1. Pick one painful, specific job
Write one sentence: who, what task, what it costs them. Example: "Platform engineers at 20-200 person companies lose hours each week debugging flaky CI runs in GitHub Actions." If you cannot name the job title and the tool they use today, narrow it until you can.
2. Find people complaining in public
Search where developers vent. On GitHub, search issues in the tools you compete with: "is:issue is:open flaky" in actions/runner or similar repos. On Hacker News, use hn.algolia.com for phrases like "I hate debugging CI". Check r/devops, r/ExperiencedDevs, and the Slack or Discord of the open source projects next to your problem. Save 30 names with links to what they wrote.
3. Message them about their words, not your idea
Reach out by GitHub, LinkedIn, or email from their profile. Reference what they posted. Example: "Saw your comment on the runner issue about reruns eating 40 minutes. I'm building a tool that pinpoints which test is flaky and why. Can I ask you 3 questions about how you handle it today? 15 minutes, no pitch." Aim for 10 calls.
4. Ask about cost and current spend
On the call, ask: how often does this happen, what did you try, what do you pay for today, and who approves tool spend. Engineers often have a company card limit or an expense threshold. Learn it. That number tells you what you can charge without a procurement process.
5. Make a founding customer offer with a real price
At the end of a good call, ask directly. Example: "I'm taking 10 founding teams. It's $49 a month, billed now, locked for life. You get access in 6 weeks, a direct line to me, and a full refund any time before launch if it doesn't fit. Want one of the spots?" For team or infra tools, $300 to $1,000 a year prepaid is reasonable. Stay under the buyer's card limit.
6. Collect money with a simple link
Send a Stripe Payment Link or Lemon Squeezy checkout in the same thread, right after the call. Write: "Here's the link for the founding spot: [link]. I'll add you to a private Slack and send the first build when it's ready." No link means no pre-sale. A verbal yes does not count.
7. Use a one-page site only as backup
Put up a single page: the problem in their words, what the tool does, the founding price, a pay button, and a refund promise. Share it only in the threads and communities where you already found people, and follow the posting rules. Post a Show HN only once you have something to show.
8. Decide based on payments, then repeat daily
Set a bar before you start, for example 5 paid founding customers out of 30 conversations. If you hit it, build for those 5. If not, change the problem or the buyer and run it again. Hulby, an AI cofounder, does this prospecting and outreach daily alongside a founder.
Mistakes to skip
- Asking "would you use this?" instead of asking for a payment.
- Pitching your stack and architecture instead of the problem it removes.
- Making it free for early users, so you learn nothing about willingness to pay.
- Posting a landing page on Reddit and waiting instead of messaging individuals.
Want this done for your developer 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
Will developers really pay for something that doesn't exist?
Some will, if the pain is sharp, the price is small, and the refund is clear. If nobody pays, that is useful data too.
How much should I charge?
Start at $29 to $99 a month per user, or $300 to $1,000 a year prepaid per team. Stay under what an engineer can expense without approval.
What if they want to see a demo first?
Show a clickable mockup, a short Loom of a prototype, or a written spec. Offer the refund so the risk is yours.
Should I offer lifetime deals?
Avoid them. A locked monthly or annual price keeps revenue coming and proves the tool is worth paying for over time.