How To Get Your First Users

Why It Matters

Securing paying early adopters turns feedback into revenue and directs product evolution, dramatically shortening the time to market‑fit for capital‑intensive startups.

Key Takeaways

• Target early adopters through personalized outreach, not mass advertising.
• Charge paying customers early to obtain sharper, actionable feedback.
• Build a minimum evolvable product, not just a static MVP.
• Iterate rapidly, experiment often, and accept churn as learning.
• Early users shape product direction and future market positioning.

Summary

The video tackles the perennial startup challenge of acquiring the first paying users. It argues that early adopters are a scarce but decisive segment, and that founders should treat user acquisition as a targeted search rather than a broad persuasion campaign.

Key tactics include reaching out personally to people who love testing new tools, charging real money from day one to elicit high‑quality feedback, and launching a “minimum evolvable product” that can be reshaped quickly. Founders are urged to run constant experiments—pricing, landing pages, onboarding flows—and to view churn as a low‑cost learning signal.

The speaker cites real examples: a colleague named Gustaf who scouts startups for Airbnb, a three‑day purchase of an inference‑API startup, and Tesla’s Roadster serving as an early‑adopter testbed that dictated the company’s later product line. These anecdotes illustrate how a handful of committed users can steer a venture’s trajectory.

For entrepreneurs, the lesson is clear: the characteristics of the first users will define the product’s evolution and market fit, especially in capital‑intensive domains like AI where consumer budgets are thin. By focusing on paying early adopters and building a flexible product core, startups can accelerate learning, secure revenue, and set a growth path that scales.

Original Description

When you're starting out, it isn’t enough to just build a minimum viable product. You also need a minimum evolvable product - one that can adapt to the needs of those critical early customers.

In this episode of Main Function, YC General Partner Ankit Gupta offers an update to the classic MVP playbook. He’ll outline strategies for getting your first customers, the power of adaptability and how feedback from early users will ultimately shape the future of your product and your company.

Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply

Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

Chapters:

00:00 – The Minimum Evolvable Product Playbook

00:46 – Finding the First True Believers

01:29 – Counterintuitive Rules To Get Early Users

02:10 – Learn Fast And Don’t Fear Churn

02:52 – How Early Users Shape the Market You Enter

04:22 – Tesla Case Study

05:14 – Conclusion