How To Get Your First 100 Customers for Your SaaS Product

If you run a SaaS business, you need to know how to get customers. Getting customers for your tech startup can be one of the hardest parts of starting a SaaS company. There are 3 basic things you need to do to get your first 100 customers for your product, and this video will walk you through each of them.
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Welcome to MicroConf - Where Independent SaaS Founders Launch, Meet, Learn, and Grow! MicroConf is the world’s most trusted community for bootstrapped SaaS founders.
MicroConf is a community of SaaS founders that brings together bootstrapped and independently-funded B2B SaaS companies who are not looking to chase “unicorn status'' or venture capital.
We provide SaaS training, education and networking opportunities for other founders who are pre-product, focused on scaling their business, and looking for an exit strategy.
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[@MicroConf]

Go from 1 customer to 14,000: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qp7aeqOEqLJ2gJI

[@GrowWithWill]

If you're a first-time entrepreneur, take the time to watch this video. This is packed with ideas and advice. Kudos!

[@MrBraianzzz]

I created a landing page, advertised it on google, and I was happy getting the forms filled and my email with new leads! They were all bots 🤖 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Banksy8898]

Usually videos like this feel like they’re just for farming engagement. This was not only insightful, but straight to the point and gave me a lot to think about for my next project. Nicely done

[@RobWalling]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@AlexWinkler]

I totally agree. Subbed.

[@adamm9706]

this is what youtube use to be. Thanks for bringing it back.. just like that shirt

[@MegaMaliak]

Comments like yours is why I dont trust a single youtube video anymore.

[@archiee1337]

Rob, this is one of the best videos here. Very helpful, straight to the point. I cannot express it more, I just love the content! :)

[@MicroConf]

Thank you!

[@El_Diablo_12]

6:40 get to default alive 8:00 usually 1 approach gets you to profitability 8:30 the most common early marketing approaches 9:17 retaining is really where the real business value is created. It can take awhile and a lot of work to get to a sticky product

[@luctielen]

Straight to the point and very actionable, thank you!

[@webleydevelopment]

Rob! I dug out your old podcast yesterday - moving into a mature market. Some great tips there... And now I somehow stumble upon this video. Great to put a name to a face. I've been a fan for a while. Loved startups for the rest of us! Nice to put a name to the face. Lets go for a beer sometime. 🙂

[@turbo2ltr]

Wish I found this earlier. Makes total sense. My biggest fear about my SaaS idea (Which I'm almost done coding) is how not good I am with marketing. Even though my last company lasted 17 years, I feel ultimately the failure was because my network and connection with customers was nonexistent and marketing was basically word of mouth on forums.

[@dmiradakis]

Excellent video. Living this out right now.

[@MicroConf]

Thanks, Danny!

[@MrApesbathing]

As usual, great video!

[@KazzyOfficial]

Dude your channel is amazing

[@MicroConf]

I appreciate that! Thanks for watching.

[@MrMoggz]

This is awesome, thanks for sharing all that knowledge. I have noted down the steps and will use them in my startup.

[@MicroConf]

Glad it was helpful! :)

[@MrHourn]

This is straight gold. I'm dipping my toes into a tech field right now after exiting a human capital intensive, super localized, service business. Great insights for my new adventure!

[@MicroConf]

Great! Thank you for watching, Justin.

[@zhkllc]

One of the valuable videos I have found so for in marketing domain. Thanks for putting this valuable piece of content. Subscribed!

[@eduardoPicazzo]

This channel is gold

[@rubemkleinjunior237]

Wow... one of the best videos I've seen in a while. Thanks. Just subbed

[@MicroConf]

Thanks for being here!

[@namaefumei]

Thanks for the advices and getting to the point asap.

[@MicroConf]

Thanks for watching, Anony

[@GuillaumeDuhan1]

This video is by far the best I’ve seen on getting customers.

[@MicroConf]

Thanks, Guillaume!

[@ed7590]

Brilliant video, thanks for the great advice!

[@MicroConf]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@henrybui_io]

Thank you so much! Such a great advice

[@MicroConf]

Thanks!

[@lemlist]

Great advice!

[@MicroConf]

Thanks for watching!

[@thefablestudio]

Thanks for the tips !!

[@MicroConf]

Thank you for watching.

[@carloslfu]

Great content! Thanks!

[@MicroConf]

Thanks for watching, Carlos!

[@maw4855]

thanks for the content!

[@MicroConf]

My pleasure! Thank you for watching.

[@michaelaubry3419]

Must watch for all first time entrepreneurs in year 0-2

[@doyouthink1858]

Great content, you just got a new subscriber 👊

[@MicroConf]

Thank you so much. Happy to have you here.

[@Humblyguided]

Amazing tips -thank you for sharing.

[@MicroConf]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AlexWinkler]

Awesome video, applied to the MicroCon community!

[@MicroConf]

Awesome! Thank you, happy to have you here!

[@thebrianrice]

keep up the amazing content

[@MicroConf]

Thank you, Brian!

[@robertbalazsi]

Excellent video, Rob! Full of actionable advice! What are your thoughts about pre-order campaigns for SaaS? Collecting emails is great, but people pulling out their credit cards is the ultimate validation. Have you had success with conducting such campaings?

[@RobWalling]

I have not done them myself, but I have heard of people taking money in advance. I always felt a bit uncomfortable doing so, as development often takes a lot longer than you'd expect. That pressure of having peoples' money in your bank account would be challenging if things dragged on. I'd be curious to know if people paying means a higher likelihood they will actually become paying customers.

[@scramjet4610]

I don't know about this. Consider this: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.” -- Henry Ford "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them”. -- Steve Jobs

[@victormironov5332]

Good approach, research is essencial. On the other hand, not recieving proper feedback you may give up early. Otherwise, positive feedback would inspire you but later comes reality. I'd suggest enterpreneur would also look at competitors as they always are there. See what they do not quite right, grope for some niche. See if you may have this market slice.

[@jett_royce]

Love the video. Thank you. How did you know your prospects were sincere when they said they'd pay for it if you build it? How did you know they didn't just say it to avoid disappointing you?

[@MicroConf]

Nnp, I’d recommend you check out the book “The Mom Test” that walks through strategies for avoiding this very situation. You can also ask for pre-purchases, where you collect a payment from them for the first three months of service. This puts more pressure on you to deliver, since you are holding their money, but it can be a stronger sign of validation.

[@jett_royce]

@@MicroConf I did read it. The author kept asserting that "you should never ask whether someone would pay for something or whether they think it's a good idea." :-D I do remember them mentioning collecting payment upfront to cut out the BS. I will re-read my notes on the book again. Love the channel, love the SFTROS podcast.

[@J-HAYER]

Thanks for the insights ! But i am not sure if you directly should ask your customers if they would pay X amount, regarding the MOM Test. On the other hand you have a direct answer if people are willing to pay or not.

[@travelsportspro]

This is so good. Im stsrti g this today! 🙏

[@MicroConf]

You can do it 🙌

[@ashishsharma-fy7ox]

Thanks for the insight . I built a Saas product with no thought to how I am gonna market it. :)

[@MicroConf]

You got this!

[@angelsnmen]

thanks alot bro

[@MicroConf]

Thank you for being here, Raymond.

[@webdeveloperninja9220]

I have 1 large customer for my saas, trying to find more. thanks for the advice Rob!

[@MicroConf]

Keep up the good work!

[@luminrabbit9488]

Awesome!

[@bernhardsmuts2265]

I have questions: "Put up a landing page" - How do you get traffic to the landing page then? "Send out to your email list" - Either this is assume you've amassed a large email list, which leads to the question of how do you do that, or it assumes you're emailing the few people you know that are in the target market for the Saas.

[@MicroConf]

There are a few ways you can get people to a landing page. A couple off the top of my head- you can talk about your app on social platforms, you can find SEO terms to build content around, and you can also buy ads. Honestly, I’d read a couple books to answer your question: Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and the marketing chapter in The SaaS Playbook, written by yours truly.

[@jatinnandwani6678]

Amazing

[@homekiapp5703]

gold, gold gold!

[@ericwadebrown]

Wise advise

[@MicroConf]

Thanks, Eric!

[@mugishagabriel6074]

This is good and part of what you mentioned is in "the lean start up" book. networking and interviewing people on the solution you plan on offering and getting their take on it is a good way to start.

[@MicroConf]

Thank you!

[@molcay8355]

Subscribed!

[@MicroConf]

Thank you!!

[@whitestone2469]

Your videos have helped me reach over $180,000 in trading by age 23! Thanks MicroConf. Keep the videos coming. 👍🏽

[@andrewblack4432]

Congrats ! i made a lot during covid from my passive income

[@favourazah1504]

I'm convinced that the big investors and analysts are trying to scare us to keep us poor and ignorant to the market.. because its steady doing good after all the jobless and market crash talks .

[@jamesjude4988]

Congrats and wishing you the best .

[@whitestone2469]

@kim sun When I was 20 ,but you need a finance Pro if you don’t want to loose and if you want to be more successful.

[@whitestone2469]

@kim sun Follow⬇️⬇️

[@jhonyhndoea]

problem is my hobby is coding too. I can build a SaaS product super fast. Its much more fun to code and build than sell and market. those are two separate professions and different skills and it's hard to be good at both. lots of companies launch shitty products because they are only driven by profits. got to find the middle ground between the two to succeed.

[@joyousfeeling9827]

I need to interacting more with people that think alike because many people have it backwards like want to developing first then marketing later

[@joyousfeeling9827]

3:00 a smoke test

[@DenisDudaievDream]

I can't get paid with protype because everyone say we need ready solution not a prototype. I can't understand how get client without prototype at least.

[@AlrosAvellana]

How do you present your app idea for people to sign up? When I see beta invites etc. theres usually a video of the site and how it works. I dont have the site. I dont have a video. I just have the idea. How would you go about presenting that to people and encouraging them to sign up?

[@MicroConf]

Sounds like you are very early. In terms of idea validation, you should check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWK4aouVjalpacU. I would aim to validate the problem you are looking to solve before you start building anything.

[@TheGdesplin]

I liked the advice here, but what if we already do have a MVP product, but our landing page we built first didn't produce any first customers?

[@MicroConf]

Hey Gavin, I’d suggest direct outreach to people who you think your SaaS will serve well. Chat with them to get feedback and input to find out if your product is able to solve a real problem for them. You’d probably also pick up some valuable ideas by reading through my book Start Small, Stay Small: startupbook.net/

[@TheGdesplin]

@@MicroConf Thanks for the reply! I have your book and have read it, I’ll have to review it. I’ve been trying to start a conversation with some potential customers through publicly available email list, but no luck so far. I’ll keep trying and trying to find new ways to open a conversation with them.

[@janj7458]

Good

[@MicroConf]

Thanks

[@slack.]

My question is, which product will you be selling at 100$ monthly? That feels like high-end top-tier premium price. Even Apple’s & Google avg monthly billing products are

[@MicroConf]

Hi Slack, many Business to Business (B2B) SaaS products demand this kind of pricing when they provide enough value. You might check out this video that has more info on B2B pricing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp26mZyVqNGLY80

[@altafahmed5123]

You should not price your product at $100, you should evaluate, would you buy this product at the given price? also the effect of the price on number of customers, what if at $100 you only get 100 customers but at $10 you get 10k customers?

[@joselambert8377]

Informativ. Es ist traurig, dass viele Menschen aufgrund mangelnder Berufskenntnisse oder mangelnder Disziplin ihr Kapital verlieren. Das war mein Fall, bis ich Mr. Gerard Stukes letztes Jahr auf einer Konferenz traf, es ist nie zu spät, damit anzufangen.

[@javiermateo3990]

Ich entschied mich, als ich anfing, viele Zeugnisse von verschiedenen Investoren über Gerardstukes zu sehen. Ich beschloss, es mit ihm zu versuchen, und siehe, er war derjenige, nach dem ich die ganze Zeit gesucht hatte, der Handel mit ihm war so lukrativ, lehrreich und profitabel

[@franciscojuan3056]

Können Sie mir Gerards Kontaktdaten geben?

[@joselambert8377]

Er ist bei Telegram aktiv.

[@joselambert8377]

Gerardstukes ist sein aktiver Tag

[@LRG53]

@5:12

[@mikgol81]

great video

[@MicroConf]

Thanks!

[@adamFluency]

There is only one idea here, get a circle (email list of interested parties) before you code.

[@charlesnyong5692]

What would be the minimum number of interested participants that would motivate you to turn the mvp into the actual product? 10? 11?

[@MicroConf]

It depends on the product, price point, and your space. 10 or 11 is a decent starting point, I had 11 when I decided to start building the MVP of Drip. Make sure that you are touching base with the interested parties while you are building to get feedback and to make sure that you are building something they actually need and want.

[@tigreytigrey8537]

I've NEVER seen a fully grown man sport a Bieber toupee lol. Hilarious

[@alpinelux407]

Is it possible to do a successful SaaS business under 300 dollar?

[@MicroConf]

Hi Alpine Lux, it’s possible to get started with $300, depending on your skill set (or your willingness to learn a new one). Here’s a recent video about Starting a SaaS with No Money: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqbcdaNjr7yjrsk

[@angelaneal5648]

What is a SaaS product?

[@RobWalling]

See this video for a definition: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rmatiqqqoMikpa8

[@rajkrishnaswamy2232]

Great. But can you imagine Steve Jobs asking customers if they would be interested in an iphone before launching?

[@MicroConf]

Hey Raj, I imagine that he likely did talk to some potential customers (and I bet they were excited). Building without talking to potential customers is very often a recipe for wasted effort. Also: you’re not Steve Jobs and neither am I. If you have his network, net worth, and the ability to guide hundreds of engineers to build a product, then you can make decisions like he did. If not, you have to live in a bootstrapper’s reality.

[@halivudestevez2]

ok, so shy introverts will fail again

[@Dormirnix]

Do you got discord?