[joelgascoigne]

For Buffer, the first $10k came from approximately our first 1,000 paying customers. That said, we've changed our pricing a few times so the number may not be exact.

The great part about getting $10k from recurring payments is that it can grow beyond $10k pretty quickly (now $100k+/mo).

As for the real "how", I think the key is to first find out something you can solve which is truly a problem for some number of people, and then to provide it and market to people the fact it exists.