How to get your first 10 B2B customers

Sunny Ray · Sep 16, 2026 · 6 min read

Your first B2B customers usually come in three steps. The first two or three come from people who already know and trust you. Customers four to ten come from a very narrow slice of the market where your product is an obvious fit. And underneath both, you need volume: far more real conversations with the right people than feels comfortable. Narrow the wedge, then talk to a lot of the people inside it.

I watched that exact debate play out at a founders roundtable in late August. One founder said the problem was targeting. Another said referrals beat everything. My answer to the same question was one word: volume. We were all right, and the order matters.

The roundtable

It was a small monthly mastermind: founders, CEOs and investors, each bringing one specific problem. Charles opened with ours. Our close rate was sitting around 5 to 7.5%, and we wanted 10%.

The first response came from a founder who sells to product leaders. His diagnosis was a micro-ICP problem: our ideal customer was defined too broadly. His advice was to lead with a narrow wedge, not the full value proposition. For him, the tightest version of his customer is a senior product manager at a Series B or later company with a complex product. That's specific enough to write one email that lands.

The second response came from a founder who swore by referrals. In his experience a personal referral carries far more weight than any cold message, and he was getting about five warm referrals a day from the free tier of an AI referral tool.

My answer was volume. Plus a filter: a pre-interview that weeds out tire-kickers before they take up a real meeting. Here's how I'd put those three answers together if you're starting from zero.

Customers 1 to 3: your network

Your first customers buy you before they buy the product. They're people who know your work, trust your judgment and are willing to tolerate the rough edges.

I saw this clearly on a call with a GTM consultant in September. He and his partner launched their consultancy in April 2026. They had their first client by April 7th and their second by April 15th. That speed doesn't come from a campaign. It comes from years of credibility with people who already knew what they could do.

So start there. Make a list of everyone who has ever seen you do good work: former colleagues, former customers, people you've helped. Don't pitch them. Tell them what you're building and who it's for, and ask who they know with that problem. Some of them will be the problem.

Customers 4 to 10: a narrow wedge

Your network runs out fast. That's where the micro-ICP advice from the roundtable earns its place.

A narrow wedge means you pick one tight segment and own it: one role, one company stage, one specific problem. Not "B2B SaaS companies." Something like "heads of revenue operations at Series A fintechs who just hired their first sales team." The narrower it is, the easier it is to write an email that sounds like you understand them, because you do.

It also makes your first ten customers useful to each other. They talk to each other, they read the same things, and a win with one becomes a reference for the next.

Why volume still matters

Here's where I part ways with "do things that don't scale" taken too literally. A narrow wedge doesn't mean ten emails a week. It means many conversations, all inside the wedge.

Early sales is a numbers game. You need enough at-bats to learn what resonates, enough to recover from the ones that go nowhere, and enough that you're not emotionally attached to any single deal. Founders who stall at three customers usually aren't having enough conversations. They're polishing a deck.

That's why the filter matters. Volume without a filter fills your calendar with people who were never going to buy. The pre-interview is our filter. A 15-minute call before anything bigger, where I let the person talk and figure out whether they're a buyer, a partner or just a nice conversation.

A first-customer outreach script

For your network:

Hey Alex, I've started something new: we help [specific role] with [specific problem]. You've seen how I work, so you're one of the first people I'm telling. Do you know anyone wrestling with this right now? Could be you.

For your wedge, I'd skip the pitch and invite them onto your show:

Hi Jordan, I host a show for [specific role] on how they're handling [specific problem]. Your work at your company is exactly the kind of story I want to feature. Would you come on as a guest? Thirty minutes, and you get the episode and clips.

The second one gets a yes far more often than a demo request, because it gives instead of asking. And by the time the episode is done, you've had a real conversation with a potential customer who wanted to impress you.

What if you hate being on camera?

At that same roundtable, the founder who sells to product leaders flagged an irony I hear a lot. The podcast route sounds great, but many technical founders are introverted and would rather not be on camera at all.

Fair. Three things help. First, the guest does most of the talking. Your job is to ask good questions and listen, which is what most technical founders are good at anyway. Second, the format can be small: a 30-minute conversation, not a produced show. Third, the first few are the hardest. By the tenth, it feels like what it is, a good conversation with someone interesting.

And if you truly won't do it, use a different give: an introduction, a small dinner, a useful report. The principle is the same. Offer before you ask.

Pricing your first deals

Don't overthink it, and don't give it away. A few things I've learned.

• Price for the value, then discount for the risk they're taking on you, and say so out loud. Early customers know they're early.
• Ask for something in return for a lower price: a case study, a reference call, feedback sessions.
• Be honest when someone isn't a fit. On calls now I sometimes tell people upfront I don't think they'll be my customer. It's freeing, and it often makes the right ones lean in.

What to learn from each of the first ten

Your first ten customers are a research project as much as revenue. After each one, write down:

• Where did they come from: network, referral, outbound?
• What exact words did they use to describe the problem?
• Who else had to say yes?
• How long from first conversation to signature?
• What almost stopped them?

By customer ten, those notes are your ICP, your messaging and your sales process. That's worth more than the revenue.

If you want to start having those conversations without building the machine yourself, you can start free: connect Gmail and get about ten invitations a day written for you as drafts you send yourself. See the plans and the free option.

Frequently asked questions