Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) - 00:00 - Introduction 00:20 - Outline 00:44 - Do things that don't scale 02:17 - Startup curve 03:40 - Founders should learn how to do sales 05:07 - Brex (YC W2017) 06:38 - How to write a great sales email 08:45 - The sales funnel 10:41 - Your first customer should be your easiest 13:50 - Charging your first customer 15:24 - Working backwards from your goal 18:18 - Sales and go-to-market strategy 19:29 - YC emails that led to customers 19:51 - Summary 20:08 - Resources - Tools and books 21:28 - Non scalable way to SEM and SEO
Dude, you made easy for all of us in less than 23 minutes. I just received a pat for myself knowing I am thinking correctly in some areas. The slap on my neurons was don't outsource sales. Hope they are listening. Thanks a lot and next time block I am going to search for your videos. 💌from India
Great video! We discuss these points on a weekly basis with my SaaS clients, so great to see a successful SaaS founder re-iterating the importance of these things. Love this new format where you show specific examples & stories from other founders: - Cold outreach email from Brex + breakdown - Which first customers to go after + google sheet template - The importance of charging your first customers. - How most successful startups didn't start with scalable growth channels. Thanks Gustaf & YC. Looking forward to future videos!
Love these videos. My one criticism is based on the assertion that Sales is "probably the easiest job to learn at your start up" if you don't have a background in it. Technical founders without a background in sales struggle with this - and it's many times the reason a startup never gets off the ground.
I’d argue it’s the number 1 reason companies fail. Either they don’t do sales, do the wrong types or spend to much on it. The issue here is YC confirmation bias. They have so much brand recognition and connections that companies who go thru YC don’t have has hard a time upfront selling as non-YC do
We got our first customers by doing a simple google search of social groups who we were targeting, reached out to several organizer and eventually we got a hit. It does take the right email, established team but if you have the basics you can bet someone out there is dealing with the problem you are solving!
I appreciate this video. It's interesting that it seems to be B2B advice. Marketing should replace sales for a B2C style business. Sales is boots on the ground, marketing is sales without the direct our reach. Of course at some point this must scale.
Hey YC, can you make a video on how to reach out to customers as a first time entrepreneur venturing into a new industry. It's incredibly tough to get proper opinions and feedback unless there is a personal connection or a mutual friend in the domain.
What an insightful session on kickstarting customer acquisition! The idea of doing things that don't scale resonates deeply, as early interactions can set the tone for long-lasting relationships.
This is very general, mostly good, advice. I'm the founder of a SAAS startup. All of these points need to be quantitatively further defined. It's difficult, for instance, to "work backwards" in your sales funnel if you can't quantify who is more likely to be a customer than not. (Btw, I found charging for your product, at first, to be the most counter intuitive advice. We haven't been doing this and are going to start -- and see what difference this makes.)
Y'all helped alienate stock growth from profitability. That model is falling out of favor. How will you change your ethos to encourage profitability over monopoly?
It is interesting listening to this talk and realizing i have made a good number of these mistakes ....wow....i know have a good idea on what to do. Thank you guys
Will this series on Startup School continue? If so, how often can we expect new videos? Great work, btw! I'm working at an Ed-Tech Startup right now (second full-time hire) that has been growing quite rapidly and these vids are super useful for me, since I don't actually have a business background.
Regarding the fact that we should avoid offering free trials, I can see how offering a money back guarantee or opt-out can be a good approach for subscription based pricing model, I wonder which is the recommended approach for transaction fee based pricing?
Why are most videos made on "acquiring the first few customers" mostly focused on B2B? How to tackle this issue for B2C, fintech startups? Influencer marketing, running ads, and PR are these the only way to go for B2C, fintech startups? It would be great if you could make a video for B2C founders.
Yeah it is not totally clear if he also thinks this is the way to go for B2C companies. But I think that he means that either B2B and B2C companies should sell the first customers directly - also to learn more about their problems which helps in all facets of the company.
I really loved this video and immediately added to my favorites. I will be watching again, and again, and again.... The part about the sales funnel was useful to understand the metrics involved in getting a paying customer. But how do you find the 500 customers to add to the funnel? Do you suggest buying lists? What about if we have customers from product A we've sold, but we want to sell product B, but we know they're not the target customer. Should we send mail and say "please forward to your IT department", for example?
The tips for building a product are useful, but there are certain limitations that the product development team may face, especially if the founders are non-tech and/or have difficulty putting together a team to create a minimum viable product. In this case, it may be more advisable for the founders to become full-stack developers themselves and pursue a different idea, as the timing for the original idea may have passed. It is uncommon to receive investment during the bootstrapping process, but it can help develop a product if you have already gained some sales. If the founding team is struggling to raise funding in a developing country, it may face a higher risk of failure and financial debt. It is important to understand the culture of the local market of investors in order to create a business idea with the potential for exponential growth. Tackling a true problem not always is achievable, especially if the market & team conditions impose certain constraints.
How would your recommend we allocate time for product dev, investor pitching and sales - i think of these three as pillars of founding a company in first 6 months. As a tech founder, I tend to fall overly in love with the problem statement and solutioning.
This was fire🔥🔥🔥. There were flames all over this video, from beginning to end. I nearly called fire fighters, it was that smoking hot. (and yes I am that corny). Seriously though, this was insane.
It's easy. You get admitted to YC and they other YC companies become your customer. Then you raise a big round and do online advertisement and get customers unporfitably.
So the ideas of unscalable is to the activities a founder does. To narrow down a market first before reaching out. "Unscalable" doesn't mean building an "Unscalable" product/service right.... ?
I have a question, why is it important to have data on whats working and whats not, as with time, post your 1st 50 customers, I think the strategy completely changes based on customer feedback, or am I wrong ?
What are the best websites where I can find lists of newest stratups? I am launching a CRM platform, and I would like to target mainly early stage startups. Thanks! P.S. I loved the video, a lot of great tips!
Working on a prop tech idea for property managers, having really tough luck with cold outreacH ( dont have much social proof). Any suggestions for growth?
Forget growth. Sounds like the message is not working or you are not sending enough messages as said in the video. In the former case, talk to users to understand their problem better and refine the message accordingly.
Technical reason being, what if the entire email message is broken, images not loading, link not working or may be structure of email is not loading properly.
Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Introduction
00:20 - Outline
00:44 - Do things that don't scale
02:17 - Startup curve
03:40 - Founders should learn how to do sales
05:07 - Brex (YC W2017)
06:38 - How to write a great sales email
08:45 - The sales funnel
10:41 - Your first customer should be your easiest
13:50 - Charging your first customer
15:24 - Working backwards from your goal
18:18 - Sales and go-to-market strategy
19:29 - YC emails that led to customers
19:51 - Summary
20:08 - Resources - Tools and books
21:28 - Non scalable way to SEM and SEO
@@alainportant6412 the video was created and was saved as unlisted 4 weeks ago but was posted publicly a few hours back! 😃
I appreciate this breakdown from Paul Rudd's more technical brother.
😂
ahahahahahhaha
Lmaooo 😂💀
On point
Was waiting for punchlines
@@sherrysyed wh
I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this video and still I keep learning from it. Thanks for this Gustaf!
Same here
I am also watching this video third time now because I still don't have any customer.
@@Umarbit May I ask why?
@@abood1x990 Because I'm a beginner.
Dude, you made easy for all of us in less than 23 minutes. I just received a pat for myself knowing I am thinking correctly in some areas. The slap on my neurons was don't outsource sales. Hope they are listening. Thanks a lot and next time block I am going to search for your videos.
💌from India
I completely love these new style of videos, it keeps me anticipating for more. Great Job Sir Garry🙌🏽
Glad you like it! - Zach
@@ycombinator who is zach
Great video! We discuss these points on a weekly basis with my SaaS clients, so great to see a successful SaaS founder re-iterating the importance of these things.
Love this new format where you show specific examples & stories from other founders:
- Cold outreach email from Brex + breakdown
- Which first customers to go after + google sheet template
- The importance of charging your first customers.
- How most successful startups didn't start with scalable growth channels.
Thanks Gustaf & YC. Looking forward to future videos!
Love these videos. My one criticism is based on the assertion that Sales is "probably the easiest job to learn at your start up" if you don't have a background in it. Technical founders without a background in sales struggle with this - and it's many times the reason a startup never gets off the ground.
I’d argue it’s the number 1 reason companies fail. Either they don’t do sales, do the wrong types or spend to much on it.
The issue here is YC confirmation bias. They have so much brand recognition and connections that companies who go thru YC don’t have has hard a time upfront selling as non-YC do
This is what i needed someone's breakdown this to me- i wish i could hug you
We got our first customers by doing a simple google search of social groups who we were targeting, reached out to several organizer and eventually we got a hit. It does take the right email, established team but if you have the basics you can bet someone out there is dealing with the problem you are solving!
I appreciate this video. It's interesting that it seems to be B2B advice. Marketing should replace sales for a B2C style business. Sales is boots on the ground, marketing is sales without the direct our reach. Of course at some point this must scale.
Probably most amazing video on sales for startups I watched! Thank you!
Hey YC, can you make a video on how to reach out to customers as a first time entrepreneur venturing into a new industry. It's incredibly tough to get proper opinions and feedback unless there is a personal connection or a mutual friend in the domain.
Build a social media following on twitter, RUclips, or medium. That gives you legitimacy
What an insightful session on kickstarting customer acquisition! The idea of doing things that don't scale resonates deeply, as early interactions can set the tone for long-lasting relationships.
YC will have 1m+ subscribers by March 2023. Who's with me on this.🙋🏽♂️
This is very general, mostly good, advice. I'm the founder of a SAAS startup. All of these points need to be quantitatively further defined. It's difficult, for instance, to "work backwards" in your sales funnel if you can't quantify who is more likely to be a customer than not. (Btw, I found charging for your product, at first, to be the most counter intuitive advice. We haven't been doing this and are going to start -- and see what difference this makes.)
result for the charging?
This is an excellent "How to do sales at the beginning" video. Would request YC to have more video around sales. B2B, B2C etc.
Besides your network, how else do you find qualified prospects and feed the top of the funnel? There has to be more than leads databases.
This is the best video for early stage startups ever. Love it. Thank you, thank you!!!!!
This is probably the best video on the internet about this topic. Thank you!
Y'all helped alienate stock growth from profitability. That model is falling out of favor. How will you change your ethos to encourage profitability over monopoly?
The most valuable youtube channel, thank you !
It is interesting listening to this talk and realizing i have made a good number of these mistakes ....wow....i know have a good idea on what to do. Thank you guys
Will this series on Startup School continue? If so, how often can we expect new videos?
Great work, btw! I'm working at an Ed-Tech Startup right now (second full-time hire) that has been growing quite rapidly and these vids are super useful for me, since I don't actually have a business background.
We have about 6 more videos in the works that will be published every other week
Hello,How did you get your initial clients? Are they through cold emails or advertising?
Regarding the fact that we should avoid offering free trials, I can see how offering a money back guarantee or opt-out can be a good approach for subscription based pricing model, I wonder which is the recommended approach for transaction fee based pricing?
This has been one of the best videos I've ever seen from YC. Super useful.
Why are most videos made on "acquiring the first few customers" mostly focused on B2B?
How to tackle this issue for B2C, fintech startups?
Influencer marketing, running ads, and PR are these the only way to go for B2C, fintech startups? It would be great if you could make a video for B2C founders.
Yeah it is not totally clear if he also thinks this is the way to go for B2C companies. But I think that he means that either B2B and B2C companies should sell the first customers directly - also to learn more about their problems which helps in all facets of the company.
I really loved this video and immediately added to my favorites. I will be watching again, and again, and again....
The part about the sales funnel was useful to understand the metrics involved in getting a paying customer. But how do you find the 500 customers to add to the funnel? Do you suggest buying lists? What about if we have customers from product A we've sold, but we want to sell product B, but we know they're not the target customer. Should we send mail and say "please forward to your IT department", for example?
I love that article by paul graham. Such a great insight
Gustaf, this class was really incredible! Thanks!
The tips for building a product are useful, but there are certain limitations that the product development team may face, especially if the founders are non-tech and/or have difficulty putting together a team to create a minimum viable product.
In this case, it may be more advisable for the founders to become full-stack developers themselves and pursue a different idea, as the timing for the original idea may have passed.
It is uncommon to receive investment during the bootstrapping process, but it can help develop a product if you have already gained some sales. If the founding team is struggling to raise funding in a developing country, it may face a higher risk of failure and financial debt.
It is important to understand the culture of the local market of investors in order to create a business idea with the potential for exponential growth. Tackling a true problem not always is achievable, especially if the market & team conditions impose certain constraints.
Great video! One question tho: How do you get the e-mails of your potential customers efficiently?
Thank you so much for valuable instruction, may I have the link of Atlanta bog that you mention in the video. Thank you so much!
Thank you, a very thoughtful presentation, personally I never open emails, not that I am not curious. Just a lack of trust.
This feels very SaaS/B2B. What about consumer?
How would your recommend we allocate time for product dev, investor pitching and sales - i think of these three as pillars of founding a company in first 6 months. As a tech founder, I tend to fall overly in love with the problem statement and solutioning.
Thank you so much. It helps me a lot.
This will help to launch my tech startup in the future I.a
I am planning how to launch and marketing my products as beginners.. Thanks..
This was fire🔥🔥🔥. There were flames all over this video, from beginning to end. I nearly called fire fighters, it was that smoking hot. (and yes I am that corny). Seriously though, this was insane.
It's easy. You get admitted to YC and they other YC companies become your customer. Then you raise a big round and do online advertisement and get customers unporfitably.
Great visualization of the startup curve.
great, thank you Gustaf and YC.
I really love this guy, thanks my man🤝
Wow, everything I need i 20 minutes, incredible
This was great! Thank you for sharing!
Sad that the resource (Lenny's Newsletter) has a paywall
super info! I am looking for business hustlers to brainstorm ideas. Thanks!
Even if you end up with the new era for developers in foraign countries.
We need to make things better, faster, and simpler.
So the ideas of unscalable is to the activities a founder does. To narrow down a market first before reaching out. "Unscalable" doesn't mean building an "Unscalable" product/service right.... ?
Grt video! Love the actionable insights! Pls keep them coming.
I have a question, how do we get the emails of potential customers in the first place?
Great video! Very elucidative! Thanks!
I have a question, why is it important to have data on whats working and whats not, as with time, post your 1st 50 customers, I think the strategy completely changes based on customer feedback, or am I wrong ?
So much valued video bro. 😊
What are the best websites where I can find lists of newest stratups? I am launching a CRM platform, and I would like to target mainly early stage startups. Thanks! P.S. I loved the video, a lot of great tips!
I used to think getting software to work was the hardest part.
That's until I got my MVP and tried to sell it to customers
Ah. Industry Norms expedite processes which is why these things are important to learn.
Thank you,excellent help for me.
Thanks again Gustaf. Great job YC.
Greatest content, I like it a lot
Concise and to the point! Great strategies...
One word, AMAZING!!!! ❤
question: brex' initial email didn't ask for payment either
what makes them different?
Awesome video and thank you for all the great information!
An insightful video
Thankss!!! Very technical❤
What website do you use or app to track email engagement?
Very useful, thanks.
This is gold
Thank You!
Valuable video!
2:53 do you mean trough? you said 'through'.
Great video. I really like content with more tactical tips like this.
This is gold!
How do you know they open the emails?
Working on a prop tech idea for property managers, having really tough luck with cold outreacH ( dont have much social proof).
Any suggestions for growth?
Forget growth. Sounds like the message is not working or you are not sending enough messages as said in the video. In the former case, talk to users to understand their problem better and refine the message accordingly.
Great advice!!!
What is a good crm
What software do you guys use to track data?
How should i word the subject field for the email?
Thanks so much
Amazing video!
Any book for market reserch i want to check my idea and get insight
Can I get the slides somewhere?
Thanks !!
"The through of sorrow" lmao
It's "trough" pronounced "troff"
A long, wide, low container used for feeding groups of livestock.
Is cold emailing allower in the US?
List the 4 web tools, 2 books 📚
How about "free" as in transaction fee, e.g. AirBnb.
working backward so you know youllneed to sent more email cuz the turn rate sooo small
What happened to the audio?
fantastic
Feedback : French subtitles pls (there is a lot of business words)
what in the world is he saying is the blog at 18:21? I can't decipher what he is saying.
www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-todays-fastest-growing-b2b-businesses
do thing that didnt scale in early to know more avout customer
Any reason why not to use html in the email? I would think it makes it look more professional.
Because your email then has a higher chance of landing in one's ''promotions'' inbox.
It looks more personal if you don’t use html. HTML emails look like marketing messages.
Technical reason being, what if the entire email message is broken, images not loading, link not working or may be structure of email is not loading properly.
Doing things that don't even scale up is one of the major ways of execution adopted by "AIR BNB" one of the biggest hotel chain industries
Founded in 2008
Who does your video edits?
useful
30 minute video and you didn’t mention one time to pick up the phone to call a potential customer. Why not?