Your first customer chooses your market

In the blog ‘The paradox of entrepreneurial selling’ you saw that the easiest first customer often takes you the least far. This is the other side of that same coin. Your first customers do not only decide whether you survive, they decide who you become. So choose them the way you choose a co-pilot: they help set your course.

Your start leaves a lasting imprint

Researchers call it imprinting: the conditions in which you begin leave a lasting stamp on what your company becomes (Marquis and Tilcsik 2013). Your first customers help shape your offer, your language, the sector in which you are heard. What began as one chance assignment quietly becomes your specialisation. That is not a disaster, as long as you are aware of it. Anyone who chooses their first customer only because that customer is willing lets chance decide their market.

Choose the well-connected customer, not merely the willing one

For a young company the first customer is not a goal but a gateway to a network full of further customers. A reference within a dense part of your market is worth more than several quiet deals at its edges (Granovetter 1973). So the question for every candidate is twofold: can I win them, and who will they introduce me to? Prefer the customer who introduces you to twenty others.

Your first customers do not only decide whether you survive, they decide who you become.

Turn early customers into co-developers and references

The strongest first customers are the ones who help build. Let them shape your offer and lend you their credibility. An early customer who becomes your reference, or even your advocate, opens more doors than any campaign. So treat those first collaborations not as a sale but as a partnership: you deliver value, and in return you get shape, trust and access.

Use the knowledge ecosystem you already have

Do not underestimate the nodes that lie close by. Universities, colleges, incubators and professional communities are often the strongest first links, especially in a region like Flanders with a strong knowledge ecosystem but a thinner business ecosystem (Clarysse et al. 2014). Where the business world does not yet hand you customers, the knowledge network brings you to the right first conversations. Start where you are already credible.

In practice: make a short list of your possible first customers. For each one note not only how likely the deal is, but also which network it opens and which market it imposes on you. Deliberately choose the customer who fits the company you want to become, not just next month’s revenue.

References

• Clarysse, Bart, Mike Wright, Johan Bruneel, and Aarti Mahajan. 2014. “Creating Value in Ecosystems: Crossing the Chasm between Knowledge and Business Ecosystems.” Research Policy 43 (7): 1164–1176.
• Granovetter, Mark S. 1973. “The Strength of Weak Ties.” American Journal of Sociology 78 (6): 1360–1380.
• Marquis, Christopher, and András Tilcsik. 2013. “Imprinting: Toward a Multilevel Theory.” Academy of Management Annals 7 (1): 195–245.

Series · From first customer to ecosystem · Add Business