How to get first 100 customers: the constraint stack

<p>You have been told to "go talk to users." This advice is true, but useless. It is a checklist item, not a strategy. Talking to a few friends who are being polite does not count as market traction. That kind of effort feels good, but it does not produce the momentum you need.</p> <p>The problem is that you are applying scalable marketing tactics to a non-scalable problem. You are trying to set up a complex funnel when you have zero inputs. You are building an SEO moat before you have a single customer review. You are using a sledgehammer when you need a scalpel.</p> <p>Getting your first 100 customers is a task of pure, deterministic output. It is not about virality or broad awareness. It is about manually solving a single constraint, over and over, until you build a small, defensible signal. This signal is what you can later scale. Until then, forget the funnels.</p> <p>We use a system called The 100-Customer Constraint Stack. It forces you to identify the single, immediate barrier to acquisition and solve it before moving on. It replaces vague "growth hacking" with engineering-grade clarity.</p> <h2>TL;DR</h2> <p>To get your first 100 customers, stop chasing broad awareness and instead systematically remove the single biggest constraint blocking your next few sales.</p> <p><em>Short on time? Scroll down to The Cold Outreach Strategy Builder section for a copy-paste action plan.</em></p> <h2>How to get first 100 customers: identify and resolve the single constraint blocking acquisition</h2> <p>Most early growth problems look like a conversion issue but are actually a clarity or channel issue. You think you need a better landing page when you actually need to talk to ten more people. You need a way to filter the noise and focus on what matters now.</p> <p>The 100-Customer Constraint Stack uses three simple layers. You cannot move up until the layer below is resolved. You must focus all resources on the lowest active constraint.</p> <h3><h3 id="constraint-1-clarity">Constraint 1: Clarity (Customers 1–10)</h3></h3> <p>Clarity is the hardest constraint to solve because it feels like you are not working. You are supposed to be building, but here you are, writing copy.</p> <p>The first 10 customers are testing your core <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">marketing strategy</a>: do you know who you serve and what problem you solve? When you talk to your first five users, and they all use wildly different language to describe your product, you have a clarity problem. Until this is fixed, every channel will fail.</p> <p>You have permission to ignore all talk of ad spend and SEO right now. You are too early. If your core message is wrong, pouring money or time into distribution is just amplifying a mistake.</p> <p>A specific action you can take in the next hour: write down, in one sentence, what your customer was doing the moment before they decided to try your product. If you cannot do this, you lack clarity.</p> <p>For example, a project management tool founder found that their first users were not looking for "better task management." They were looking for "a way to stop using Google Docs for their product specs." The language matters. <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-define-your-target-audience">Define your target audience</a> precisely.</p> <p>Founder Action: Interview five target users this week. Record the exact words they use to describe the problem and the value of your solution. Use their words in your headline. This is a small win you can achieve today.</p> <h3><h3 id="constraint-2-channel">Constraint 2: Channel (Customers 11–50)</h3></h3> <p>Once your clarity is sharp—the message lands, people nod their heads—you hit the second constraint: channel. You know what to say, but you do not know where to say it so that the right people hear it.</p> <p>The standard advice is to "test all channels." This creates chaos. Instead, pick one channel where you can reliably reach 50 people who fit your clarity criteria. For early-stage B2B software, this is almost always cold outreach, small niche communities, or a targeted industry Slack group. It is not TikTok. It is not Twitter.</p> <p>A reframe that makes you feel competent and capable again: Marketing is a physics problem. You are looking for high-density, low-friction environments. You are looking for a place where your 50 people gather, not where 5 million people scroll mindlessly.</p> <p>If you are building an AI tool for graphic designers, spend 40 hours in three specific Discord servers, not 40 hours on your company blog. The blog comes later. This is an application of <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-choose-marketing-channels">how to choose marketing channels</a> based on user density.</p> <p>Founder Action: Choose one channel. Write 50 personalized cold emails or DMs this week. Focus on initiating a conversation about their problem, not selling the product.</p> <h3><h3 id="constraint-3-conversion">Constraint 3: Conversion (Customers 51–100)</h3></h3> <p>This is where you finally get to tinker with the code and copy. The conversion constraint means people are hearing your clear message in the right place (channel), but they are not signing up.</p> <p>Until Constraint 2 is solved, a low conversion rate is a channel or clarity problem hiding in plain sight. If 100 people see your landing page, and 80% are cold outreach targets who said they had the problem, and only two sign up—now you have a conversion problem. You have proof the other constraints are mostly stable.</p> <p>Conversion in the early stage is not about A/B testing button colors. It is about lowering the emotional barrier to entry. Your early users are taking a huge risk on you. You need to validate that risk.</p> <p>You should inject social proof, even if it is tiny. If you have three customers who said the product saved them 10 hours, put that number in the headline. If you have zero, promise a personal onboarding call with the founder (you). You are selling access and certainty, not features.</p> <p>Founder Action: Add one line of extreme specificity to your hero section. Instead of "Save time with AI," write "Save 10 hours per month writing data-driven reports." This small change can move the needle from 51 to 100 quickly.</p> <h2>The Cold Outreach Strategy Builder</h2> <p>The fastest path to your first 100 customers involves high-friction, high-output manual work. This prompt helps you draft outreach that focuses on the constraint you are currently solving (Clarity, Channel, or Conversion).</p> <p>Copy-paste the prompt below and replace the bracketed sections.</p> <p><strong>PROMPT: Cold Outreach Strategy Builder</strong></p> <p>I am launching [YOUR PRODUCT], which solves [THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM] for [YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER, e.g., CFOs at $10M–$50M SaaS companies]. I need to create a three-stage cold outreach sequence for LinkedIn DMs. Assume I have solved Constraint 1 (Clarity) and am solving Constraint 2 (Channel).</p> <p>Draft three separate messages (under 100 words each) for this sequence:</p> <p>1. **The Hook:** A connection request message that focuses solely on a shared professional interest or a genuine observation about their recent work, not the product. Goal: connection accepted.</p> <p>2. **The Problem Validation:** A first message after connection that states their specific problem, asks a validating question, and offers no pitch. Goal: a reply confirming the pain.</p> <p>3. **The Micro-Pitch/Offer:** A final message that offers my product as a solution to the pain they confirmed, with a very low-friction CTA (e.g., "15-minute sync," or "free 1-month trial").</p> <p>Example Output (for an AI code review tool targeting DevOps engineers):</p> <p>1. Hook: "Saw your recent post on optimizing latency in Python microservices. Always impressive to see clean refactoring. Just sent a request."</p> <p>2. Problem Validation: "Quick question: for teams shipping weekly, where does the code review process bottleneck the most? Is it accuracy, or just sheer speed?"</p> <p>3. Micro-Pitch/Offer: "Got it. We built [Product] specifically to cut review time on those large PRs by 40% using an async AI layer. We’re offering a free 1-month to 10 teams this week. Worth a quick look?"</p> <p>This Cold Outreach Strategy Builder is one of countless interconnected prompts designed to help founders build momentum in every facet of their <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-build-a-marketing-strategy">marketing strategy</a>.</p> <h2>FAQ</h2> <h2>FAQ</h2> <h3>Q: Should I run paid ads to get my first 100 customers?</h3> <p>A: Almost certainly not. Paid ads are a way to accelerate a proven channel, not a way to discover one. If you put $1,000 into ads right now, it will burn through your budget without providing the critical qualitative feedback you need to nail your clarity. Focus on manual, high-friction channels first—the ones that force you to talk to people. You need to solve the <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/startup-marketing-fundamentals">startup marketing fundamentals</a> first.</p> <h3>Q: How long should it take to get the first 100 customers?</h3> <p>A: For B2B products, the range is wide—from 3 months to over a year. The timeline is less important than the process. If you spend three months solving Constraint 1 (Clarity) and then three months solving Constraint 2 (Channel), you are operating with strategy. If you spend six months cycling through random tactics, you have a <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/marketing-plan-vs-strategy">plan versus strategy</a> confusion. Strategy gives you momentum.</p> <h3>Q: I am stuck between Constraint 1 (Clarity) and Constraint 2 (Channel). What is the one thing I should prioritize?</h3> <p>A: Prioritize clarity. If you are struggling, your target customer is likely too broad. Instead of "SaaS founders," try "SaaS founders with 5-15 employees who sell to the finance department." This specificity makes it instantly obvious where your customer gathers (Constraint 2) and exactly what pain they have (Clarity). You must get hyper-specific on <a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-define-your-target-audience">how to define your target audience</a>.</p> <h3>Q: My product is free. Do I still need to worry about the Constraint Stack?</h3> <p>A: Yes. A free product just lowers the Conversion Constraint (Constraint 3), but it often makes the Clarity and Channel Constraints harder. If your product is free, people will try it, but they will not tell you why they stopped using it. You still need exceptional clarity on the value proposition and a dedicated channel to acquire users who will give you honest feedback, not just clicks.</p> <hr> <h2>Start running operator-grade marketing in under an hour.</h2> <p>LiftKit is the only strategy-first AI marketing system built for founders. It distills the same Fortune-500 frameworks used at Apple, Stripe, and McKinsey into a simple, actionable playbook you can run in under an hour.</p> <p>Stop tinkering with tactics. Start operating with strategy.</p> <p><strong><a href="https://getliftkit.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get LiftKit</a></strong></p> <h2>Keep learning</h2> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/frameworks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Frameworks</strong></a>: Learn proven mental models to diagnose, prioritise, and scale marketing outcomes.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/channels" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Channels</strong></a>: Understand which acquisition paths actually work and how to deploy them strategically.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/messaging" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Messaging</strong></a>: Build positioning, angle, and copy that converts without guesswork.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/strategy" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Strategy</strong></a>: Make smarter decisions using operator-grade prompts and structured thinking.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/tools" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tools</strong></a>: Use AI, automation, and practical templates to move faster.</p> <p><a href="https://learn.getliftkit.com/research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Research</strong></a>: Tap into market insights, psychology, and patterns that drive effective marketing.</p> <script type='application/ld+json'> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "headline": "How to get first 100 customers: the constraint stack", "description": "TL;DR", "articleSection": "learn", "keywords": "how to get first 100 customers, startups, traction, early growth", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "LiftKit" }, "url": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-get-first-100-customers", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://learn.getliftkit.com/learn/how-to-get-first-100-customers" } </script>