For B2B Startups/SaaS/Businesses .. How did you find your first client.

I can’t imagine building an MVP without a client waiting. How do you know what to build? Guess?

In our case we had 50-60 people and teams which we interviewed. We onboarded them to the first version of the app. Of course most of them churned (bugs / lacking features / no good fit), so it's important to keep a fresh list of people who you can onboard with the next iteration of the product you are building.

Then with what we learned we launched on Reddit / Twitter and then people started signing up and telling their friends about our product.

To acquire a 1st set of customers you can try launching a Lifetime deal for your product

Taking the first opportunity available.

When I was in college, a small business reached out to the schools computer science department. I was the only one to reach back out. Worked with that client on and off for 3 years.

I always had luck finding the communities where the customers I am trying to get are active like forums, social platforms, etc and trying to get active and engaged in those and see if what I am building can add value to someone and if they would be willing to help out on it.

The best way is to develop a website with good UX (https://jaydevs.com/staff-augmentation/hire-ux-designers/) and start an ad campaign in Google or social media. It's not so cheap but it's fast.

Cold and lukewarm outreach

Here at Croct, we've acquired the first ones thru an investor relationship. In the beginning, they introduced us to C-levels of some companies, and these intros helped us get the first 5 customers. Then, we got a chance to appear on a relevant news website about business and startups, people started to hear from us, and the next ones followed.

i havent launched yet but i have a list of clients waiting

I kinda agree with most of the comments here BUT what if you are yourself the first client?

I've built https://campaign0.xyz because I find myself re-inventing the wheel with every project I launched. I build products, services, games, mobile apps... you name it! Referrals, discounts, benefits were always part of the growth I've seen (if I had any) and I found myself building the same referral/discount/benefits mechanisms over and over again. That's why I decided to make it a separate business which all my other apps can integrate.

So in this case, I kinda knew what I needed but it also was different from what paying customers needed. It requires a ton of back and forth with your paying clients to figure out their needs.

1. Cold email outreaching
2. Partnership with our incubator

It works pretty nice. Especially incubators with many residents who might be interested in your solution.

Got our first paid client in a startup event. Others were from Reddit/Indie Hackers.

Kinde's an auth platform and we got our first few through outreach to employee networks & partnerships with accelerators. Helped having a ~30 person team but still, networks probably the way to go :)

Personal relationships are always good options in the early stage. Also got some customers from launches.

Been in Micro SaaS ecosystem for sometime and building multiple products.

Most B2Bs target customers via Cold Outreach, LinkedIn, Free Products to improve CTAs etc.

But I got my first B2B client for Siteoly, by launching on ProductHunt Launch, BetaList, IH and Reddit. I didnot had a client but came via launches and shoutouts.