Topic map / Customers and the work
9 questions
In the Slush survey of 607 early-stage European founders in early 2025, customer acquisition sits at 50 percent, virtually unchanged from 49.6 percent in 2024. The same page says founders remain confident identifying prospects but struggle to convert them.
1.Can you name the next ten buyers, rather than a segment?
2.What is the path from first contact to cash that has been collected?
Pass 2 · strengthened
Write the approvals still missing. A well-known pilot is not revenue you have collected.
3.Where do people drop, and what did you change the last time that happened?
4.What does one sale cost in founder hours?
5.Which channel has produced a second customer, not only a first?
6.What must be true before someone who is not a founder can sell this?
7.Which sentence in the pitch would you defend with a document?
8.If acquisition stays at today’s rate, what commitment breaks?
9.Who owns the customer’s approval and launch dependencies, and what progress must occur before a pilot expands?
Pass 2 · new
A champion’s enthusiasm is not the signature, the security review, or the person who can pay.
Startup Struggle Survey 2025 · Slush
Survey of 607 early-stage European founders in Q1 2025. Fundraising was a top concern for 58.1 percent, revenue growth for 52.8 percent (from 36.8 percent), and customer acquisition for about 50 percent. The same page says 18 percent thought it would be easy to raise if they wanted to, and 57 percent disagreed.
A postmortem on our $2.5 million database gateway · Jacek Migdał, Quesma
A founder’s account of raising $2.5 million, staying in pilots, splitting with a cofounder, and selling the technology. He argues for a concrete customer action, not only verbal interest. His account is not a base rate.