Entrepreneurs on Campus
The first customer is where most business plans go quiet
Plans have a chapter on marketing and nothing on the afternoon you have to ask a real person for money. In this session a visiting founder describes how their first customer was found, what the conversations were like and what they would do differently, and students practise a short first conversation of their own.
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Asking a stranger for money is the step students fear most and hear least about.
Many students can describe an idea in detail and have never asked anybody to pay for anything. The distance between those two is where a lot of plans stop. It is not a skill problem, it is that nobody has shown them what the first conversation sounds like.
A founder can show that, in plain words: who they went to, what they said, what was awkward and what happened. They can also say that the first customer was not a triumph of marketing but somebody who already knew them or knew a problem.
There is no promise here that a student who follows the same path will find a customer. The session gives students something specific to try, and the honest view of someone who has tried it.
What the speaker is briefed to cover
28 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts of finding a first customer, from the speaker's own experience.
Who Was the First CustomerWithout naming anyone.4
- What kind of customer they were: a person, a shop, a company, someone they knew
- How the founder came to speak to them
- What the customer needed that was not obvious at first
- Whether the first customer turned out to be the right kind
Speakers are asked not to name customers who have not agreed.
Before the AskWhat the founder did before asking for money.4
- How they worked out who was likely to want what they offered
- How many people they spoke to before one agreed to pay
- What they asked, and what they stopped asking
- How they dealt with 'looks nice, let us see'
The Conversation ItselfWhat was actually said.5
The speaker is not asked to give a script. They are asked to describe what worked and what embarrassed them.
- How they explained what they did in a few sentences
- How they described the price, and how they chose it
- What they said when asked for a discount
- What they said when a customer wanted something they could not do
- How they followed up without being a nuisance
Why People Said NoThe more useful half of the story.4
- The most common reasons people declined
- Which of those were about the founder and which about the offer
- What they changed after a string of refusals
- How they kept going after a bad week
Getting PaidThe sale is not finished at the conversation.3
- How and when payment was agreed
- What happened when payment was late, if it was
- What they wish they had written down before starting work
Kept general. The speaker does not give legal or tax advice.
The Second CustomerWhere the next ones came from.4
- Whether the first customer introduced the next
- What they did to make the first customer happy
- How the way they found customers changed over the first year
- What did not scale and what they kept doing anyway
What a Student Could Try This MonthA small, free step the speaker suggests.4
- Who a student could talk to about a problem they have noticed
- What a useful first question sounds like
- How to write down what they hear
- How to tell the difference between politeness and interest
What the founder prepares
- A plain account of how their first customer came about
- An example of a conversation that went badly and why
- A suggestion for one small first step a student could try
- Clarity that their path is one example and may not fit a different business
What students do
- Write the problem they would solve in two sentences
- List fifteen people they could speak to about it
- Practise a first conversation in pairs, one as the customer
- Ask the founder about the first no they heard
How the session runs
The founder speaks for about twenty minutes, following the parts above. Students then work in pairs for ten to fifteen minutes on a short exercise: one describes a problem and what they would offer, the other plays a person who might need it and asks what a real person would ask. The rest of the time goes to questions. The speaker is briefed on what to cover and on the no-pitch rule: they may describe what they do, but may not sell to the room, recruit from it or ask students to sign up for anything. The exercise is practice only, and students are not asked to approach anyone as part of the session. A member of the college's staff stays in the room.
What your students leave with
- An honest account of where a first customer can come from
- An understanding that finding one starts with a conversation, not an advertisement
- Practice at describing a problem you could solve in two sentences
- Less fear of asking someone to pay for something
- A list of the first fifteen people each student could actually talk to
- Questions to ask a founder about their first sale
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Let students hear how the first customer was found, and practise the first conversation.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.