How To Sell To Customers

Now that you've built an MVP, you need to get users.

Distribution is everything. You cannot launch a product, send a few cold emails, and expect users to show up. You need a brand, a website, a sales process, and a way to create demand over time.

Sales and marketing are the two sides of distribution. Marketing helps people discover you. Sales turns the right people into customers.

This chapter is about building that system.

Build a Brand

You need a brand.

A brand is not just a logo. It is the story people attach to your company. It tells customers why you exist, what you believe, and whether they should trust you.

A brand has three parts:

1. The story of the company. Why does the company exist?
2. A set of values. What do you believe that should show up in the product?
3. A visual identity. What does the company look and feel like?

The story

Start with story — start with why. Uber's early story was simple: someone waited 20 minutes for a cab and realized the system was broken. The problem was obvious, emotional, and easy to repeat.

Your story doesn't need to be dramatic, but it does need to be a story.

Example — General Intelligence brand story

"Our branding — with the sunflowers, lush greenery, and people spending time with their friends — reflects our vision for the world. That's the world we want to build. A world where people actually work less and can spend time doing the things they love..."

Your brand values should be just as clear. They should not sound like corporate posters. They should shape product and marketing decisions.

Examples of brand values:

• Nike: Sport should move the world forward and be accessible to everyone.
• Airbnb: Travel should help people feel like they belong anywhere, not just book a place to sleep.
• Patagonia: A company can build great products while putting the planet first.
• Stripe: The internet should make it easier for more businesses to participate in the global economy.
• Shopify: Anyone, anywhere should be able to start and grow a business.
• Apple: Privacy should be built into products because it is a fundamental human right.

Visual identity

The visual identity is how the brand shows up — your vibe. It does not need to be perfect. It needs to feel intentional and consistent.

Elements of a visual identity:

• A logo
• A color palette
• Fonts
• Button and layout styles
• Image, illustration, or screenshot style
• Basic rules for how everything should look together

Build a Website

Once you understand your brand, you need a website.

Your website is the home base for distribution. Sales emails link to it. Customers use it to understand what you do. Marketing campaigns send people there. Investors look at it before they take you seriously.

The first thing your website should do is tell any reader what your company does. After that, it can represent your brand and is often the "front door" of your company.

A good early website should answer:

• Who is this for?
• What painful problem does it solve?
• What does the product do?
• Why is this better than the current way?
• What should the visitor do next?

For a live product, the next step might be Sign up, Book a demo, or Log in. For an earlier product, it might be Join the waitlist or Talk to us.

Do not overcomplicate the first version. You need a clear homepage, a simple product explanation, a few screenshots or visuals, and a call to action. If you run a software company, it should also convert readers into signups (self-serve) or demos (enterprise).

Get Your First User

If you followed along with chapter 2, you should now have a product. Since you have a product, you need someone to use it.

Start with people close enough to give real feedback — friends, former coworkers, industry contacts, advisors, or people you know through your network. The important thing is that they understand the problem and will not immediately shut you down.

Do not just send a link and ask, "What do you think?" Watch them use the product if you can. Ask them to share their screen. Sit next to them. Pay attention to where they hesitate, what they misunderstand, and what they try to do that your product does not support yet.

You are trying to learn:

Do they understand what the product is for?

Watch for confusion in the first 60 seconds. If a user cannot explain what the product does after a brief look, the positioning is unclear.

Can they reach the first valuable moment?

Identify the moment the product first delivers real value. Then count how many steps it takes to get there. Every extra step is a drop-off risk.

Where do they get confused?

Note every hesitation, misclick, and misread label. Confusion is data — each instance points at copy, UX, or model mismatches you can fix.

What would make them use it again?

Retention starts on day one. Ask what would pull them back tomorrow, next week, next month — and whether the product currently delivers that.

Would they pay for it?

Willingness to pay is the strongest signal. Ask directly. A polite "maybe" is a no — push for a real answer.

Who else has this problem?

If they say yes to paying, ask who else they know with the same problem. That is your first lead list — and the start of an ICP.

Define Your Ideal Customer

Most people start too broad. They say they sell to founders, marketers, realtors, doctors, developers, small businesses, or enterprises. These categories are too vague for sales. You cannot write good outreach, build a strong pitch, or prioritize leads if your customer is "everyone who might maybe use this."

You need an Ideal Customer Profile, or ICP — the highly specific kind of customer you are trying to sell to first. It is not every possible customer. It is the customer most likely to feel the problem, understand the value, and buy early.

Good sales starts with good targeting. If your ICP is wrong, everything downstream gets harder.

Understand Your Competitors

Competitors are not proof that you should quit. They are proof that customers already care about the problem. The mistake is copying them.

If you copy their website, features, pitch, and customer list, you become a weaker version of something that already exists.

Choose Your Sales Motion

A sales motion is how you sell. The right motion depends on your customer, price, product complexity, and how much trust the buyer needs before they pay.