Spot on. 'If you can't convince one person, no funnel will save you.'
I'd add one nuance: The Concierge MVP.
Don't just 'sell' manually; 'deliver' manually. The best founders I know didn't just find customers by hand; they were the software for the first 6 months.
That feedback loop is tighter than any analytics tool.
This is exactly the kind of thinking I try to document in my work. Not polished takes or recycled advice, but lessons earned through building, testing, and being wrong in public.
If you value clarity over hype and long term signal over short term noise, you will likely find what I share useful.
'Your first traction will come from actions that feel awkward, inefficient, and unglamorous. Not because you are doing it wrong, but because that is how early progress actually happens.'
Love it! There is no shortcut. You have to do the reps first.
This is the exact opposite of what we tell ourselves when we're stuck at zero.
I've been guilty of this, spending weeks "perfecting the funnel" when I should've just been in people's DMs asking if they'd try the thing. We treat small numbers like a problem when they're actually the easiest math we'll ever have.
That’s exactly it. Small numbers are a gift, not a constraint, and the fastest learning happens when we stop optimizing in theory and start talking to real people
The second point around 'non-scalable' is really interesting.
You mention momentum and effectiveness already, and I would also add to this that these manual, in-the-trenches type activities will generate invaluable insights about your customers, product feedback, processes and so on.
Enjoyable article with lots of words of wisdom in it! Great job.
I also shared your list with 2 of my volunteer team members. I've been trying to sell this idea to the team for a while now, but it definitely goes against the status quo, and it's also not very sexy or glamorous either...lol
Hoping your list sheds a brighter light on the importance of "one-at-a-time" discovery.
Some honest, hard truths of customer creation and business growth underlined in this article! Must read for entrepreneurs or anyone building their business
The reminder that early growth is supposed to feel manual is refreshing. My first customers came from follow-ups I almost didn’t send and calls I was nervous to take.
You are right. Early customers are won through direct effort, not clever systems, and that uncomfortable phase is unavoidable if you want real signal. It mirrors what we see consistently in practice too, CB Insights found that 35 percent of startups fail because there is no genuine market need, not because of weak execution. The emphasis on manual work is refreshing because it forces learning rather than hiding behind dashboards. There is also something grounding about reframing small numbers as leverage rather than failure. It is often the conversations at five users that shape what works at five hundred. At what point do you usually see founders emotionally resist this phase, even when they intellectually agree with it?
Thank you for sharing these insights with us Melanie. I usually see resistance peak right when founders intellectually agree but emotionally want validation without discomfort
Spot on. 'If you can't convince one person, no funnel will save you.'
I'd add one nuance: The Concierge MVP.
Don't just 'sell' manually; 'deliver' manually. The best founders I know didn't just find customers by hand; they were the software for the first 6 months.
That feedback loop is tighter than any analytics tool.
The Concierge MVP framing is exactly right. Being the product early creates a feedback loop no tooling can replace.
I am tempted to print that line on a tshirt and frame it in the office.
If you do, send me one 🤓
This article is excellent! #6 felt like permission to do something I have been feeling cringe about doing.
Thank you very much I’m glad it resonated with you. Wishing you a successful week ahead! :)
"They do things that feel more like hustle than strategy."
This line made me chuckle, cuz I remember the many, many, times I've done precisely this. Also the charm of starting a new biz.
Exactly. That “hustle over strategy” phase is messy but irreplaceable, and it’s often where the real learning (and momentum) actually begins
Also pretty fun
This is exactly the kind of thinking I try to document in my work. Not polished takes or recycled advice, but lessons earned through building, testing, and being wrong in public.
If you value clarity over hype and long term signal over short term noise, you will likely find what I share useful.
Earned lessons and public iteration are still underrated, and your focus on signal over noise is exactly what this stage of building demands
'Your first traction will come from actions that feel awkward, inefficient, and unglamorous. Not because you are doing it wrong, but because that is how early progress actually happens.'
Love it! There is no shortcut. You have to do the reps first.
Exactly, reps build the signal that makes everything else possible. Thanks Yvette! 🚀
This is the exact opposite of what we tell ourselves when we're stuck at zero.
I've been guilty of this, spending weeks "perfecting the funnel" when I should've just been in people's DMs asking if they'd try the thing. We treat small numbers like a problem when they're actually the easiest math we'll ever have.
That’s exactly it. Small numbers are a gift, not a constraint, and the fastest learning happens when we stop optimizing in theory and start talking to real people
White glove (doing things that don't scale to deeply understand then market/customer/user issues) & then build, iterate & then automate 📈
Exactly 🚀
The second point around 'non-scalable' is really interesting.
You mention momentum and effectiveness already, and I would also add to this that these manual, in-the-trenches type activities will generate invaluable insights about your customers, product feedback, processes and so on.
Enjoyable article with lots of words of wisdom in it! Great job.
Completely agree, those in the trenches moments create insights and intuition that compound long after the manual phase ends. Thank you Jens!
...words of wisdom.
Thanks, for articulating what's been swimming around in my head for while now :)
Cheers,
Laura
Laura MacNeil
Founder CEO
http://farmer.community/
A farmer-to-farmer digital knowledge-sharing network
Thank you Laura. Glad it resonated. Wishing you continued momentum with Farmer.community, it’s an important mission!
Thanks Peter,
I also shared your list with 2 of my volunteer team members. I've been trying to sell this idea to the team for a while now, but it definitely goes against the status quo, and it's also not very sexy or glamorous either...lol
Hoping your list sheds a brighter light on the importance of "one-at-a-time" discovery.
:))
Cheers
Thank you for sharing that Laura, and for passing it on to your team.
You’re absolutely right, the one-at-a-time work rarely looks glamorous, but it’s where real clarity is built.
Wishing you a very successful week ahead, and you can expect more practical insights and resources along these lines soon!
Some honest, hard truths of customer creation and business growth underlined in this article! Must read for entrepreneurs or anyone building their business
Appreciate that. Honest early-stage work is rarely glamorous, but it’s where real businesses are built
The messy, manual work of convincing real humans to care is where learning happens fastest.
Exactly, proximity to real humans compresses learning in a way no abstraction ever can
The reminder that early growth is supposed to feel manual is refreshing. My first customers came from follow-ups I almost didn’t send and calls I was nervous to take.
Those uncomfortable follow-ups and calls are often the real inflection points.
You are right. Early customers are won through direct effort, not clever systems, and that uncomfortable phase is unavoidable if you want real signal. It mirrors what we see consistently in practice too, CB Insights found that 35 percent of startups fail because there is no genuine market need, not because of weak execution. The emphasis on manual work is refreshing because it forces learning rather than hiding behind dashboards. There is also something grounding about reframing small numbers as leverage rather than failure. It is often the conversations at five users that shape what works at five hundred. At what point do you usually see founders emotionally resist this phase, even when they intellectually agree with it?
Thank you for sharing these insights with us Melanie. I usually see resistance peak right when founders intellectually agree but emotionally want validation without discomfort
The uncomfortable, manual work of personally engaging your first users is not inefficiency; it’s discovery.
Absolutely. That hands-on phase builds intuition and judgment that no later-stage system can substitute