| Reach out to potential customers on LinkedIn before writing a single line of code. Say you're a researcher, Founder, or author trying to learn more about __ (insert problem you're solving). Are they available for a 20 minute call to chat about this problem? If you need more time (60 minutes), offer to pay their hourly rate. No one has ever taken me up on this, but offering is a courtesy and shows you respect their time. Don't try to sell anything on the first call. Just listen and let them do the talking. Try to understand if they make decisions about purchasing software, or if they'd need to convince someone else to buy this. Stack-rank a list of their current priorities and problems, and dig into how they're solving or working around the problem right now. Write a personalized thank-you note and follow up on ANYTHING you can do to return the favor. Most businesses are struggling with some key hire, so my default is a warm email intro to someone else in my network. The next call is for showing a rough prototype. Build a small demo if you're an engineer, or glue together a no-code solution if you're not. If you're solving a high value problem, even a rough version will seem like a godsend. Check out Jason Cohen's talk about bootstrapping a business, where he covers choosing a market and validation: https://youtu.be/otbnC2zE2rw?si=jjjOXiDaUfZyKFVh |