How to Find Your Startup’s First True Fans and Turn Them Into Lifelong Customers

Every successful startup begins with a handful of passionate customers who see the value before anyone else. These are your 'earlyvangelists'—visionary individuals who recognize their pain and are willing to try new solutions.

Identifying these earlyvangelists requires more than surveys and assumptions. It involves writing down clear hypotheses about who your customers are, what problems they face, and how your product solves them. Then, you must get out of the building and test these hypotheses through direct conversations and observations.

For example, a startup targeting home office solutions initially assumed small businesses would buy their $1400 device. Through discovery, they found these customers balked at the price and shifted focus to large corporations with home-based salesforces, only to discover the product did not solve their critical problems either. This iterative learning saved time and resources.

Building your product for a small group of earlyvangelists allows faster feedback, better alignment, and a stronger foundation for scaling.

Mapping the organizational roles—users, influencers, economic buyers, decision-makers, and saboteurs—helps navigate complex sales and adoption processes. Testing pricing hypotheses by asking customers how many units they would buy at different price points reveals true perceived value beyond what customers say.

Remember, customer discovery is about learning and validation, not selling. It’s a disciplined process that sets the stage for building products people truly want and are willing to pay for.

Next, we’ll explore how to turn these early wins into a repeatable sales process that can fuel your startup’s growth.