YC Highlights Weekly Startup Launches

- YC Partner Michael Seibel advises finding your first customers within your personal network, targeting people who are genuinely experiencing the problem you aim to solve and are willing to pay for a solution, even for an early-stage product. - Early adopters are characterized by having a significant problem, being aware of it, and actively seeking a solution; they are often already using a makeshift fix. You can find them in niche online communities such as Reddit, Quora, and industry-specific forums by participating in discussions related to the problems your product addresses. - For cold outreach, personalize your message by focusing on the recipient's specific problems, which can be categorized as issues of Time, Image, or Money (TIM). The initial goal is not to sell, but to secure a meeting by asking a simple, direct question to elicit a response. - Before you have a product, you can build a waitlist and gather feedback by launching on platforms like Product Hunt for visibility, or on directories such as BetaList and Launching Next. Engaging authentically in maker communities like Indie Hackers by sharing your progress can also attract early users. - A common strategy among YC founders for getting their first users is through persistent, manual, and direct outreach, such as highly targeted cold emails and direct messages on platforms like LinkedIn. - YC General Partner Ankit Gupta suggests that finding your first users is more of a "search problem than a persuasion problem," focused on identifying those with a burning need. He also advocates for charging early adopters from the beginning, as paying customers tend to provide more valuable and direct feedback. - To build a pipeline of user conversations, start by creating a simple landing page with a waitlist and sharing it in relevant online communities. One YC founder gained nearly a thousand waitlist sign-ups within 24 hours by posting in a targeted Reddit group. - Instead of broadcasting your product, find the "watering hole" where your ideal users are already gathered online, such as specific subreddits or social media groups. Provide value by answering questions and solving their problems to build trust before introducing your product.