Home / Start Here / Step 05
Step 05 / 08 · Win your first customers
Your first hundred customers won’t come from a growth hack. They come from a founder who sells, a message that lands, and one channel mastered before the next.
Why it matters
Distribution is the problem technical founders underestimate most. A good product with no channel loses to a mediocre product with one. And in the early days, nobody sells your product as well as you do.
Founder-led sales is also the best research you will ever do. Every objection is a product spec. Every “yes” tells you who your real customer is and which words they use.
How to do it
Who it is for, the problem, the outcome and why you, in the customer’s own words from discovery.
Founders close the first deals. Keep a simple pipeline, follow up every time, and write down every objection.
Outbound, content, partnerships, community or search. Pick the one where your customers already are, and get good at it before adding a second.
Once a motion converts by hand, turn it into a system: AI-assisted prospecting, sequences and a clean CRM.
Case studies, referrals and a place for customers to meet each other. Early advocates are your cheapest channel.
Common mistakes
You’re ready for the next step when
From the studio
This is where Joaquim has spent much of his career: an 8-figure launch at L’Oréal Canada, community-led launches at TrustSwap and Alpaca Network, SEO that reached 1M+ monthly views, and AI outreach agents running today. His lesson from TrustSwap: the best thesis without distribution loses.
Where the studio can help
Launch strategy, pricing, channels and community-led growth, including launches in regulated fintech markets.
Experience · Co-founded TrustSwap ($400M+ market cap, users in 75+ countries). Alpaca Network’s community round raised $1.2M in 2 weeks.
Positioning, brand, messaging and a plan tied to revenue, from the first campaign to a full marketing function.
Experience · Led an 8-figure brand launch at L’Oréal Canada. CMO at TrustSwap. Youngest person ever on the Canadian Marketing Association’s Martech Council.
AI agents for prospecting, outreach, qualification and follow-up, wired into a clean CRM. Your pipeline keeps moving while the team sleeps.
Experience · Builds and runs AI lead-generation and outreach agents across his own companies.
Organic growth through content, search and editorial. An audience you own instead of rent.
Experience · Built The Alternative Ways to 1M+ monthly views through SEO.
Communities, memberships, retreats and events that turn customers into advocates.
Experience · Co-founded Remote Work Villas’ retreats. Built the user communities at TrustSwap and Alpaca Network.
Read next
Leadership and relationships
Dale Carnegie
The timeless fundamentals of relationships, persuasion and selling.
Building a company
Ben Horowitz
The honest, unglamorous reality of running a company when nothing is easy.
Building a company
Tim Ferriss
Routines, tactics and habits from hundreds of top performers, to borrow selectively.
Work with the studio
Tell us what you’re building and what you need. We read every application, and every founder gets an answer.
