1. List 50 people by job, not by closeness
Open your phone contacts, LinkedIn connections and old WhatsApp groups. Write down 50 people next to their job title: office manager, agency owner, recruiter, bookkeeper, ops lead at a small company. Circle the ones whose day involves copying, sorting, summarizing or chasing approvals, because that is where AI tools save real time.
2. Pick one painful task to ask about
Do not pitch the tool. Pick one specific task it handles, like drafting quotes, summarizing sales calls or sorting support emails. Your goal is to find people who do that task every week and hate it.
3. Send short, personal questions
Message 10 people a day, one at a time, by name. Example: "Hi Sara, quick one. How do you handle quote approvals at the shop right now? I'm building something for that and want to understand how it really works." Ask about their process, not your product.
4. Get on a 15-minute call and watch the work
Ask them to share their screen and do the task while you watch. Time it. Note every copy-paste, every WhatsApp back-and-forth, every spreadsheet. For example, if someone runs quotes through WhatsApp approvals, time ten real quotes with them and write the approval rules down. That gives you the exact problem to solve.
5. Run their real work through your tool
After the call, take a few of their real examples, with permission, and run them through your tool yourself. Send back the output with a note: "Here's what your last five quotes would look like. Took about 2 minutes." Real results on their own data beat any demo.
6. Ask for money early and plainly
If they say it is useful, name a price. Example: "I'm taking 5 early customers at $49 a month. I'll set it up for you and fix anything that breaks. Want in?" A clear yes or no teaches you more than a free trial that nobody uses.
7. Ask every user for two names
Once someone pays or gets value, ask: "Who else do you know who deals with this same mess?" Bookkeepers know other bookkeepers. Agency owners know other agency owners. One warm introduction is worth twenty cold messages.
8. Track it all in one simple sheet
Keep columns for name, job, task, date contacted, call done, result sent, price asked, outcome. Review it every evening and follow up anyone who went quiet after 3 days. Hulby, an AI cofounder, does this daily for founders: it picks who to contact, drafts the messages and keeps the follow-ups moving.
People asking this right now
Real, public posts from the last few weeks. Each one is somebody you could help today.
Mistakes to skip
- Pitching features before understanding the person's actual task.
- Offering free access forever instead of asking for a small payment.
- Messaging the whole network at once with a generic announcement.
- Demoing on fake sample data instead of the prospect's real work.
Want this done for your AI tool, every day?
Hulby finds the people asking for what you built, writes every reply and email, and keeps you on it until they pay. Free to start.
Find my first customersQuestions
What if my network has no one in my target industry?
Ask for introductions. Most people know an office manager, recruiter or small business owner. One line works: "Do you know anyone who spends hours on X every week?"
Is it awkward to sell to friends?
Less awkward than you think if you ask about their problem first and let them say no easily. Paying also tells you they actually value it.
How many people should I contact?
Start with 50 over one week. Expect most to be quiet. A handful of good calls is enough to find your first payers.
Should I build more before reaching out?
No. Reach out now. Watching real people do the task will tell you what to build next better than guessing.