My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Acquire first 100 customers through authentic community engagement
Early-stage B2C startups with clearly defined user communities
3-6 monthsWhat Success Looks Like
100+ paying customers acquired organically with strong retention, community leaders actively recommending your product
Steps to Execute
Identify 5-10 Facebook groups where your target users congregate
Join groups and spend 2-3 weeks only adding value (helpful posts, answering questions)
Identify group admins and active power users
Reach out to admins for 15-minute feedback calls
Show product and gather detailed feedback without pitching
Implement suggested changes and follow up showing improvements
After they're genuine users, ask if they think the community would find it valuable
Let them post about it or get permission to post for feedback only
Checklist
Inputs Needed
- Clear target user persona
- List of relevant Facebook groups
- Valuable content to share regularly
- Product demo or trial access
- Feedback incorporation process
Outputs
- 100+ engaged customers
- Strong product-market fit signals
- Community advocate network
- Refined product based on real user feedback
Example
“Jenny AI founder joined grad student Facebook groups, spent weeks helping with research questions, built relationships with group admins, got detailed feedback on the essay writing tool, and only after admins were genuine users did they recommend it to their communities.”