Guide / Recruiting Early Users
Friends
What it means
Early outreach works best when it is personal, specific, and aimed at learning as much as selling.
The useful version of this topic is not theoretical. It should change something visible: the customer you choose, the words on the page, the offer in the email, the onboarding step you remove, or the metric you watch every week.
A good test is whether a founder could use this page and do something before lunch. If the answer is no, the topic is still too abstract.
Actions
Start with the smallest action that creates contact with reality. For early distribution, reality usually means a buyer, a user, a search result, a conversation, or a payment.
- Start with people close to the ICP.
- Ask for a conversation around the problem.
- Follow up with a useful next step.
Measure
Measure the signal closest to customer progress. Vanity numbers are allowed only if they predict something better later.
- Reply rate
- Calls booked
- Qualified early users
Template
Assumption: [what we currently believe] Evidence: [what customers have said or done] Action: [one practical thing to try] Owner: [who will do it] Metric: [how we know it worked]