How We Got Our First 100 Paying Customers in 24 Hours

Early on, I’d go to a lot of these events to meet other small business owners. I’d help them however I could (with introductions, advice, etc.), and many of them were happy to participate in the same customer development circuit that I put my own network through. A few weeks ago I wrote that getting rejected from YC doesn’t matter. And I believe it deeply. But incubators are a great source for networking, even if you aren’t a member. At first, I did things the wrong way: approaching incubator leaders and asking for access to pitch their startups.