How To Get Your First Users

About this video

• Video Title: How To Get Your First Users
• Channel: Y Combinator
• Speakers: Not explicitly mentioned, but likely a Y Combinator representative.
• Duration: 00:05:42

Overview

This video explains how to acquire the initial users for a new product, emphasizing the importance of a "Minimum Evolvable Product" over a "Minimum Viable Product." It discusses how to find early adopters, the value of charging for early access, and how these first users significantly influence the product's development and market direction, using Tesla as a case study.

Key takeaways

• Minimum Evolvable Product (MEP): The initial version of a product needs to be designed to evolve and adapt based on early user interactions, not just to be functional (MVP).
• Finding True Believers: Focus on identifying individuals who are inherently early adopters or have a pressing need that your product can solve, rather than trying to persuade the general public.
• Charge for Early Access: Charging early users provides more valuable, sharper feedback and signals commitment, distinguishing them from free users.
• Targeted Outreach: Direct, personal outreach methods like cold emails or in-person visits are more effective for finding early adopters than broad advertising.
• Learn from Early Users: Treat early users like an anthropologist studying a new culture to understand their motivations, decision-making processes, and needs.
• Embrace Experimentation and Churn: Continuously experiment with pricing, features, and onboarding, and don't fear user churn, as this is a natural part of the evolutionary process.
• Market Shaping: Early users' preferences and needs significantly shape the product's evolution and the market it ultimately enters.
• Tesla Case Study: Tesla's Roadster, an impractical but high-margin vehicle, helped them find early adopters and fund development, illustrating how initial product choices are path-dependent on early user feedback.