🪴 How startups get their first 1,000 customers

7 approaches to first 1,000 customers and black sheep of startups

Good Tuesday everyone!

If a friend asked you for the definition of a startup, what would you say?

Usual answers are along “a company in the first stages of operation”, or “something new”. These, however leave out a crucial element: a startup must have a potential to scale fast.

A new florist might have just opened in your neighbourhood. While it’s a company in its initial stages, you wouldn’t typically call it a startup because it lacks the ability to scale rapidly.

Uber increased its drivers from 5.7 million in Q1 2023 to 7.1 million drivers in Q1 2024 (25% increase). This 25% YoY increase might seem massive, however a 25% increase in customers when you only have 100 is usually a bigger challenge.

To understand how startups scale, it’s important to understand how they got to their first 1,000 customers.

Here are some ways startups acquire their first 1,000 customers: