Finding your first 1000 customers as a start up

I spoke to founder of braincare start up Heights Dan Murray-Serter to find out how they got off the ground:

1) Earn trust

Operating in supplement industry lacking clinically backed claims, trust has always been the biggest barrier to Heights. But it's also an opportunity.

Heights built credibility and an initial customer base by filling a trust vacuum in their category. The brand’s messaging is consistently education led, transparent in its claims and repeatedly draws on peer reviewed research.

2) Community

Before any product was developed, the brand built a 10,000 strong audience around a weekly newsletter covering nutrition and neuroscience. Populated by high performing leaders & aspirational entrepreneurs, it became the bedrock of Height’s early customer base.

The tribe enabled Height to identify market fit, gather insight for product development, and subsequently sell their supplement An introduction from a community member also gave the brand it’s most high profile customer - renowned intellect Stephen Fry.

3) Product quality

By incorporating community feedback and over indexing on product hires, Heights refined a high quality brain supplement, delivered in letter-box friendly, sustainable packaging.

The innovative double capsule is designed to release the 18 plant-based ingredients into the gut, where they have the best chance of being absorbed. Unlike similar products it can be taken without food, so flexibly fits around consumer’s daily lives.

This emphasis on quality in an industry notorious for peddling spuriously ineffective products is a real differentiator for Heights.

4) Consistency

Delivering trust, community and product quality on a consistent basis is now the emphasis for the brand.

The newsletter they leveraged so effectively to win early business is still a key channel, and is shared every Sunday without fail. Through it, and their owned social accounts, consumers have come to learn what to expect from Heights.

Dan isn’t quick to pat himself on the back, however - ‘this period is literally just a foundational phase for us, we’ve always been more invested in building the brand than we are in selling the product’.

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