My last post surprisingly gained a lot of traction:
https://www.reddit.com/r/cofounderhunt/comments/1md2v8a/i_sell_you_build/

I received over 74 messages, spoke with a lot of founders, and even met someone in person, but I haven’t found the right match yet. I’m still searching.

That said, I had some great conversations and realized that for many technical founders, idea validation and sales are major pain points. While I can't help everyone 1:1, I figured I’d share a post here to support the community, and hopefully spark some ideas for your customer acquisition strategy.

The conversations I’ve had usually fall into two buckets:

1. You have an idea, but no product yet.

Solution:

There’s a simple and fast way to test whether your idea has legs:

Build a simple landing page and run $1K worth of ads. See which marketing angle + ICP gets traction. Ask visitors to make a purchase on the page. Afterward, refund them with a message that you were validating an idea, and invite them to stay updated via email.

This way, you’ll:

• Collect emails from paying early adopters
• Validate your concept
• Avoid wasting months building something no one wants

Worst case: You lose $1K but save months of your life.
Best case: You validate your idea and start building with confidence.

2. You’ve built an MVP, have early traction (paid or not), but hit a growth wall.

This is a great signal. Your product likely has potential. Now you need a predictable growth engine.

Solution:

Find where your audience is hanging out. Is it LinkedIn? X? Facebook? Instagram? TikTok?

Here’s my general rule of thumb:

• B2C: Start with Facebook Ads. Then test Google.
• B2B: Still start with Facebook, then move to cold email or LinkedIn.

Why Facebook first?

It’s still the most effective and predictable ad platform, even if it’s not perfect. In 9.5/10 cases, I’ll test Facebook first. TikTok is promising but still volatile. Unless you have budget to spare, stick with Facebook for now.

So what’s next?

Run good ads. Don’t overcomplicate growth. In 2025, ads are still the best growth lever (in my opinion).

How do you run good ads?

Test creatives to find the...

Right angle + right ICP + strong offer = winning combo.

It’ll take time to test and refine those variables, but once you do, you can scale predictably to $1K/day and beyond.

Pro tip:

• Ads are 90% creative, 10% account management.
• Even with a messy ad account, good creative wins.
• Bad creative? No strategy can save you.

What if I have no budget for ads?

Run cold email instead.

Go to YouTube, learn the basics, and start sending emails. Budget around $400/month to send ~1k emails/day. The budget is for tools like Instantly, and to buy a few domains.

Personalization + volume = winning cold email campaign

Send 1k emails a day to a specific ICP so you can personalize at scale. Getting customers via cold email is a numbers game, so don't be discouraged if you're sending 500 emails and only seeing 1 or 2 replies. You just need volume.

Hope this helps :)

Disclaimer: I’m not saying this is the only way, just sharing what’s worked for me.

And in case you're wondering., all thoughts and ideas are my own. This is not AI slop. I only used ChatGPT to fix my grammar. :)

As for me...

Here's what I’m looking for:

1. Still looking for the right product/team fit. Not in a rush! Just want to find the right match. (Read my last post for more context.)
2. Open to other ways of working together. If we’re not a co-founder fit but see potential to collaborate now or in the future, I’m open to consulting or advisory roles.

DM me with your credentials and details on what you’re working on to connect.