# first-b2b-customers

Guides founders through finding and closing their first ten paying B2B customers using network outreach, cold messaging, and design partner frameworks.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 443 installs · ★ 1434
- Author: RefoundAI
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-07-16
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/first-b2b-customers

## What it does

This skill structures the manual hunt for your first ten enterprise clients. It draws on twenty-one insights gathered from seven guests on Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter. The agent guides founders to evaluate personal connections and narrow the product focus to a single persona. You also plan high-touch customer support sequences.

The files include several practical frameworks: the Concentric Circles of Trust model, Zip's advice-first LinkedIn outbound technique, Stripe's manual installation habit, and Gong's design partner methodology. Automated bulk email breaks early trust. The skill warns directly against hiring sales representatives before the founder masters the sales process. You run the onboarding manually until the pattern becomes obvious.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill first-b2b-customers -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/first-b2b-customers/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill first-b2b-customers -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill first-b2b-customers -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install RefoundAI/lenny-skills first-b2b-customers
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill first-b2b-customers -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills --path skills/first-b2b-customers
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add RefoundAI/lenny-skills --skill first-b2b-customers -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/RefoundAI/lenny-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/first-b2b-customers/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- narrow product positioning to a single persona and use case
- draft cold outreach messages that ask for advice instead of pitching
- structure a collaborative program with early design partners
- prioritize acquisition channels by starting with high-trust connections

## Example prompts
- Help me draft a LinkedIn message asking founders for advice on our new B2B tool.
- Evaluate my personal network and suggest how to reach early customers using the trust model.
- How should we run onboarding for our first design partner using Gong's slice strategy?

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: 29920981ec63eda4.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE 29920981ec63eda4
```text
---
name: first-b2b-customers
description: Help users navigate the manual, unscalable journey of finding and closing their first B2B customers. This guide focuses on leveraging personal networks, co-creating with design partners, and obsessing over early user success.
---

# Acquiring First B2B Customers

Transition from zero to your first ten paying customers through manual hustle and high-trust relationships.

Help the user with acquiring first b2b customers using insights from 7 guests and posts across Lenny's Podcast and Newsletter.

## How to Help

1. **Assess network and trust** - Evaluate the user's existing connections to identify the highest-probability early adopters.
2. **Refine the initial pitch** - Help craft messages for cold outreach or network requests that emphasize advice-seeking and problem-solving.
3. **Design the partner program** - Guide the creation of a design partner framework to co-develop features with early users.
4. **Plan the manual rollout** - Strategize high-touch onboarding and support sequences to ensure initial customer success.

## Core Principles

### Hyper-specific niche focus
Ben Williams: "They started with a really narrow, early focus. It was a single persona, single context, single use case, and what that meant for Snyk was developers building applications using Node.js who wanted to ensure that the open source dependencies they were pulling into their apps were secure."

Achieve early traction by solving a single problem for a narrow persona before expanding to the wider market.

### Founder-led sales mastery
Sri Batchu: "My view is you start off with founder-led sales, the early team needs to know how to actually sell. Then you hire your first couple of salespeople, then you start some very low cost targeted marketing efforts. So whether it's content, community, small scale events, and then PR, after all of that is when you start paid and brand effort and then SEO probably start around the same time that you start paid marketing efforts. The reason for the progression the way I've described it is the channels get more expensive as you go farther along and they get more effective as you understand more about your customers."

Master the sales process manually as a founder to build deep customer knowledge before attempting to scale or hire a sales team.

### The Network Advantage
From "How today's fastest growing B2B businesses found their first ten customers": "In practice, it’s even easier — almost every B2B business BOTH hits up their personal network AND heads to the places their potential customers were spending time. The question isn’t which of these two routes to pursue, but instead how far your own network will take you before you move on."
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE 29920981ec63eda4

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