Getting the first testimonials feels harder than building the product

Hey 👋

Getting the first few testimonials feels weirdly hard.

0 testimonials = “is this even real?”
1–2 testimonials = “looks cherry-picked”
3–5 testimonials = finally starts to feel legit.

Testimonials aren’t just nice to have. They reduce uncertainty and make people more comfortable signing up, especially when you’re unknown.

Here are the simple approaches:

• Ask early testers directly (keep it to 1–2 sentences, not a review)

• Make it effortless (short form, minimal steps, < 60 seconds)

• Ask right after a positive moment (when someone says “this is awesome”, when you fixed something fast, after a win)

Now I’m curious what actually worked for you in the early days:

Did you wait for paying customers?
Did you incentivize or avoid that completely?
Did you use screenshots as your first “trust signals” instead of written quotes?

Would love to hear what worked (or didn’t) for you.