Startups, this is how to make first sales

As someone who's been in the SaaS space for years, I've seen countless promising products fail not because of poor execution, but because they couldn't crack those crucial first sales. They are the foundation that determines whether we make it or break it.

The old "I'll build it, they'll come" mentality needs to die. Today, I'm sharing my battle-tested strategies for securing those vital first customers.

Here are 6 ways to get these first sales

1. Your network WANTS to support you🤝

By being around & consistent, you start inspiring trust. People get to know who you are (storytelling, chats, calls)

Building a quality network is a MUST in business

Some of your close followers will probably be your core/early adopters: one-word, "quality" relationships

Goal: 5 early buyers min. from socials (X, Reddit, Linkedin) 💳

source: https://humanskills.blog/the-innovation-model/

2. Consider doing a pre-sale

⚠️ "What if I'm not comfortable pre-selling a product that doesn't even exist"?

Hear this all the time -

My answer: what's the worst-case scenario? You can't deliver, then refund everyone, no harm done.

Goal: 5-10 early buyer min.

3. Launch day🚀

Combine them, consider them as playgrounds, moments in the timeline of your startup where you share a BIG release..

You want eyes + to kickstart your business profit (MRR>$0)

They should help you make your first sales - capitalize on that, share your wins, create trust, provide excellent service.

Some of them: Product Hunt, Microlaunch.net, DevHunt

Goal: 3-10 buyers -

Launching on the Microlaunch Leaderboard

4. Post-launch platforms

We often referred to them as broad "Distribution"

• Directories
• Appsumo
• some launch platforms focusing on sales such as Microlaunch.net📈
• advertising

more to come in this field soon, gonna introduce a sales event concept for those interested

P.S. don't ditch SEO + Ads from the post-launch scope

Goal: regular traffic/sales & positive ROI>0

Use The Microlaunch HQ for your post-launch

5. Use a Framework to Measure your Conversions & Analytics

Implementing the AARRR Framework (also known as Pirate Metrics) is crucial for tracking your early sales performance:

Acquisition: Track where your users come from

• Monitor traffic sources (organic, paid, referral)
• Set up UTM parameters for all marketing campaigns
• Use Google Analytics to measure visitor behavior

Activation: Measure meaningful first experiences

• Track sign-up completion rates
• Monitor free trial activations
• Measure feature adoption rates

Retention: Keep users coming back

• Calculate Daily/Weekly Active Users (DAU/WAU)
• Monitor churn rates
• Track feature usage over time

Referral: Encourage word-of-mouth

• Implement referral tracking
• Measure NPS scores
• Track social shares and mentions

Revenue: Monitor your bottom line

• Track MRR growth
• Measure conversion rates from free to paid
• Calculate Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

Tools to consider:

• Mixpanel for user analytics
• Amplitude for behavioral analysis
• Segment for data collection
• ChartMogul for subscription analytics

Goal: Achieve 10% week-over-week growth in key metrics 📈

Remember: What gets measured gets managed. Start tracking these metrics from day one to make data-driven decisions.

Source: https://productled.com/blog/how-to-create-a-value-based-saas-dashboard-design

6. Warm DMs > Cold DMs

I've less experience with this, gonna share all my learnings, going all-in on them for Q4.

The idea: nail your targeting, be unconditionally relevant

Keeping yall' posted

Goal: solid open rate + follow up rate + conversion rate (multi-step)

7. Don't neglect SEO!

You should kickstart your SEO foundations from day two (day one is for the domain)..🫠

Kidding apart, this is a HARD field, w/ tons of intricacies

The algorithm (PageRank) can be so ungrateful.. keep producing quality content

Some HCU Takeaways:

• do not over-focus on keywords
• focus on visitor intent
• ideally commercial keywords (don't totally ditch informational ones ofc)📷<💰

Goal: 1-5 keywords highly converting

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Hope you enjoyed this post

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