Hello, Aron here,

Have you ever been in a room full of people who are not your people?

You can feel it immediately. Nobody gets your references, the conversation feels forced, you're surrounded by people, but you feel invisible. You leave feeling more alone than when you arrived. We’ve all been there.

Now flip it. Have you ever walked into a room and immediately thought these are my people? You relax, you’re engaged, you want to stay. You tell everyone about it afterward.

That’s what your first 10 customers need to feel when they find you.

Our data shows only 43% of new founders can clearly describe who they are building for. The rest are building for someone they haven't fully pictured yet. If you haven't pictured them, they will never feel like you built this for them.

A common theme around all validations is a startup being built for “everyone”. Nobody feels seen when a product is for everyone.

Billboard impressions

Most founders think they need more reach, more impressions, more views, more eyeballs. But…

This is what we’ve learned about good startup ideas:

The difference between the two is whether you know your people.

Relationships fail when people feel unseen

Marriages, friendships, partnerships, they don't survive when one person feels invisible or misunderstood. The other person stops showing up and the connection fades.

The relationship between a founder and their first customers works the same way. If your first 10 customers don't feel like you built this specifically for them, you're just another option in a very crowded room. They'll browse and leave.

But if they land on what you built and think this person gets it, this was made for me, these are my people they become customers and advocates. They tell the next 10 people.

How you actually find your 10 people

You find them by going where they already hang out:

Reddit threads. Slack communities. Discord servers. LinkedIn. Industry conferences.

Don’t go there to sell, though.
Go there to listen, contribute, answer questions and share what you know. Be genuinely useful before you mention what you're working on.

If you are building in a space you know well, this should feel natural. You are already their people, and they are already your people. You just have to show up and be part of the conversation.

👉 Our data consistently shows that founders with close proximity to their problem and customer move forward at measurably higher rates. They are among their own people, and it’s easier that way.

You don’t need 1 million people
You need 10 people that are deeply understood

Ask yourself:
Do my first 10 customers feel like I built this specifically for them?
Can I picture exactly who they are, where they spend time, what frustrates them, what they wish existed?

If the answer is yes, they're already out there waiting to feel seen.
If the answer is no, that's probably your next step.

Let’s find your people.

Aron Meystedt
Chief Data Nerd - ValidatorAI

👬 Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

If you are completely stuck, generate a new idea and test it, safely:

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