First Customers: 130 Cold Emails to 8-Figure Revenue

Two college students spent five days brainstorming startup ideas. Nine years later, their product reached a billion unique visitors and generated 8-figure revenue. Daniel Ha got Disqus's first customers by emailing 130 of his favorite websites with an honest pitch: "We're building something. Don't really know if it's interesting yet." Most ignored it. But the handful who responded became early customers who shaped the product.

Disqus's startup traction became self-sustaining because the product was embedded on publisher websites - every commenter who used it discovered it and brought it to others. Those first paying users created a viral distribution loop that grew to 50 million comments daily.

Revenue jumped from $2-2.5M (SaaS model) to $10-11M when Daniel pivoted to advertising. He shares why naivety helped him raise money during the 2008 crisis, what he learned from arriving 15 minutes late to a meeting at the New York Times, and why the first customers strategy matters more than any growth hack.

🔑 Key Lessons

• 🎯 Email your favorite websites to find first customers: Daniel personally emailed 130 websites he admired with an honest pitch. Most ignored it, but the handful who responded became early customers who shaped Disqus's product direction.
• 🚀 Let product virality drive growth after landing first customers: Disqus's embedded commenting widget spread itself - every commenter who used it on one site discovered the platform and brought it to others, creating self-reinforcing startup traction.
• 📉 Recognize when you don't speak your customer's language: Daniel's disastrous New York Times meeting taught him he was pitching features while early customers cared about brand, data, and monetization.
• 💰 Pivot your business model when traction outpaces revenue: Disqus jumped from $2.5M SaaS revenue to $10-11M by switching to advertising, aligning monetization with the organic growth their first paying users already generated.
• 🧠 Use naivety as a first customers advantage: Daniel never considered that fundraising wouldn't happen, even during the 2008 crisis. His lack of awareness kept him pushing forward when experienced founders might have quit.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Meet Daniel Ha and what drives him each week
• Sunday planning ritual and internal newsletter
• What is Disqus and how it serves content publishers
• How Daniel and Jason came up with the idea in 5 days
• Why brainstorming ideas in 5 days worked for Disqus
• Getting first customers by emailing 130 favorite websites
• Not speaking the customer's language at the New York Times
• Hiring the first business-oriented team member
• Raising $500K in 2008 through Y Combinator connections
• Organic growth through product word of mouth
• Handling criticism from passionate publisher community
• The delete button controversy and balancing user needs
• Would you do it again knowing it would take 9 years
• The scale of Disqus on the internet today
• Pivoting from SaaS model to advertising revenue
• Revenue growth from $2.5M to mid 8-figures
• Lightning round

Resources

• Full show notes: https://saasclub.io/113
• Join 5,000+ SaaS founders: https://saasclub.io/email