[drharris]

Best advice is to not do this, or anything like it. If you're a one-man show, then be sure to blog, tweet, or otherwise communicate with your customers often. Treat them like people, and build a following. When your startup fails (and 99% do), hopefully a good portion of those will follow you to your next venture. Building customers through respect is what builds a lasting brand (you). Don't take money until you have a product to give them, unless you're upfront about it.

[exo_duz]

@drharris:

That's what I'm doing at the moment. One of the biggest pivot in my Internet habits is that I've changed from being a lurker (just looking and not doing things) to being more active in the community, discussion or post. Even on HN. I've been here for ages but never contributed anything of value.

That will change now as I have to be able to harness the comments and engagements of people who are more knowledgable than me in this respect.

Thanks again for your advice.

[adii]

Just to be 100% clear: we never took any money for anything we didn't have. When we eventually opened the doors to our V1, there was actually something there and only at that point did we charge anyone's credit card.