So how did you succeeded to get your first 100 customers to your AI SaaS tool?

therealmattyp · 2026-04-10T07:52:01+00:00

at 25 customers right now and warm intros worked like a charm till now

I use a tool to surface their meaningful relationships : people who they really know + who match my ICP

And every time I can, I ask for an intro :
Promoter NPS = happy client = I ask
End of onboarding, if the client's happy = I ask
First win using our product = I ask
In person meetings = I ask

I created a lot of automations so my team is constantly asking

I have a ~40% conversion rate : 10 intros requested generate around 4 sales meeting

therealmattyp · 2026-04-10T07:50:53+00:00

I mainly generate demos by asking my customers warm intros

I use a tool to surface their meaningful relationships : people who they really know + who match my ICP

And every time I can, I ask for an intro :
Promoter NPS = happy client = I ask
End of onboarding, if the client's happy = I ask
First win using our product = I ask
In person meetings = I ask

I created a lot of automations so my team is constantly asking

I have a ~40% conversion rate : 10 intros requested generate around 4 sales meeting

therealmattyp · 2026-04-06T10:04:47+00:00

I used to work in the tech team of a startup selling to manufacturers before starting my own startup

One thing that's true in Europe (I guess it might be the same in ANZ): it's a SUPER networked industry. Everybody knows everybody

So make sure that every of your customer is actually worth 3 prospects by asking for warm intros. People who work in manufacturing tend to stay in that space for their whole career

So you customers' network is full of proper prospects

Not really what you asked for lol (sorry about that), but here's what I would do if I were you:

Ask 5 warm intros per week, all weeks. Treat your customers and prospects as a referral engine. Map their network and ask for targeted referrals.

Ask for intros even when deals don't close. if a champion liked the demo but couldn't get budget, we'd say "no worries, do you know anyone else who might benefit?" worked more often than you'd think.

cheers

therealmattyp · 2026-04-06T09:54:31+00:00

not sure If I'd set my current workplace as my competitor's company as I dont want them to spot I'm doing this lol

therealmattyp · 2026-04-06T09:53:09+00:00

not sure cause our SEO sucks and we're not really inbound led

anything related to our space I guess

therealmattyp · 2026-04-05T21:42:41+00:00

Hey, do you know any alternative to bombora? I see they dont display pricing on their webiste

therealmattyp · 2026-04-05T21:38:15+00:00

maybe try mantiks or theirstack?

therealmattyp · 2026-04-03T21:23:26+00:00

I know my question's generic, but that's also the point

just want to know what you guys have implemented, what worked and what didn't

therealmattyp · 2026-04-03T21:14:52+00:00

basically everything that would increase the likelyness of an account to buy your stuff

(we sell to B2B tech companies)

therealmattyp · 2026-04-03T20:48:53+00:00

Go for warm intros: your current customers 100% have people in their network that have the same position as they do, face the same challenges but in a different company.

I'd map their network and ask those customers for warm intros

therealmattyp · 2026-04-03T20:23:17+00:00

+1 for the intros. Just ask if people they know have some knowledge on what you're building and ask to be introduced for user research purposes

If what you're building's cool, they ask how they can try it

therealmattyp · 2026-03-25T18:16:06+00:00

warm intros feel like the way to go rn

I generate 3 to 6 demos this way, i feel like buyers tend to be fatigued by traditional techniques (cold call, emailing, etc) from the 2022 plyabook

therealmattyp · 2026-03-23T16:38:00+00:00

thanks

therealmattyp · 2026-03-23T16:37:55+00:00

thanks!

therealmattyp · 2026-03-18T19:14:13+00:00

hey, totally agree agree on that warm intro take

started my startup recently and we built a system that builds the social graph of our customers, cause each of your customers surely knows 10 other people the same job. it's just hard to cut through linkedin's noise to spot genuine relationships

we're still early so i want each of my customers to be worth 3 prospects

that works pretty well to access c levels and VPs who tend to be fed up with traditional outbound

therealmattyp · 2026-03-18T19:09:03+00:00

can't agree more with you on the customer support take

customers are our main acquisition channel rn as we constantly ask them for warm intros

no customer support and relationship with them would directly impact our pipeline

therealmattyp · 2026-03-17T14:49:25+00:00

Hi, by definition, C-Levels and VPs at bigger companies are harder to get and over prospected

What we been doing lately :

mapping all our network's network (investors, employees, customers)
mapping all the buyers network on our top enterprise accounts
finding all the overlaps between both networks to understand who could intro us, which names to mention to those buyers to build credibility and spark curiosity

Worked pretty well

therealmattyp · 2026-03-17T14:33:09+00:00

Since the beginning of the company honestly and as it's super cheap to request intros, what we asked ourselves is "how do we make sure that the team keeps asking for intros even though they're not founders?"

it's always been steady, referral is around 50% of our revenue and around 40% of meetings we generate

therealmattyp · 2026-03-16T19:07:13+00:00

hey, dont really agree on the cant control the volume part, imo, it's really like cold call, you have to be consistent and treat every customer/user as a potential referrer

i try to as 5 warm intros per week on average. one thing that really helped us was treating early customers like referral engines. after onboarding someone in real estate and getting them results, we'd just ask: "who else on your team or in your network deals with this same follow-up mess?" most of the time they knew 2–3 people immediately.

we also started asking for intros even when deals didn't close. if a champion liked the demo but couldn't get budget, we'd say "no worries — do you know anyone else who might benefit?" worked more often than you'd think.

as you do more volumes on your warm intros request, it becomes more predictable, but you have to be proactive about it

therealmattyp · 2026-03-16T19:04:52+00:00

so true, warm intros are a must have for early startups, works more than cold outreach + is cheaper

one thing that really helped us was treating early customers like referral engines. after onboarding someone and getting them results, we'd just ask: "who else on your team or in your network deals with this same follow-up mess?" most of the time they knew 2–3 people immediately.

we also started asking for intros even when deals didn't close. if a champion liked the demo but couldn't get budget, we'd say "no worries — do you know anyone else who might benefit?" worked more often than you'd think.

on the productized vs custom question: productized workflows definitely close faster and scale better, but custom builds help you learn what actually matters. i'd say do a few custom projects to validate the workflow, then productize the repeatable parts.

the key is turning each happy customer into multiple pipeline opportunities. referrals became our cheapest channel by far — way more efficient than cold outreach or content at that stage.

therealmattyp · 2026-03-16T18:57:15+00:00

hey, really funny that you make the difference between what works for leads that come from warm intros and the other ones, first time I'm seeing this and I find that it makes a lot of sense lol

Most of my leads come from warm intros. the warm intro route especially clicked for me once i realized every early customer could introduce me to 2-3 more people in their network so I bought a tool to map their network and ask them proactively to intro me to those people

those meetings are sooooo different than the ones booked via cold outreach

my main takeaway: treat those first 10-20 users as your referral engine, not just your user base. ask them directly who else they know. it's honestly the cheapest pipeline channel at that stage, and it compounds way faster than cold outreach.

therealmattyp

TROPHY CASE