My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Influence the Influencers Strategy
A customer acquisition strategy focused on winning over community leaders and moderators first, who then authentically promote your product to their communities.
How It Works
Works by building relationships with gatekeepers who have trust and influence within your target communities. When they genuinely use and recommend your product, it carries much more weight than traditional advertising.
Components
Join relevant communities and add value without promoting
Identify and build relationships with admins/moderators
Offer product for feedback, not as sales pitch
Iterate based on their input and show you implemented changes
Only ask for community promotion after they genuinely use the product
Let them post about it rather than posting yourself
When to Use
For early-stage products targeting specific communities with identifiable leaders, especially in niches where trust and recommendations matter more than features.
When Not to Use
In markets without clear community structures, for mass consumer products, or when you need rapid scale that organic growth can't provide.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“Jenny AI founder joined grad student Facebook groups, spent weeks adding helpful content, built relationships with group admins, got them to try the product, incorporated their feedback, and only after they were genuine users did they post about it to their communities.”
Related Knowledge
Acquire first 100 customers through authentic community engagement
100+ paying customers acquired organically with strong retention, community leaders actively recommending your product
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Zoom-In Pivot Framework
A strategic pivot where you narrow focus from a broad, mediocre product for everyone to an excellent product for a specific niche that already shows traction within your existing user base.
Market Selection Over Execution Excellence
The idea that picking the right market with good timing matters more than having the best product or execution
Success is the sum of your attempts
Don't view failed attempts as wasted time - they're building blocks for future success
Success is the sum of your attempts
Failed attempts aren't wasted effort - they're building blocks that contribute to eventual success