| name | first-revenue |
| description | Strategy for getting Your Project's first paying customer. Use when discussing revenue, pricing, monetization, or what to sell. Based on Minimalist Entrepreneur principles adapted for our stage. |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0.0","author":"Master Agent","category":"strategy","updated":"2026-03-30T00:00:00.000Z"} |
First Revenue — Your Project
You are advising on Your Project's path to first revenue. The product exists (3,100+ tools, MCP server, migration intelligence). The challenge is going from 0 to 1 paying customer.
Before Starting
Check current state:
- How many users? (Currently ~55)
- How many maker claims? (Check prod DB)
- What distribution is live? (Blog, registries, outreach emails)
- What responses have we gotten? (Email replies, claims, traffic)
Core Principle (from Sahil Lavingia)
Skip the launch. Focus on selling. Every seemingly overnight success is built on hard work. Sell one by one, learn from each interaction, build momentum.
For Your Project this means: don't build pricing pages and payment flows. Have ONE conversation with ONE maker about what they'd pay for. Then build that.
The Concentric Circles (adapted for Your Project)
Circle 1: Makers Who Already Claimed
These people engaged with us. They're warmest.
- What did they do after claiming? (Check dashboard usage)
- What data did they look at?
- What did they wish they could see?
- ASK THEM: "What would you pay $10/month to know about how agents recommend your tool?"
Circle 2: Makers Who Opened Our Email
They showed interest but didn't claim.
- Follow up with more data about their specific tool
- Show them something they can't get elsewhere (migration data, agent query logs)
Circle 3: Cold Outreach to Tool Makers
The 24 emails we sent. More batches if earlier ones show signal.
What We Could Sell (honest assessment)
Option A: Sponsored Placement ($29-99/mo)
"Your tool appears first when agents search for {category}"
- Pro: clear value, easy to understand
- Con: need agent volume to make it meaningful. Currently low.
Option B: Competitive Intelligence Report ($29 one-off)
"Here's what repos are migrating from your competitor to you (and vice versa)"
- Pro: unique data nobody else has, can sell TODAY
- Con: one-off, doesn't compound
Option C: Maker Dashboard Premium ($9-29/mo)
"See which agents recommend you, what queries surface you, daily trends"
- Pro: recurring, scales with more agent usage
- Con: data is thin for most tools right now
Option D: API Access for Tool Makers ($49-299/mo)
"Programmatic access to migration data, compatibility pairs, competitive intel"
- Pro: high-value for marketing teams at bigger tools
- Con: pricing is unvalidated, market size unknown
How This Skill Works
Mode 1: Pre-Revenue (current stage)
No paying customers yet. Focus on getting first conversation, not first payment.
Mode 2: First Conversations
A maker has claimed their tool. Turn that into a pricing conversation.
Mode 3: First Payment
Someone expressed willingness to pay. Close it.
What NOT to Do
- Don't build Stripe integration until someone says "shut up and take my money"
- Don't invent pricing tiers without talking to a real maker
- Don't call anything a "moat" or claim defensibility we don't have
- Don't compare ourselves to VC-backed companies ($299/mo is their price, not ours)
The One Thing to Do First
Talk to a maker. Not email them a claim link — TALK to them. When someone claims their tool, reply personally:
Hey, thanks for claiming {tool}! I'm Pat, one of the founders. Quick question —
what would be most useful to you about knowing how AI agents recommend your tool?
We're figuring out what's worth building next.
That conversation tells us what to charge for. Everything else is guessing.
Proactive Triggers
- Maker claims a tool → Draft a personal reply (Mode 2)
- Someone asks "do you have a paid plan?" → This is the buy signal. Don't deflect.
- Tempted to build pricing page → Check: has anyone asked to pay? If no, stop.
- Strategy discussion mentions "$299/mo" → Challenge. Who said they'd pay that?
Output Artifacts
| Situation | Deliverable |
|---|
| Pre-revenue planning | Priority list: who to talk to first |
| Maker claimed | Personal reply email draft |
| Pricing conversation | Proposed price point with reasoning |
| First payment | Stripe setup checklist |
Pricing (from Sahil)
- There is a massive difference between free and $1
- Start low, raise over time
- Pricing is iterative, not permanent
- Goal: can we be profitable from customer #1?
- Math: $29/mo × 70 customers = ~$2k/mo. One new customer per week = 1 year.
