Finding Your First Customers

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Startup founders looking for customers eventually run out of friends and relatives. "Once they get past that first handful of contacts, they don’t know how to get in front of the market in a bigger way," says Liz Sara, an angel investor and founder of consulting firm Best Marketing. She shares three keys to success in episode 4 of Bootstrapped, a podcast series by the Smith School's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.

Fix your message: Sara, an entrepreneur-in-residence at the Dingman Center, says many companies start with the wrong marketing message. "It’s not that they haven’t paid attention or put time into it," she says. "It’s just that they’re not necessarily thinking in terms of who needs their product because of what problem it's solving."

Narrow your target: The next step is defining the market. "Who's the buyer? Who are the decision makers?" she says. "You’re not just selling to the Fortune 500 — that’s too broad. You’ve got to narrow that down and be specific."

Get your references: "No one wants to take a gamble on something that might not be there in six months," Sara says. Risk averse buyers need to hear from beta customers — clients who get the product for free in exchange for their feedback and testimonials. "You're actually having the customer help you make the sale," Sara says. Subscribe on iTunes | Listen now (37:58)...