We read the interviews, teardowns and pitch stories so you don’t have to — then distill what actually got real businesses their first customers. Free and open. No gatekeeping.
Across Starter Story, Shark Tank, Indie Hackers and Reddit, the same handful of moves keep showing up. Here are the ten that got real businesses from zero to their first customers — each with the founders who ran them.
Beyond the deals: the demo-ability, retail-vs-DTC calls, licensing plays and “TV as a launch spike” lessons from 36 companies that pitched.
How indie founders on Reddit and Indie Hackers describe crossing each threshold — the exact channels and tools they credit at every stage.