Got some free time this morning

[u/divvychugsbeer]

Got a bit of free time today if anyone wants to talk buisness

I know ive posted this before and i also know im probably going to get hammered again for offering strangers free help on reddit but here we go again
Got some free time today and genuinely enjoy talking buisness and hearing what people are trying to build
Bit about me ive been in buisness for years mainly asphalt and civil.Started with a 30k truck and eventually built it into a 7 figure buisness.Made some great decisions and plenty of terrible ones along the way
Im definately not a guru and i dont pretend to know everything
But if your stuck on an idea,cant get your first customer,can build something but cant sell it or just want someone else to look at what your doing im happy to jump on a call and throw some ideas around

Nothing to sell no corse no catch

Just got some spare time and genuinely enjoy this stuff

[u/Defiant_Doctor8788]

I’ve spent quite some time in my industry but was never customer facing. Now I’m doing my own thing and obviously I need to interact with people and essentially convince them to give me money. I have a hard time with accurately demonstrating my expertise, largely due to my lack of people skills. What can you recommend aside from mostly getting reps in?

[u/divvychugsbeer → u/Defiant_Doctor8788]

You dont need to become a salesman mate

You already have the hard part which is the expertise. Now you need to learn how to get the customer talking.

Instead of trying to prove how much you know, ask better questions. Whats the problem costing them? What have they already tried? What happens if they do nothing?

Then explain how you would solve their problem in plain english.

People skills will come with reps but having a simple structure for the conversation makes those reps a hell of a lot easier.

And dont try to sound like an expert. Solve problems like one. People notice the difference.

[u/Teep555]

I’m glad to have a call sir! Let me know how to proceed

[u/divvychugsbeer → u/Teep555]

sure thing

[u/provenklvn]

Do you think software engineer as subscription is good idea? For founders they no need to hire and can cancel subscription anytime they want.

Im building this startup. But I dont know how to get the first customer. I know outbound is the way but too slow as 1 person, what are the best todo now?

[u/divvychugsbeer → u/provenklvn]

Yeah, I think there’s something in it, but I’d challenge the positioning. Founders probably don’t want a “software engineer subscription.” They want their product built without hiring a full-time developer.

For the first customer, I wouldn’t try to scale outbound yet. You don’t need 1,000 leads. You need one person with a painful problem.

I’d do this:

• Pick one specific customer: non-technical founders with an MVP to build.
• Make the offer stupidly clear: “We build and maintain your MVP for $X/month. Pause or cancel anytime.”
• Personally contact 20–30 highly targeted founders per day.
• Offer the first 2–3 customers a founding-member price in exchange for feedback and a case study.
• Hang out where founders already talk about needing developers and answer their problems rather than pitching immediately.

Most importantly, sell it manually before automating anything. If you can’t convince one founder to pay for it through a conversation, more outbound probably won’t fix the offer.

Your first goal isn’t scale. It’s 1 customer → result → case study → repeatable offer.

[u/Silverdodger]

Hey OP- enjoying your posts!

If you were me, how would you prove that this problem is painful enough for someone to change their behaviour?

I’ve got a product idea I’m quite excited about, but I’m conscious of falling in love with the solution rather than proving the problem.