How To Get Your First 1000 Customers (Behind The Scenes)

In this video, I am going to share how to get your first 1000 users in 1 month. Too many people overcomplicate this process; There are a few simple, tried and true strategies for scaling to 1000 and beyond.
🔔 Subscribe to the channel for more videos to help you on your entrepreneurship journey: / @noahkagan
==Resources==
🦊My FREE weekly email with Marketing Tips: sendfox.com/noah
💣 Latest cool products featured in this video: hauldrop.com/
👪Join my Facebook Group: okdork.com/group/
📈 The BEST software tools to run your business: social.appsumo...
Top Takeaways:
✅ Hand to hand marketing - is the name of the game in the early days
✅"Buffet Marketing" (More experiments the better) -- and trust that some things will work later if not now
✅ Ship early, it's ok to be embarrassed
✅ Marketing "hacks" won't fix a bad product
There’s SO many new cool products being created daily and NO great way to find them. The only channel to find them are influencers or Instagram ads. That's why we launched HaulDrop.
Now you may think we have this large customer base so we just blast 1 email and everyone comes running. I WISH. It’s almost never the case. We launched a similar thing last year sumo-market and barely anyone came. This time we changed up how we are promoting products.
A few things to note in the marketing plan above:
We didn’t leverage Producthunt which we should in the future. It’s a great place to launch any new business.
We didn’t buy ads yet. We are paying for the giveaway items(it’s a less slippery slope than paying the Facebook overlords). If the giveaways become MORE than $1 / signup we’ll pull back AND we are asking companies to give the products for free most of the time
Marketing is all about when you HAVE something people WANT. There’s NO site or way to find dope products online, if there was then there would be no need to create HaulDrop.
A few more of the strategies we tried to get our first customers:
-Forced registration. Made it so you have to register to view a product from the homepage (think like Facebook homepage is a registration form)
-Discount codes. Asked companies for discount codes and made people register to get tthem. Threw on a timer for urgency.
-Streaks. Created streaks so people want to come back
-Submission promotion. When a person submits the product we then motivate them to promote the product to their network.
-Company & User Loops
Getting customers is simply a matter of understanding what stage you're at and really doubling down on what's working.

[@noahkagan]

For next growth video -- what do you want to see? What questions do you have about scaling?

[@nipunchoudhary]

In our Office hours Q&A you gave a breakdown on what areas to focus - 40% Product, 40% Sales, 20% Email, something like that will be super helpful and actionable. 👍

[@chrischan3297]

Best ways for new young content creators to scale during the current crisis 🙂 (asking as a college student)

[@dominickccooper]

What are the easiest areas in your service or product business that you could automate and what tools would you recommend?

[@nipunchoudhary]

Another question on growth - when to hire? What roles to hire first?

[@debojunioradebayo2491]

Hi Noah, I was wondering about scaling a consulting business. I source property in London for investors and need help scaling.

[@nipunchoudhary]

Loved the stage by stage break down of the user growth: 0-50 at 1:13 50-100 at 2:06 100-500 at 3:56 500-1000 at 8:34 I know I am going to watch this multiple times. @Noah yes, growth series is going to be awesome!

[@noahkagan]

Thanks! 1000-5000 and beyond is next

[@RealAmarSheth]

Noah: the editing, branding, etc. are off the hook. Also, the insights are super valuable!

[@noahkagan]

Appreciate it!

[@EltonAndersonJr]

This was soooooo informative. Especially the be embarrassed part! Get over the ego and start building a feedback loop! Love this

[@AlexRechevskiy]

Yes for growth videos!! Thanks, Noah!

[@noahkagan]

On it

[@mauricekowalski5470]

Pls!

[@rjyoungling220]

Can't wait until you have millions of subs homey! #underdogs

[@noahkagan]

You'll be an OG sub

[@rjyoungling220]

Ridiculously good video! Also, for other people in the early stages, go meet your users! You'll never have that chance again once you get big. The ability to talk to every single user helps you with iteration and making the product better, but also just developing a better understanding of your audience and the exact problem your product solves for them.

[@noahkagan]

SPAM THEM

[@MattRossOfficial]

I'm immensely grateful that you made this video Noah, thank you!

[@marianaruiz2012]

Omg love this video!!! Re watching to take more notes! Also yes to growth serries! Thank you Noah.

[@noahkagan]

Thanks Mariana. Means a lot that you benefitted!

[@VinceLymburn]

Me too!

[@meganamehere]

Noah you rock. I've been. follower/fan for 8 years. I learned half of what i know in marketing from you

[@bene100degrees]

I just cracked up laughing with the Steve Jobs Meme! 😅😂😂 awesome video awesome content, thanks Noah

[@noahkagan]

We're all about "think different"

[@patrickreaport7967]

Giving so much value for no money in return. any question i have about business i search your name for it. You are someone i aspire to be like. quick thinking, quick doing, practical. good video noah kagan

[@kusty09]

Sweet vid, Noah! I'm right at the crossroads of "is it a marketing problem or is it a business problem". Perfect timing to be reminded again to just get it out there and see what the customers say

[@noahkagan]

Well said

[@overcomeego3893]

hey just dropping some love, I appreciate your content.

[@noahkagan]

thank you amigo!

[@Mipon_en]

Many people talk about this topic, but always no one talks about "how to contact potential clients(email template,etc)" "how to negotiate with potential clients", "what to do if they say no? follow up?" etc. It would fantastic if you cover those kinds of topics.

[@noahkagan]

We're on it

[@Mipon_en]

@@noahkagan I look forward to it! Thanks Noah!

[@marjacu3809]

1:17 Aici îi vom reține! Aici vom lupta! Haha, that part of the video made my day

[@nataliefisetm.d.8952]

Your videos are loaded with great ideas! I love your way of presenting what worked and what didn't work .Facebook's loss is our gain!😀

[@leeconstantine6335]

Good video and some real takeaways

[@VinceLymburn]

Great video!

[@treasurerose6732]

Great video so far, excited to see more growth videos Thanks!

[@noahkagan]

Cool name. WIll do TR.

[@manfrednlisayew7301]

One by one growth for below 50 is super actionable. I got one today, (win!) and a few possibilities down the track. Thanks for doing what you do.

[@noahkagan]

Boom!

[@chrischan3297]

Yes for Growth series!

[@noahkagan]

We're on it

[@stringstory]

This was a knowledge bomb video, thanks for sharing your insights on getting to your first 1000 users

[@noahkagan]

You got it. Your 1000 is next!

[@VinceLymburn]

It was so good!

[@bhargava5728]

Well said...Marketing can't FIX shitty product...EYE OPENING STATEMENT😇😇

[@MajesticKevin]

Superb as always Noah

[@noahkagan]

Hell yeah

[@mohdfazliab5627]

Loved it!

[@noahkagan]

Love you

[@artisticdevelopmentanddesign]

0:40 - HaulDrop information 1:13 - First 50 subscribers - Hand-to-Hand combat 2:02 - 50 to 100 subscribers - Buffet marketing 3:54 - 100 to 500 subscribers - Refine / Block & Tackle 8:34 - 500 to 1000 subscribers - Narrow in / Double down 9:50 - 1000+ subscribers - Growth Loops

[@noahkagan]

Thanks for organizing times!

[@artisticdevelopmentanddesign]

@@noahkagan No problem :)

[@parkerrex]

Noah this is great. Going to take some more hand to hand combat into play

[@benhendricks260]

Yes interested in growth

[@markz306]

Like the growth video

[@jasonblake18]

Love the new intro!!

[@noahkagan]

👍

[@gusto519]

these videos are great! Gotta stop being so passive and hoping things work out!

[@noahkagan]

👍

[@VinceLymburn]

Exactly!

[@simonbusshart1463]

Thank you!

[@ErikHill1]

Yo Noah, love you and your content. I’m a video production guy myself, just a tiny bit of feedback on your recent videos. I listen to all of your YT content on my phone and with AirPods. The ‘ding’ in your videos is pretty loud and hurts my ears. My ears are already not great so it might hurt someone’s ears worse that actually has good hearing. Keep up the amazing content! Much love, dawg.

[@noahkagan]

Great feedback, thanks

[@lizconnollycoaching]

Saved this video - great tips thanks

[@emekaudeogu]

Worth watching again with a notepad.

[@ericcolonna]

video editor is great

[@dontheideaguy]

Anyone else have to use the playback speed option to slow @Noah down? Tough to keep up with all those ideas at 100% speed!!

[@noahkagan]

I aim to make your brain explode

[@ChannelZeroMarketing]

Yes lol first video I ever slowed down lol

[@kenISemail]

Great video, @Noah!

[@noahkagan]

Thanks!

[@IraManabat]

Cool video, like and I'll subscribe

[@noahkagan]

You're up!

[@merryfuns5955]

Thank you! Excited to get started

[@noahkagan]

You got this

[@mattdippl6518]

Love your content Noah. Badass.

[@noahkagan]

👊

[@richardantao3249]

Let's see the growth series! Question for scale: As a founder/company lead, how should your focus change as you add 0's to the user base, eg. 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc.

[@noahkagan]

Thanks for input, scale is good topic to cover

[@thomasbozly921]

Need to know were to start making money.

[@DesignDoodle]

I made it far into video :D, how would you go about promoting art prints? It's not really a necessity or something that tackles a customer's pain point so how would one go about doing it. PS the prints are architecture drawings/ building drawings

[@noahkagan]

Go survey customers to figure out pain points. Or differentiate the prints. How can yours be 10x better than anyone else?

[@DesignDoodle]

@@noahkagan Thanks Noah!

[@dgajsek]

New intro is 😌👌

[@jollybautista]

I love it

[@jw840]

great video super useful at to the point

[@kirso]

I usually never comment and just lurk... but holy hell love these videos, branding, intros everything. Keep going pal!

[@noahkagan]

Appreciate you. Pls share!

[@iamthekwan]

So much gold. Thank you.

[@noahkagan]

Thanks for listening

[@johnandginger]

thank you

[@janicepalaran7239]

Hope someday you have million sub..

[@christheideaguy]

Very interested in growth hacks particularly for Saas.

[@angeliqueroux3017]

Hi! Do you have a video explaining customer & company loops?

[@BrettFosterDotNet]

LOVING your content Noah. Ive been following you and App Sumo for a long ass time. I remember App Sumo when it (from my memory) was a very different business, maybe even business model? I remember it feeling like a groupon kinda deal? any way, thanks man, I have signed up with sendfox.com and have sent a test email out to my personal email address list. Im taking action!! I have a couple of successful IRL small business but have been trying to make money/a business online for YEARS and YEARS. I made $12 from ad-sence one month with one of my blogs. WHOOP. Im gonna do bit of a deep dive into how to use send fox and get rolling. Are the smart pages on send fox comparable to the stupidly priced, overly promoted (affiliate bait) Click Funnels pages? I love that you don't have an agenda and that you are telling us "don't spend money!" as opposed to the message of the 'use my affiliate links below and buy my 9.97 course' crowd. Hey I understand why they are doing what they do it just makes it very hard to discern between what is essentially an informercial and actual advice that works from people who have actually done something. Again Cheers

[@TheDripPodcast]

Wow, such a sweetheart

[@BevenSpangenberg]

I'll save this one! thanks...

[@noahkagan]

You got it

[@WOUUUTT]

is there a way to pitch a company to you? I have an epic product, first in the market, but we can't market it

[@akinloluwaokunsanya2697]

Hey, Noah what did you do at Facebook

[@blcksgnota]

Hey @Noah Kagan can I join your team as a junior Ui/Ux designer?

[@NFT-Tech]

How did you decide that idea is still valid while doing these first 50 and stacked in some bottlenecks of people not being super excited?

[@nonefvnfvnjnjnjevjenjvonej3384]

where is this website? what happened to this?

[@nishantgoel2918]

I'd love to know how you grew to 10k!!

[@lenetwork634]

How would you do it in a market that is Remote Like Africa? My product is Internet Services and Website Development

[@lenetwork634]

Based in South Africa

[@deepkumar23229]

How to come up with saas problems bro

[@stephenstrydom1]

Noah, my business is sooooooo dead. My target market seems to have vanished/lost interest since the pandemic started (I build websites & do digital marketing services targeting small to medium businesses) - Is now the time to give up or do you think it can somehow be revived. Posting on social media blogging etc is a waste of time and I don't think spending money on ads is going to help me now at all. I hope you don't mind e asking you this here & would really appreciate your feedback.

[@bizbuildershawaii1719]

Still don't know what haul drop is for...

[@oliver_siegel]

Good video! What I'm wondering is: how do I get someone like you on my team so I can actually say "we have done xyz strategy" rather than just me doing it alone?

[@cxa011500]

Haha...guess I'm stuck on the first step. I don't have any friends...or a product to text them about if I did. 😅😩

[@indiewealth]

Ping - I'd like to know more

[@shaneholbeck6697]

What exactly does Noah mean when he was “#30 at facebook”

[@HellenicWolf]

MY LOVE TO THE EDITOR, WITH ALL THE SPECIAL EFFECTS THAT 1000% COMPLIMENT NOAH'S 🤣FUNNY-AS-SH*T PERSONALITY. GOOD JOB.

[@darshanjain8458]

interested

[@RichSaCa]

Why didn't you called it DROPSUMO?

[@autumn4115]

Your teeth are perfect!

[@user-vy9mj3up6m]

rock

[@videoafter10ksubs]

Was it a failed business? I see it's redirected to appsumo.

[@ategirl16]

same question here~

[@nice000]

wo

[@palakondarayuduuppu6420]

😑 I don't have FB friends, I uninstalled and deleted. 🙄

[@Because_Reasons]

So Haul Drop failed?

[@noahkagan]

Yes.

[@darryllopes2243]

Promote yourself.

[@noahkagan]

That's the key!

[@ck17va]

I became suspicious after you opened your video with talking about what you've done before. If you have to tell everyone your credentials, you probably aren't the right guy for me.

[@noahkagan]

Probably not. I’d trust all the other KZbinrs more 😂