LinkedIn Outreach Shifts to 'Skills Over Titles'

YC Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer stresses that great founders talk to potential customers before they even have a product. The goal isn't to pitch an idea but to understand a user's problems so deeply that the solution becomes obvious. This initial stage is purely about learning, not selling. Finding the first users is a search problem, not a persuasion problem. Look for "innovators"—people experiencing a pain so intensely they are actively trying to solve it, often with makeshift solutions. Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky's famous advice applies here: it's better to have 100 people who love you than a million who just sort of like you. The most effective way to find these early adopters is to go where they already congregate online. This includes niche subreddits, Discord servers, Slack communities, and industry-specific forums. The key is to add value and participate authentically in conversations before ever mentioning your product. For cold outreach, the dynamic has shifted from personalization to providing immediate value. Prospects are inundated with AI-generated emails, making it crucial to offer a tangible benefit upfront, such as a free audit of their current solution or access to exclusive research. This approach frames the conversation around their needs, not your product. A successful discovery call focuses on past behaviors, not future predictions. Ask open-ended questions like, "Tell me about the last time you dealt with X" or "Walk me through your current process for Y." These questions uncover actual pain points and workflows, providing a much richer source of insight than asking if they would use a hypothetical solution. The objective of these initial conversations is to validate the problem, not the solution. Pre-selling a product before it's built is the ultimate validation of market need. If people are willing to commit money or time based on a demo or presentation, it’s a strong signal you're on the right track. To make this process consistent, build a customer interview pipeline. Leverage tools to identify users who have recently engaged with a competitor's product or feature and then use a simple, incentivized survey to qualify them for a deeper conversation. This creates a repeatable system for continuous feedback from the right people.