Happy Friday letter getters.
It's all happening. We're finally at Season Two of LaunchLetter. I think something that has been missing from the emails is making an interview into a letter. When I started, I promised to deliver a letter from a CEO or co-founder to you each week. That sounds pretty awesome and personal. I bet you'd expect something unique that you can think about as you are setting goals for your own day.
I'm going to keep the same format for now, but at the bottom of today's interview, I wrote you some of the interview answers in letter format as a more personal way to help you start your day. Today your letter is about getting your first customer.
*Make sure you scroll to the bottom of the interview to read today's letter*
Meet your five minute mentor, Gene Caballero. He's the co-founder of Nashville-based GreenPal, a prolific startup described as Uber for lawn care.
I wish someone could solve a way that we could talk to our pets.
How hard it is to obtain your first customer. When we first started GreenPal, we didn't have money for advertising so we decided to go door-to-door to secure our first customers. For two months, we would knock on homeowners' doors to ask them to sign up for our service. It’s the most humbling thing I have ever done in my life.
Meditation. My dad has been meditating for over 30 years and suggested that I try it. It has helped me with my impatience and has truly given me a new perspective on things that are important in life.
That anyone can do it. That is not the case. It takes a special individual that wants to sacrifice every facet of their lives to build something from scratch. You have to be willing to lose friends, family, and relationships to make your vision come to life.
Resiliency. When starting a business, everything will go wrong, everything will cost twice as much as you think, and everything will take twice as long as you think. This will give you a continual mental beating. One has to deal with these issues while staying positive and aligned with your vision.
Dear
Going door to door is a literal example of some of the strategies and plans you may be using using/have used to acquire customer number one. I think it's an important to point out that the subject of today's letter did the legwork himself at first. Pick a method that applies to your business and try it yourself. The painful experience of figuring out how to get to yes as a founder or co-founder is a central part of learning product market fit regardless of business category. Every startup had to get a first customer. You aren't alone if you are fighting this battle right now.
Maybe that's where Gene is going when he mentions that starting a startup isn't for everyone. Startups have a running theme of rejection and failure that founders feel from day one. Maybe you even feel that way from time to time? I think it's fair to ask why someone would put themselves through the grueling process of finding their ideal customer and taking the time to understand them.
If you've already found product-market fit, how did it make you feel? How did your team/company react? Did you yourself make the first customer sale? What did you learn when you did?
If you are still looking for a first customer, I think you should remember that every startup has to solve this problem in some way or another. The good news is, we are all rooting for you here and over at StartupNash, our positive and supportive Slack group. I think this interview will encourage you to keep trying. Maybe there's some merit the door-to-door approach.
Gene Caballero is the co-founder of GreenPal. Fun fact: GreenPal has achieved 100% growth year over year for the 5th year in a row.
Follow Gene on Instagram at gene_caballero
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LaunchLetter is a weekday newsletter from Southern/alpha, a website that features collections of stories and resources for underestimated startup communities.
LaunchLetter is for founders getting started on an idea or business. Our goal is to share the perspective, habits and positive messages of more experienced founders and CEOs. We hope you find it relatable and delightful as you get focused for the day on your own goals. To the stars!
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