One thing I always tell my founder friends is to get their connections to do more. Engaging people who are incredibly busy, but who can truly help you, is an art.

I remember how much I used to ask Sameer, CEO of CouponDunia, to leverage our connections at Times Internet to seed the CPI deals when I started CashBoss. Later, when I was working at Gojek, I would frequently ask my boss to help prioritize projects from the top, get buy in from others, and rally support from different teams to keep things moving.

Of course, I knew the CPO at the time was extremely busy. So, what we would often do was draft the exact email we wanted him to send in order to get support for key projects.

Additionally, I’m always surprised by how little founders actually use their board members, VCs, or even fellow founders to land their first few customers.

Take Wiz, for example, one of the best startup exits in recent times. They leveraged Doug Leone, arguably one of the busiest VCs ever, to essentially act as an SDR.

Furthermore, here are some excerpts showing how many customers chose Pigment specifically because of the support and influence of their investors and board members. These are three examples I found out of a dozen transcripts I’ve read, so roughly 1 in 4. Yes, small sample size, but you get the point.