Can you get first customers with no network?
Yes. Find strangers who are describing the problem in public this week and write to each of them about what they wrote. A network is one way to find people with the problem. Public posts are another, and they hand you a reason to write.
Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, set out the general rule in a July 2013 essay, Do Things that Don't Scale: founders can't wait for users to come to them and have to recruit them by hand. The essay's examples show two routes. Stripe recruited from the other companies Y Combinator had funded, which is a network. Pinterest's Ben Silbermann noticed that many early users were interested in design and went to a conference of design bloggers to find more. The second route needs no contacts at all.
The founder who asked this question on Hacker News in December 2023 wrote that they rarely get email replies and feel that "LinkedIn members are spammed incessantly with messages." What changes the response is the reason for writing. A message about something a person posted this week reads differently from a pitch sent to a job title. For how well-known B2B companies found their first users, see our summary of Lenny Rachitsky's first-customers study.
What did founders with no network actually do?
In the threads we read, most founders who reported paying customers started with a few specific people: five firms, about a dozen DMs, 10 to 20 users on Twitter. Each row is one person's self-reported experience, so read them as examples, not rates.
| What they did | What they reported | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Emailed five local accounting firms asking to watch how they did the task the product automates | Two of the five paid afterwards | One commenter, r/Entrepreneur thread, October 2025 |
| Posted short free breakdowns in Reddit and Facebook business groups, then sent DMs to people who were interested | After about a dozen DMs, one person asked for a deeper review; a first $49 a month signup came after about three weeks | Another commenter (who runs a Reddit-reply tool), same thread |
| Contacted 10 to 20 target users found on Twitter, offering 70 to 80% off in return for feedback | Two customers after one week | Another commenter, same thread |
| Cold email from three warmed inboxes for a month, more than a thousand emails | A 2% reply rate, a few registrations, and later one inbox blocked for spam violation | Another commenter, same thread |
| One channel: posting and replying on X in threads where people already had the pain | 150 users and 5 to 6 paying customers | One commenter, Indie Hackers thread, September 2026 |
Three habits repeat. The founders who got paying customers started from one specific problem and a short list. Two offered something first: a free audit, or a 70 to 80% discount in return for feedback. And the one high-volume attempt reported a 2% reply rate and a blocked inbox. A solo founder's January 2026 r/Entrepreneur post adds a fourth habit: message every signup to ask what they are trying to do. The founder says most people reply, and some convert.
Where do you find people describing the problem this week?
Search the words buyers use when the problem hurts, limited to the last week, on the platforms where they post. Write down five phrases first: how they describe the chore, the workaround (a spreadsheet, by hand, every Friday), the request (any recommendations, looking for a tool, alternative to) and the tools they complain about.
- LinkedIn posts. LinkedIn's help page on Boolean search says you can type a Boolean string into the main search bar, with AND, OR and NOT in capitals, quotation marks for exact phrases and parentheses to group terms. It doesn't support wildcards such as *. Then open the Posts tab. LinkedIn's post search help lists filters including Date posted, Author industry and Author company. Try: ("looking for a tool" OR "any recommendations" OR "alternative to") AND (invoicing OR "accounts payable").
- X. X's advanced search, available when you're logged in on X.com, combines exact phrases, any-of words, excluded words, language, accounts and a date range. Put anyone recommend in the exact phrase field, your category words in any of these words, hiring giveaway in none of these words, and a start date seven days back.
- Reddit and niche forums. Search the subreddits your buyers read for the same phrases. Reddit's rules ask you to take part authentically in communities where you have a personal interest and not to spam, and many subreddits go further. The automated reply in the October 2025 r/Entrepreneur thread says promotion of products and services isn't allowed there. Our guide to finding people on Reddit who ask for a tool like yours covers replying without getting banned.
Keep a sheet with one row per person: name, link to the post, date, the phrase they used and the first line you'll write. Skip posts older than two weeks so every message refers to something recent. For which complaints are worth chasing first, see our guide to finding people who publicly describe the problem you solve.
How do you reach strangers when free LinkedIn notes run out?
LinkedIn's own help pages disagree on how many connection requests a free member can add a personalised message to: its page on personalising invitations says three a month, while its older invitation limit page says five (both checked 24 October 2026). Plan for three. Premium members can add notes to all of them. The same page says that reaching the invitation limit can stop you sending invitations, typically for a week, and that LinkedIn can't shorten the wait. So reach most of your list another way:
- Comment on the post that surfaced them with something useful: a number, a fix or a question.
- Send a connection request without a note, and save your three notes for the best-fit people.
- Message after they accept, picking up from their post. Our connection request templates include short versions.
- If they also post on X, reply there first, then DM if their settings allow it.
The first message is three sentences. Copy it and fill in the brackets:
It uses their words, says plainly that you are selling, and asks to see their process before pitching. That is the same opening the accounting-firm founder used: asking to watch the work.
What should you offer your first 10 customers?
Offer a small paid pilot where you do the setup yourself. A free trial asks a stranger to adopt your product alone, and your first customers need you there. Graham's essay describes what Y Combinator calls a Collison installation: when anyone agreed to try Stripe, the founders said "Right then, give me your laptop" and set them up on the spot.
Charge from the start, even a token amount. One commenter in the September 2026 Indie Hackers thread argued that free pilots attract people who say nice things with nothing at stake, and suggested a small paid pilot to learn early who will pay. In a 2020 Indie Hackers thread, a B2B founder said they sold their first customer on mockups and only charged once the MVP was delivered.
| Offer | When it fits | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
| Free trial | A buyer can set the product up alone in a day | Sign-ups who never use it |
| Free done-for-you setup | Setup is the hard part | Friendly users with no budget |
| Paid pilot, you do the setup | Your first 10 B2B customers | Fewer yeses, each one paid |
| Pre-sale on mockups | A long build and an obvious pain | You must deliver what you sold |
The Indie Hackers commenter who argued for paid pilots set the bar at $50: a prospect who won't pay that for a hands-on pilot was probably never going to convert to a subscription. Before you start, write down the one number the pilot should move for them, such as hours a week spent on the task, so the move to a full plan is a short conversation.
How many people should you contact before you change course?
Plan for about 150 contacts over three weeks: 10 a day, five days a week. That gives three approaches 50 contacts each, above the 30 to 40 that one founder in the Indie Hackers thread suggests giving any approach before judging it.
| Week | Contacts | Approach | LinkedIn notes used |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 (10 a day) | People from LinkedIn post search | All 3 for the month (5 if your account allows it) |
| 2 | 50 (10 a day) | People from X advanced search | 0 left: comment, connect without a note, then message |
| 3 | 50 (10 a day) | The segment or channel that replied most, or one forum | 0 left |
Count stages, not messages. One commenter in that thread suggested tracking reply, conversation, pilot, usage and payment, and said the stage where people consistently drop tells you whether the problem is targeting, messaging, onboarding or the product. Another offered a test for false progress: if feedback grows as you do more demos but payments don't move, the feedback is a stand-in for the number that matters.
If you have already launched and nothing has converted, work through our checklist for zero paying customers after launch before you change channels.
A three-week plan to your first 10 customers
Pick one segment and five phrases
One role, one company type, one painful task. Write five phrases they would use to describe it, including one workaround and one request for help.
Save three searches
A LinkedIn post search with Date posted set to the past week, an X advanced search with a seven-day start date, and the two subreddits or forums where your buyers ask questions.
Ten people a day
Log each person, comment where it helps, then send the three-sentence message. Reply within hours when someone answers.
Sell paid pilots and do the setup
Every yes gets a short paid pilot and a written success measure. Message every signup to ask what they are trying to do.
Review by stage
For each approach, count replies, calls, pilots and payments. Drop the weakest approach and put its share of the daily 10 into the strongest.
If the daily searching is the part you can't keep up with, Siela's AI SDR runs it every day. It looks for signals inferred from what you sell, such as people asking how to solve the problem, comparing tools or posting a pain point, and it can track keywords and competitors on LinkedIn and X. Each lead is scored hot, warm or cold with a one-line reason and saved to its built-in CRM. In Find leads only mode it sends nothing, so you can still write every first message yourself.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get B2B customers with no network and no audience?
Yes. Paul Graham's 2013 essay on doing things that don't scale says founders have to recruit early users by hand, and public posts give you people to recruit. Search LinkedIn posts, X and the forums your buyers use for people describing the problem this week, then write to each one about what they said. Founders in the threads we read reported first customers from 5 to 20 targeted contacts.
How many personalised LinkedIn connection requests can a free account send?
Plan for three a month. LinkedIn's page on personalising invitations says three, while its older invitation limit page says five; Premium members can add a message to every request. Spend them on your best-fit people. For the rest, comment on their post first, connect without a note, and message after they accept.
Should your first B2B customers get the product for free?
Charge something, even a small amount, and do the setup for them. One Indie Hackers commenter argued that free pilots attract people who say nice things with nothing at stake. A paid, hands-on pilot tells you early whether the problem hurts enough to pay to fix, and it gives you a real customer rather than a polite tester.
How many people should you contact before giving up on an approach?
Give each approach at least 30 to 40 contacts before judging it, the rule one founder suggested in a September 2026 Indie Hackers thread. Ten contacts a day on weekdays gives you 50 a week, enough to test one approach per week. Judge each approach by stage: replies, calls, pilots and payments, rather than by compliments.
Can you mention your product when replying on Reddit?
Only where the community allows it. Reddit's rules ask users to participate authentically in communities where they have a personal interest and not to spam, and each subreddit adds its own rules. The automated reply in r/Entrepreneur says promotion of products and services isn't allowed there. Answer the question first and check the subreddit's rules before naming your product.
Sources
- Paul Graham: Do Things that Don't Scale (July 2013) (July 2013)
- Hacker News: Ask HN: How do you acquire customers without network or social media? (6 Dec 2023)
- r/Entrepreneur: How did you get your first paying customers without a network? (SaaS product) (11 Oct 2025)
- r/Entrepreneur: How I'm getting my first customers (no ads, no budget, just showing up) (17 Jan 2026)
- Indie Hackers: If you had a B2B SaaS with 0 customers today, how would you get the first 10? (6 Sep 2026)
- Indie Hackers: B2B SaaS Founders: How did you find your first 10 customers? (28 Aug 2020)
- LinkedIn Help: Use Boolean search on LinkedIn (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Search for member posts (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Invitation limit reached (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- X Help Center: How to use advanced search (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- Reddit Rules (checked 24 Oct 2026)
- LinkedIn Help: Personalize invitations to connect (checked 24 Oct 2026)