Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth

by Gabriel Weinberg

“You get your first customers by picking up the phone.”

Once you understand the potential customer’s problem and you think your solution can help solve it, you can start to focus conversations on closing the customer.

Don’t rule out cold calling.

Build a repeatable sales model.

Get the buyer to commit to time lines.

Keep the customer’s perspective in mind.

Test using an existing affiliate network.

Keep your payouts simple.

The next place you should look for more affiliates is your customers.

Figure out where your potential customers are hanging out online.

Create a feature specifically to fill a gap for that platform’s users.

Focus on new and untapped platforms.

Schedule meetings and dinners ahead of time.

Investigate the efficacy of shows before committing.

Have an inbound and outbound strategy for your booth.

Launch at a conference.

Test this channel first.

Throw a party.

Speaking engagements are one of the few traction channels that can quickly cement your place in an industry. If you give the right talk at the right time to the right people, it can make you a respected industry leader overnight.

Remember that you are doing organizers a favor by presenting.

Submit authoritative proposals far in advance.

Tell a story onstage.

Cultivate and empower evangelists.

Set high standards from the start.

Bootstrap off an existing audience.