How founders actually find their first customers

What we analysed

This page is built on ViableBrand's Find Your People reports: each one takes a founder's description of a problem and returns the specific places online where people already complain about it, with a search phrase and a message to open the conversation.

The numbers below come from those runs, aggregated. Nothing is per founder. A bucket is only shown once it holds at least 20 reports; below that it reads "not enough data yet" rather than a small-sample guess. The count and the date the numbers were computed are printed with them.

Limits worth knowing: the reports describe where a model expects to find people, and the tracked results describe which places founders reported as having worked. Both are self-reported by the founders who ran them, and the early sample skews toward software and services.

Where the reports send founders

Across 4 Find Your People reports and 28 suggested hunting grounds, computed September 22, 2026.

Not enough data yet. This table fills in once 20 reports have been run; until then a breakdown would be a guess dressed as a finding, and we would rather show you the method and the example below.

How to find them yourself

The method is called Find Your People. It has four steps, and the whole thing fits in an afternoon.

1. 1

   Write the problem in their words, not yours

   One sentence, no product. "Independent dog groomers lose hours every week to no-show appointments" finds people. "A scheduling platform for pet-care professionals" finds competitors. If your sentence contains your category name, rewrite it until it sounds like a complaint someone would actually post.

2. 2

   Find the rooms where that complaint already lives

   For most problems there are three or four: a subreddit, the one- and two-star reviews of whatever people use today, a niche forum or Facebook group, and a professional directory. Search each for the pain phrase from step one, not for your category. A review site's filter set to one star is the fastest way to find people mid-struggle.

3. 3

   Ask about the last time, not about your idea

   Send a short message that says you are not selling anything and asks two questions about their last real experience with the problem: how often it happens, and what they have already tried. Never ask whether they would use or pay for your idea. People are polite; the past is not.

4. 4

   Keep the ones who answered, and go back

   Five people who replied are worth more than five hundred who scrolled past. Write their names down, note where you found each one, and treat that list as your first customer list. When you have something to show, they are the first to see it, and the first to be asked what it should cost.

A worked example

A run from this week, for an idea we used to test the tool: deposit collection and SMS reminders for independent dog groomers who lose revenue to no-shows. The problem sentence went in; this came back.

The research ask it wrote

Hi, I saw your post about clients not showing up for grooming appointments. I am not selling anything, I am just trying to understand how groomers deal with this. Could I trade you a coffee or a few minutes for your honest experience? Two quick questions: how many no-shows hit you in a typical week, and what have you tried so far to cut them down? Totally fine if you would rather just reply here.

Four places, one message, and a founder could be talking to real groomers the same afternoon. Note what is missing: no landing page, no ad, no audience, and nothing about the product.

Questions founders ask

How do I find my first customers with no audience?

You borrow one. The people with your problem already gather somewhere, and those places have search boxes. Searching a subreddit or a review site for the complaint in their own words puts you in front of them without a single follower.

Where do potential customers hang out online?

For most problems, four kinds of place: the subreddit for the role or hobby, the low-star reviews of the tool they use today, a niche forum or Facebook group, and the professional directory for the trade. Which four depends on the problem, which is what the Find Your People report works out.

How many people should I talk to before building?

Enough that the answers start repeating. For a narrow problem that is often eight to twelve conversations. If ten people describe the same last-time story, you have a pattern; if ten people describe ten different problems, you have not found your people yet.

What should I ask potential customers?

About the past, never the future. When did this last happen, how often does it happen, what did it cost you, what have you tried. Skip "would you use this" and "would you pay for this"; people say yes to be kind, and the yes is worthless.

How do I find people to interview for customer discovery?

The same way you find customers, because they are the same people. Find the rooms where the complaint lives, reply to a specific post with a specific question, and offer to trade a few minutes for their experience. A reply to a real post gets answered far more often than a cold message.

How is this different from posting about my product?

Posting about your product asks strangers to care about you. Asking about their problem asks them to talk about themselves, which they will happily do. The product comes up later, once you know what they actually said.

Is there a tool that does this?

Yes. ViableBrand's Find Your People report takes your problem sentence and returns the specific places, the search phrase for each, and the message to send. The first run is free and does not need an account.