their customer base that was their niche and they only talk to those people and the people who are supposed to serve were also their clients or the beta users like the shapes they only talk to the home makers who are willing to serve with their food who for whatever reason are not able to step out of the home but can devote two to four hours a day and still have a passive income coming and those are the exact the clients of the beta users or the beta providers that they talked to they did not talk to the people who can cook but don't have time who can cook but are not so keen on cooking and you know serving whatever their home based style meals or the people you know who are restaurant owners so they are like absolutely no they were knew that what is their niche whom they should be onboarding whom they should be serving and that is the exact thing that they did and the most important concept that i like to you know highlight here is the curated feedback that they started getting initially they did not have hundreds of chef cooking over you know every day they initially started this meal service only twice a week and then slowly expanded to thrice a week And then they started advertising their chefs. They started advertising their beta users. Of course, there were a lot of freebie coupons for the onboarded users and everything, the referral program, everything was in place. But what I felt was the curated feedback that, you know, started happening, gave them the evangelist ideas to, you know, build further and further. Initially, they started with just two cuisines which was most demanded in silicon valley one is indian and the second is mediterian but then slowly and steadily they realize that there are different cuisines out there which is also you know getting a demand generation then they started different style cuisine you know the home chefs onboarding and the rest is a history that we are witnessing in fact we are also the consumers of the chefs today right so that is where you know these vips that you should be looking out chase down that narrow filter lane you really don't need the hundreds of them to talk to it could be starting with the five if the five are the warm leads if the five are the ones who can absolutely consume that i think you have a success formula lying there behind that scene well let me deep dive to another big big tech story that i enjoy talking about the platform that i use the most for my entire project management for my entire social calendar and while i have my remote team members working with me and you know helping me span in multiple directions the one tool that i use the most is a notion you know when i look back and deep dive how really notion started which we are observing by the way a 10 billion dollar company today the current valuation is 10 billion dollars can you believe it it started with only invite only group very curated niche and the aprox revenue of 2025 that we are looking out is 300 million ARR well it's not a small revenue when they started they also started the bootstrapping way and the only thing that I see that they did was and probably it worked out in their way was you know they they captured FOMO the fear of missing out initially they build their beta list with invite only you know it was not something that you know anybody could just join the waitlist it was the invite only waitlist so one person could refer to other and that's how they basically you know started building their list It was not always a unicorn. You know, it was the first few users were really, really handpicked, really chased down to that filter users. And mostly they went to the designers and the product thinkers. In fact, I see a, you know, a big glitch here when they basically onboarded the designers and the product thinkers. Inherently, they received the feedback what the product thinkers are. you know talking about you know how product thinkers are looking forward to shape the products and the feedback that they got oh my god i think that became their milestone features the designers you know was constantly you know whatever iterations that they were getting from the designers reviews i think that made the notion much more simpler much more adaptable much more intuitive today you see a lot of startups are actually using notion for the project management again to tell you the truth notion has not sponsored this episode this is something i'm using it the story is something that has touched this episode and that's where in the bootstrap banter this particular funda has unfolded so if you're looking forward for your you know first five first ten go down to the niche see if you can create a form around your beta list it could be the invite only list it could be your simple initial existing email list talking that simple one-on-one preposition and creating that great offer for your customers if you don't know how to curate that offer if you don't know how that one-to-one preposition should be working for whatever that you are building bootstrap banter passionate pulse platform is always there to help you just dial at 341-209-0102 and we can figure out what is that first offer what is that one-on-one preposition that you can launch for yourself is it helpful is it something that you want to deep dive further is it something you know that it's an actionable tip that you would be implementing let me know so far what are some of the actionable tips from bootstrap banter that you have already used in your early stage startup or your passion project to you know build out that venture that you are envisioning that you're so much passionate about, that your skill set, your strengths, your purpose, your mission is everything coming about. And the next and a very important funda that we will deep dive, which I feel is the most important one. But prior to that, I would like to request if you are someone who is keen on to get these kind of fundas straight to your inbox, please do me a favor. Go to whichever podcast medium that you tune in. youtube apple spotify amazon music sub stack wherever you hear your podcast just find out passionate pulse podcast and do subscribe that subscription helps us and give us that validation that building the further bootstrap banter masterclass is something that is needed and that's where we should be spending our more time we should be bringing real use case studies and the passionate pulse capital pulse or you know different series that we are unfolding with the founders with the big billion dollar entrepreneurs or the vc communities to help you guide your passionpreneur startup journey is all worth it so please do me a favor of you know subscribing to those episodes also if you're someone who is you know looking forward for different tips uh some actionable you know the templates are the freebies subscribe to the passionate pulse podcast newsletter just go ahead to passionatepulse.com and sign up for the newsletters you will be getting just once in a month that email which is a very action-packed email for all of you bootstrap banter some of the action tips some of the events happening around the corner virtual physical in silicon valley where you should be you know coming up as an early stage founder where you could you know practice your pitch decks whether you're looking forward to build your pitch deck what are some of the important tips to build your pitch deck and without spending a dime without spending external budget what are some of the things that you can implement on your own because in the initial time believe it or no the pockets are not that warm that you think but yes you need to create your users warm in order to build your products in order to sell what you're doing and selling marketing visibility are all the essential angles founders need to be focusing about otherwise as a core developer we can build many things but what is the fun of building something silently and nobody knows how amazing diamonds that you have you know curated it is a must-tell story if you are someone who is looking to you know open your startup story and looking forward to drive that passive customer base passionate pulse podcast always covers such startups if your story is aligned with what we are building is aligned with the niche that we are in we are happy to take you on our podcast if you are someone you know who have a worth story that can be unfolded on the bootstrap banter episodes well write back to me on pranali at passionatepulse.com and i would be looking forward for such stories to unfold in this bootstrap banter episode if your story is worth telling absolutely we give you a platform to talk about and build your own customer base in the future and what i have observed is this organic discussions this organic unfolding of helping the founder first community the founder first eyes have always gone in a long way the collaborative circles that we are bringing in the collaborative meetups events that we are partnering with have helped many founders you know find their first five investors believe it or no or the first five bigger customers that they're looking forward to so let me know what are some of the scrappy stages and the crappy steps you are ready to be in and ready to take in so what is the pro tip here you know launch friendly only beta list maybe through the slack through the discord through the whatsapp or through your own email list pick up whichever medium that you tune in whichever social media you tune in for me i feel that the the linkedin more or less is a most profound one if you are building something in tech or in the professional side of a thing if you are building something from the art side or you know having as an artistic eyes maybe insta is a way to go pick whichever social media works out for you moral of the story is build your invite only list however that it takes march that journey maybe video is difficult for you can you go audio and talk about it maybe visualization and putting a lot of efforts towards it is a lot of difficult for you can you write a post about it and you know curate your own list can you talk your proposition in a way that problem to solution base connect happens if not do you need any help if yes dial at 341 209 zero one zero two we are here to help you guide through for your first unlocking ways and see how we can curate your offers how we can cure curate your simple landing pages before even you build the products and see if there is a weight in the product in the concept that you are building there are different landing pages uh you know that there are a lot of technical tools that exist one that i use is a card and i have seen that through card you can easily build nice landing pages which can help you build your join waitlist type of you know protocols that can you know keep your action calls open that can onboard your first few beta users and you know build your own list and then you go on and build your either product or if you know some poc exists you can have a trial customers to see and get the feedback how that has turned out to be let's get back to some other story that is also breathtaking and that's a wonderful concept that somebody unlocked with their own needs i'm not sure if you have heard of but there is a project called as the mom's project alison robinson alison robinson is the one who actually you know build this empire of the mom project technically speaking it could be the job portal which is bringing employer and the employees together but what struck me the most is Allison is building the mom project not because, you know, she was the user by herself. And there is a huge story of her that actually unlocked her and told her that, you know, if I'm facing this problem, I'm sure 100 other moms are going to face the same problems. After her maternity leave, when she saw the gap in the workforce, when she saw that, you know, her resume have the gap and getting back to the workforce is a little bit of tricky. that's when actually you know she started interviewing these moms and figured out what is happening what are their weak points what are their strong points what are their problems and then that conversation turned to an insight of what is there for the moms and those moms who are very strong have been you know a proven candidacy but whatever is the reason and they have a gap on their resume and getting back to the workforce is actually breathtaking she started a huge mission and she she started with a huge mission and bringing this community together where one mom could refer another and you know slowly and steadily she curated that waiting list and it became a movement of the mom project And that is the exact name she carried on, which was something that a community gathering initially had gathered through. So, can you research what kind of your first acquisition channel could be? Can you just convert your coffee circles to something called as waitlisting? Can you convert your... first initial group to some curated groups and just try to listen them well see people feel when they are seen so can you do that and exactly draw that attention and build something in that intersect if you are someone who is looking forward to build and find out that exact intersect but you are not sure how to unlock that power within you well we are here to help Simply write me back at pranali at passionatepulse.com and say that I'm looking forward to unlock my own journey in my own profession, in my own career. And as a business coach, I can help you guide and we can, you know, figure out what are the next steps you should be taking, what are the simple tips that you can, you know, create as an actionable tips and what some referral mechanism can help you unlock, guide your first professional or first venturing out step. so that was the mom project today what we are looking at the mom project is a 50 million arr so far today they have raised 120 million dollars and the users my god there are 1 million plus moms are the users and because there is a user base so high there are 3k plus companies have onboarded just to hire those moms who the companies who are actually you know creating the programs for returning back to work the moms onboarding people who have gaps on their resume who need the strength and the skill set building and they can provide the training look that small movement has turned out to touching the million hearts out there globally and through these simple user interviews and the grassroots of community building this actually you know phenomenally scaled up so turn that market's research into your early customer traction and this is something is the best tip of the entire episode i could say that could happen so let me know what are some of the first five steps that you are looking forward to take from today's episode to build your bootstrap banter venture what are some of the you know important takeaways from this episode that you figured out whether to identify your first circle whether to create some testable offers through the landing pages whether to you know create some phenomenal teasers and build that offer before even you code before even you build your product can you explain the benefits in a way that attracts your first consumers if you need help there we are here just Log on to passionatepulse.com and just, you know, contact us through that or simply write us to info at passionatepulse.com or dial at 341-209-0102 and we can help you as a business coach, as a business execution wheel to take your first crappy steps in a very meaningful way to build your join customer list, to build your user list, to build your right niche. filtered curated efforts that needed through the landing page because if i can see that you know you need to build a landing page you need to create testable offers you need to you know create your outreaching mechanism the moral of the story remains intact that unless you do that right you're not going to achieve something that is further out there if you can do with a number of ai products that exist today in the market Just go ahead and do it. But if you need an expert to hire, just call us at 341-2019-0102. Outreach, email, DM, whatever method that works out for you, we are here to help you and help you thrive in your roadblock journey. And the essential loop is the feedback that you should never miss. in whatever venture that you are building at the same time do me a favor and help me understand and give us the feedback and follow up that how this episode has turned out whether the 3c formula that i discuss about clarity connection and a commitment is something that you are looking forward to build and if you're solving for someone just talk to that specific user if you're reaching out to someone just see who is gonna resonate with that particular story and can you ask a simple connection and a test and a feedback or a referral from your own connections that is you know gonna go double sooner start small go close go human is my actionable strategy that i always implement so let me know how this episode has guided you through is there anything that has in particular catch you an attention that you know you think that this is an important step and i have absolutely missed in my venture because the real first sale remember it's not about the money it's all about the attention and that is where you should be thriving to get your first sale and from there you can build a tribe then you can build a trust and then you can build attraction let me know what clarity and a small push that you have taken from this particular episode don't forget to share this episode like this episode on whichever podcast medium that you're tuning in if you're hearing this on the silicon valley's 92.3 fm hd3 radio then do me a favor go to the podcast mediums of apple spotify youtube and just hit and like that passionate pulse for you channel don't forget to push forward and share and collaborate on this episode i would love to know tag me on linkedin at prinali ubali or tag me us and the linkedin at passionate pulse web company page instagram handle passionate pulse for you facebook handle passionate pulse for you and a youtube handle passionate pulse for you and let me know what you would like to win with this particular episode until next time keep bootstrapping your dreams one tiny a powerful and a purposeful step at time this is prinali signing off from this bootstrap banter episode you don't need to be perfect remember you don't need to be perfect you need people people will drive and get you towards what you are looking forward to March as a perfect journey. Well, enjoy and stay passionate. Are you a VC or an investor looking to share insights and connect with game-changing startups? Capital Pulse brings real conversations on funding, scaling and startup success. Be our guest and share your expertise. Sponsor the series and gain premium exposure while supporting future changemakers over Silicon Valley's radio and across global podcast and YouTube platforms. Join us now. Email us at info at passionatepulse.com or simply call us at 341-209-0102 and join today. Are you ready to amplify your voice and grow your business or a personal brand? Imagine reaching thousands of listeners, sharing your passion and making an impact. All through your very own podcast. Join our upcoming workshop, Podcasting 101, designed just for you. Whether you are a budding entrepreneur, a seasoned professional, or just passionate about sharing your own story, we will equip you with all the tools that you need to start your podcasting journey. Don't miss out. Visit passionatepulse.com forward slash workshops and do see Curious Part today. That's passionatepulse.com forward slash workshops. Let's make your voice heard.

What if I told you 5 game-changing startups never paid for their first customers… and still won? 


No ads. No funding. No big team. 


Just one thing they all had in common. 


Today on Bootstrap Banter, I’m digging into a set of patterns most founders overlook in their early days. 


And once you see it… you can’t unsee it. 


This isn’t theory. 


It’s a decoded playbook from: 


🟣 A newsletter tool that became a movement 


🟡 A mom-led platform that shook up hiring 


🔵 A tiny note app that built cult users, not vanity metrics ...and more. 


The twist? 


You don’t need money to pull this off. 


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⏰ Wednesday 10 AM PST | #SaFireRadio 


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🧠 What do you think really gets you your first customers? Share in comments. 


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