How to Get Your First 5 Customers for Your Startup
Before you spend your startup's last money on an idea only friends liked, ask five people with the problem three questions.
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Your friends love your idea, so you're about to put your startup's last $1,000 into ads, a launch or a freelancer.
Friends don't pay. Ask five people with the problem three questions. If they already paid to fix it, they'll pay you.
Spend the $1,000 and you learn ads cost money. Five free calls tell you if anyone will pay.
Book a free 15-min audit.
Pick a time →Copy this for your agent
Paste into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any agent. It asks before anything paid and sends nothing.
Help me check if people will pay before I spend money. My website: [your website]. Read it first and tell me in one line what problem I solve and who has it worst. Then read https://www.ekoslabs.com/skills/buying-signal-scan.md and use it to find 5 people or companies (with the role to contact) that have a recent public signal of this problem, each with the date and source link. No friends or family. For each one, draft a short message asking for a 15-minute call, and give me the three questions to ask on it: When did this last happen? What did you try? What did it cost you? Ask before using any paid API. Send nothing, show me everything first.
By Eshaan Kansal, founder of Ekos Labs in Germany: 7 figures in 9 months with tech companies, a 4x return on Meta ads, first agency client at 18 from 200 cold calls.
Two founders who looked first
- Zappos: Nick Swinmurn posted photos of local store shoes, then bought and shipped each pair ordered.
- Dropbox: a short demo video before launch built the waitlist.
01Find the five
Five is enough to see a pattern.
- Has it today: not someday.
- No reason to be nice: no friends, no family.
- One group: one role plus one situation, so answers compare.
Where to get five this week
- Public posts: "anyone know a tool for…" this month. Search strings in How to Get the First 100 Users for Your App
- Competitor reviews: 2 and 3 stars on G2, Capterra or the app stores. They paid and are unhappy
- Your sign-ups: anyone who never came back
- Intros: the friend doesn't count, the person they introduce does
Hey [name], saw your post about [their problem]. I'm trying to understand how people deal with this before I build more. Could I ask you three questions on a 15-minute call this week? Not selling anything.Do this today: fill five seats
| Seat | Name | Where you found them | Why they count (their post or situation) | Call booked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 |
- Send the ask to eight people
- Book five calls this week, no friends or family
02The three questions
Ask about the past: people remember better than they predict. (Example answers, not real quotes.)
A real problem has a recent date.
- Good: "Last Tuesday. It happens every month-end."
- Bad: "Hmm, a while ago, I can't remember."
- Follow-ups: "Walk me through what happened." "How often is that?" "Who else was involved?"
A workaround proves it hurts.
- Good: "We built a spreadsheet, then tried a tool, then got a freelancer to do it."
- Bad: "Nothing really, we just live with it."
- Follow-ups: "What did you like about it?" "Why did you stop?" "What's still annoying?"
Money, hours, a lost client or a late night all count.
- Good: "We pay for a tool which does half of it, and I still lose a few hours a week."
- Bad: "Not much, it's just a bit annoying."
- Follow-ups: "Did you pay for anything to fix it?" "Who approved that?" "What happens if it gets worse?"
Never ask "Would you use this?", "Would you pay $X for this?" or "Is it a good idea?" Future yeses are free. "Love it, let me know when it launches" is a polite no.
On the call: don't pitch, note their exact words, end with "who else should I talk to about this?" Deeper: Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test.
Do this today: your call sheet
| Question | Their answer (exact words) | Follow-up you asked |
|---|---|---|
| When did this last happen? | ||
| What did you try? | ||
| What did it cost you? |
- Do your first call, no pitching
- Write their exact words down within an hour
03Read your cards
Count the last column. "Paid before" means a tool, freelancer, agency, or workaround that costs real time.
Do this today: score your cards
| Person | Last happened | What they tried | What it cost them | Paid before? (Y/N) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 |
- 3 to 5 Y, go: spend on people exactly like these five.
- 1 or 2 Y, narrow: what do the Y's share? Find five more like them.
- 0 Y, don't spend: change the problem. You just saved a thousand dollars.
Before you spend a dollar
- Five people with the problem, no friends or family
- At least three paid or built a workaround
- I can say what it costs them, in their words
- I know what they use today and why it falls short
- I know where they hang out (where the money goes)
- My homepage uses their words
Can't tick these? The $1,000 waits.
04The skill
buying-signal-scan, an Ekos skill, does most of the searching. It finds signals: public signs someone may need you now, like a job post.
- In: your group, or companies you'd sell to
- Checks: hiring for a role that owns the problem, funding, a tool added or dropped, a new leader
- Out: who to reach this week, with date, source link, a one-line reason and an opening line
It finds who to ask, not who will buy. Best for B2B. Consumer app? Use the post searches from the first 100 users guide.
buying-signal-scan.mdAn Ekos skill. Made in Germany.
ekoslabs.com.mdDo this today: run the scan
- Paste the prompt at the top into your agent
- Drop anyone without the problem
- Send the asks yourself and use the three questions
05Calls by founder type
Rewrite each in your words.
Where: X and LinkedIn posts, Indie Hackers, Product Hunt comments, Slack and Discord.
"how do you handle" [problem] founder
"we tried" [competitor]
"switched from" [competitor]They care about: traction and time. The call has to help them.
Hey [name], saw your post about [their exact words]. I'm working on this exact problem and talking to founders who deal with it before I build more. 15 minutes this week? Three questions, no pitch, and I'll send you what I learn from everyone else.Totally get it if this week is busy. I've done [number] of these calls so far, and the most common fix founders tried was [one line]. Happy to share the rest, even if a call doesn't work.Now an operator, advisor, angel or corporate. They've paid for tools and agencies.
Where: LinkedIn and accelerator mentor lists.
"ex-founder" [industry]
"former founder" [problem]
"advisor" [your category]They care about: their story. Ask what they learned, not whether they'd buy.
Hey [name], when you ran [their company], how did you deal with [problem]? I'm deciding whether to put real money behind fixing it and I'd value 15 minutes of your story. Three questions, that's it.One more try, then I'll leave you alone. If a call is too much, even two lines help: what did [problem] cost you back then, and what did you pay to fix it?Builds in public on Instagram, X, YouTube or TikTok. Reads DMs in batches.
Where: their posts and comments. Search Instagram and TikTok, sort X by Latest.
"my stack" [your category]
"what I use for" [problem]
"day [number] of building" [your category]They care about: their audience. Give before you ask.
Hey [name], your post on [specific post] nailed [problem]. I'm researching how creators deal with it before I build. 15 minutes, three questions, and I'll send you the summary from all the calls, which might make a good post for your audience.No worries if the call doesn't fit. If you answer just one: what did [problem] last cost you, in time or money? I'll still send the summary when it's done.Ask five people when it last happened, what they tried and what it cost. Spend only when three already paid.
What's next
Want your five found for you? We do that.
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In a month, the $1,000 is still sitting there or spent on a guess.
Book 15 minutes to go over your idea and first five. I take only a few calls a week.
