Why first customers are still hard for a solo founder
A tool for helping small business owners answer faster is live, but it has no customers and almost no replies from outreach. The product works, and the problem seems real, but the weak point could be the outreach, the message, the channel, or the idea itself. The current main channels are Instagram and Facebook DMs, with very low s.
One example from the discussion found 2 conversations and 1 customer from 50 LinkedIn attempts. Another example used 15 handwritten letters; the letters worked poorly alone, but helped people answer follow-up calls, leading to 8 conversations and 1 customer. Two both turned into customers.
For a reply tool, checking how fast businesses respond to their own can show which businesses may feel the problem most strongly. The tool is called Frinch, uses AI to write instant replies, and is still in .
Key points
- The reply tool is live, but has no customers yet.
- Instagram and Facebook DMs are producing very few replies.
- LinkedIn produced 2 conversations and 1 customer from 50 attempts in one example.
- Handwritten letters worked better when followed by phone calls, leading to 8 conversations and 1 customer in one example.
- Slow replies can be used as a signal for better potential customers.