Filed the LLC in an afternoon, $200, done. Then spent five months trying to get anyone to actually hand over money. I cold emailed about 60 people. Got 3 replies, 1 meeting, zero sales. My mom bought a gift certificate, does that count? She lost it. Eventually got to five through a weird mix of a local Facebook group and a guy I met at a hardware store. Nobody warned me the paperwork is the easy part.
Startup Sales
Finding the first five paying customers was harder than forming the LLC
My sister bought a candle from me once and then asked for a refund because it 'smelled like a mistake'. So no, family doesn't count. Solidarity.
The paperwork is easy because it's a defined process with a checklist. Finding customers is a bunch of undefined social situations where people can ignore you. Not trying to be deep, that's just what I've noticed.
Honestly 60 cold emails is not that many. Not a knock on you, it's just a numbers game and 60 is like one afternoon of outreach if you're efficient. Also what are you selling? That kind of matters a lot here.
Wait, the hardware store guy. I need the full story on that. Did you pitch him in the aisle by the lightbulbs?
Basically. He was complaining about the same thing I make and I just told him I made a better version. He bought two. Then his buddy bought one. That was 40% of my first five customers walking around in flannel. I'm honestly not sure what to do with that information.
So the entire first-customer strategy is 'overhear people complaining in retail stores'. Filing that away.
Cold email is brutal for small local stuff anyway. Most people I know who got their first customers did it by posting in groups where people were already asking for the exact thing. If you're not in those groups you're just shouting.
Three replies out of sixty is honestly pretty normal, not a sign you're doing everything wrong. Cold outreach reply rates are usually single digit percentage. You probably could've tweaked the subject line but the math isn't crazzy.
also the gjft certificate thing is kind of a red flag for how you count progress. if that's in your five you might actually have four.
Flannel Guy deserves a customer testimonial at minimum. Put him on the website.