Part 4 · Play
First paying client, free channels only
No paid data, no ads, no subscription beyond the product. The whole path.
Who this is for
You cannot spend on tools or ads yet, and you need a paying client before you can. Common, and entirely workable.
Before you start
- The from-zero play completed, or an equivalent setup.
- A connected mailbox on a domain with real sending history.
- A published price, or at least a number you will say when asked.
How long
Six to ten weeks to a first paying conversation. Faster if you already have any audience.
The sequence
- 01
Confirm every channel you have on is free. Read the cost label on each one. Leave both ad channels off.
/venture?step=channels5 minutes
- 02
Publish four times a week and answer two community questions a week. This is the whole presence engine and it costs nothing.
/approvals and /today20 minutes a day
- 03
Add every person who reacts to a post to your watchlist, at their company. Engagement is the cheapest qualification there is.
/conversations, then /venture?step=watchlist5 minutes a week
You should see: The watchlist growing from people who already know your name.
- 04
Send connection requests by hand to people who engaged. The browser companion records what you did.
LinkedIn, with the Sidecar panel open10 minutes, twice a week
- 05
Work the acceptance queue. Touch one goes within a day of acceptance, and it references something they wrote rather than something you sell.
/today10 minutes a day
- 06
When a read fires on one of those companies, write to the person you already have a connection with.
/today, then /approvals15 minutes
You should see: A message that opens on a dated change and reads as a follow-up.
- 07
Ask every person who replies how they came across you, and record the answer.
/conversations1 minute per reply
You should see: Self-report attribution filling in, which is the strongest signal you will get.
You are done when
- One person has replied asking about price or a call.
- You can name which channel produced them from the attribution table rather than from memory.
The commonest way this fails
You start outbound in week one, before anything has been published. The messages are well grounded, they go to strangers, and they perform like every other cold email. Then you conclude the product does not work.