a single source, nothing corroborates it

Stay out of the auction while you are bootstrapped

Any channel with a fixed cost per customer drains cash faster the better it works, which is survivable on investor money and not otherwise: a funded rival can pay a hundred dollars for a customer worth twenty a month because they only need them to stay a year. Search and paid social put you head to head against every better funded competitor in the same auction. That is not a contest a bootstrapper wins, and it costs real time or money just to get a passable campaign live.

The method

1. 01

   Avoid any acquisition channel with a fixed cost per customer while bootstrapped, since growth then drains cash faster the better it works.

2. 02

   Rule out channels that put you in a bidding contest against venture-funded competitors, because that is not a contest a bootstrapper wins.

3. 03

   Search ads are the single worst route to first customers: you pay per customer, you bid head-on against every better-funded rival, and it costs real time or money just to get a passable campaign live.

What it returned

• $100

  Funded companies can pay $100 to win a customer paying $20 a month because they only need that customer to stay about a year

• Adwords and Facebook ads named specifically

Sources

• Chapter 5: Getting Your First Customers - Tyler TringasTyler Tringas · tylertringas.com · How NOT to get your first customers · 2017-01-19