Why Most Founders Can’t Find Their First Customers
Finding customers shouldn’t feel like a dating app.
👋 Hi, I’m Ritika a Customer Marketer and the CMO at By Default. Welcome to the 68th edition - One minute on customer insights.
If you’re building something new and asking yourself:
“Where do I even find my first customers?”
You’re not alone. I hear this question all the time. The usual advice pops up: paid ads, cold outreach, content marketing, and while those are all valid channels but they’re not where you should start.
In fact, this early stage isn’t about where to find customers at all. It’s about who they are.
Because once you understand exactly who you’re building for, the where starts to unfold itself.
Why Founders Get Stuck at Go-to-Market
It’s so common: Most founders keep building things and shipping in silence, thinking they are solving a real problem. After the launch, nothing makes a big change.
No signups. No engagement. And certainly no paying users.
What most early founders miss is this:
💡 Your product doesn’t exist in isolation—it lives in the context of the people you’re building it for.
If you wait until the product is done to go looking for customers, you’ve already waited too long. The better move? Start with the customer from day one.
Start Here Instead⬇️
Go out and ask:
“Who is already struggling with the problem I’m solving?”
Find the people who are already trying to patch the problem together. Look for signs of:
Urgency — They need a fix now.
Frustration — They’re annoyed or wasting time.
Workarounds — They’ve hacked together their own clunky solution.
Emotional pain — This isn’t just inconvenient, it’s costing them sleep, money, or momentum.
These are your signal flares. Talk to those people. Not to sell, but to listen. Listen deeply.
Don’t Just Build a Product—Co-Create It
Most founders think their job is to sell the solution. But in the early days, your job is to co-create the solution with the right users.
This is how you get to product-market fit faster. Instead of guessing, you’re building with real users who feel the problem in their bones.
And here’s the best part:
Those first few people you talk to?
They often become your first paying users, your loudest champions, and the blueprint for your go-to-market strategy.
TL;DR
Stop obsessing over channels.
Start focusing on people.
Find who you're building for. Talk to them. Build with them. And the rest will follow.
You've got this.
👀 Random things to keep an eye on
→ A post worth reading: How to be a great strategist?
→ The science behind your brand is at the top of the mind.
🔥 Feeling stuck on how to begin your discovery? Reply to this email, I’ll be happy to share how I help founders turn insights into traction.
Thank you for being a consistent reader of this newsletter; it wouldn’t have reached here without your support. 🤗