[tertius]

> compared to what the author actually recommends in the article (spamming).

Did you actually read the article?

SEO won't get you customers. Selling will.

He's saying, sell manually at first so that you can get to know your customer (and also see if your product is valuable). I.e. put in the time. This is universal sales 101.

Spending time getting HN frontpage or months on SEO won't get you any customers.

Sell.

[Kiro]

> SEO won't get you customers.

What's with the hyperbole? Of course SEO can get you customers. I got all my customers through SEO.

[tertius]

You mean, after they arrived on your website you sold them something?

[Kiro]

Yes, but I'm pretty sure we're discussing outbound selling here though.

[sharemywin]

just curious how long it took to get your first customer from SEO?

[Kiro]

One or two months from launch. Basically just left it there without thinking much of it and then started to get customers all of a sudden. Now doing 7 digits revenue.

[jasonsync]

Cold emails derived from addresses collected on Google does not constitute spam?

I read the article up until that point.

==

Edit:

I'm just saying ... Google "how to get your first 10 customers"

https://www.google.ca/search?q=how+to+get+your+first+10+cust...

This article has hit the front page. I'm sure most businesses owners looking to get their first 10 customers research those keywords, and may be looking for a payment solution, to get incorporated etc. So the subtle SEO here helps Stripe / Stripe Atlas get more customers.

Furthermore, as a startup, content like this allows you to post and promote your brand on Quora, HN, Reddit etc., which can start conversations that lead to sales. These types of posts particularly work great on popular entrepreneur forums.

We got many of our first customers, and continue to get customers, by posting content. Combined with a free option. So far we haven't done any spamming via cold emails.

Certainly cold emails can work, but they may also come across as being "spammy".

[tertius]

Realize that your success in selling your product without actually cold connecting prospects is rare.

Also, marketers ruin everything. That's just a part of the game.

And yes getting an email about something that I'm not interested in, i.e. 100k bulk email sucks.

Getting a personal email about something that I need is different. I.e. qualifying your leads.

Provide value first then take profit.

[no1youknowz]

Yes, but I know of marketers who have employed this tactic and it actually does work very well. Especially if you target those emails with laser focus.