22nd November, 2021
Returning with a session on the topic of acquiring your first customers, MoA’s Startup Breakfast Club brings new entrepreneurial speakers to the stage in 2021.
In its ongoing bid to promote and support New Zealand’s vibrant startup scene, Ministry of Awesome is bringing its Startup Breakfast Club events back to your business calendar.
Kicking off with its first event for the season, which aired live on Facebook, 14 October, the session highlighted the experience of three business founders and their journey to acquiring their first customers.
Jules Huguenin, founder of Unknot Ltd, began with a concise presentation explaining his solution and how he approached the problem of finding and securing his first customers, including some pertinent advice along the way.
Huguenin’s presentation included a visualisation of five key stages of the ‘buyer journey’, as follows:
“To choose who to target first, you start with the people who are aware of their problem,” Huguenin recommended, suggesting startups would be wasting time and effort trying to bring the ‘unaware’ portion of the market onboard.
“They need to be educated to become aware … that can take months or years.”
Huguenin’s reasoning that leads to the most salient advice of the session: never give anything away for free, to which the other speakers concurred.
Richard Appleby, ex-dairy farmer and founder of Moover Ltd, said that anyone who sees value in the solution you’re offering should be willing to pay for it, even if it isn’t perfect.
“Don’t give anything away for free because you’re training your customers to expect it from you.
“Even if the solution isn’t quite there yet, they should be willing to pay for it.”
Hannah Hardy-Jones founder of The Kite Program suggests this is where startups should be prepared to bake some flexibility into their pricing early on.
“I completely agree with not giving anything away for free, but having some buffer to discount is important, and you want to let those customers know that you’re giving them a discount and why,” said Hardy-Jones.
The above advice was only a fraction of the advice available in the 40-minute Facebook video, and Ministry of Awesome has plenty more in store, with another breakfast event scheduled this week.
According to Jameela Jamal, marketing lead for Ministry of Awesome, the return of these events will be help reinvigorate the local startup business community.
“Ministry of Awesome’s Startup Breakfast Club – powered by MYOB – is your monthly morning caffeine hit,” she said.
“The content of these events is designed to help you develop valuable social networks, gain business insights, and get the critical support you need to power your venture forward.”
Hear from Customer & Loyalty Marketing Specialist Oliver Stewart this Friday, 30 November from 12.30pm, on the topic of ‘Designing a high-impact customer journey’. The event will be streaming live via Ministry of Awesome’s Facebook page.