Stop wasting time on directories if you have 0 customers

The first question you need to ask yourself: is the traffic from directories relevant for your product? Go look at who's actually browsing directories. It's mostly other founders promoting their own products. They're not there to buy - they're there to hunt for upvotes and competitors. The chances they become your customer? Nearly zero. But let's say you somehow get relevant traffic. Even then, you need four things to perfectly align: 1. Build the right landing page for that traffic 2. Nail the messaging for your audience 3. Nail the design to build trust 4. Convert cold traffic with zero relationship Do you see how many things need to work for you to get even ONE demo call from a directory? It's incredibly hard when you have zero social proof.

Every B2B purchase requires three fundamental elements: 1. Relevancy - Your product solves their specific problem For example, if you're a last-mile delivery company, it's unlikely that a software company would need your services. Selling to them would be pointless. 2. Timing - They feel urgency RIGHT NOW The business needs to be at the right stage to feel high importance and high urgency. A fresh e-commerce shop with zero sales has different needs than one with 100 daily sales. The first might handle delivery themselves. The second needs a scalable solution to get operations to the next level. 3. Trust - They believe you'll deliver and won't disappear Your buyers are asking themselves: Will I be satisfied with the value? Will this person disappear after payment? Are my payment details safe? There's even a saying: "Nobody was ever fired for buying a Mercedes." That's the trust element at work. Directories fail on all three pillars:

• Relevancy: Wrong audience (founders browsing, not buyers searching)
• Timing: Zero buying urgency (just casually browsing)
• Trust: You're a stranger with a landing page

Almost every successful B2B company I know got their first 5 customers from their network - not from cold outreach, not from directories. From first or second-degree connections who already trusted them. First-degree connections are people you know personally very well. Second-degree connections are people that your first-degree connections know. You can ask your network for introductions if they're your ideal customer profile. Why does this work? Trust is your limiting factor, not reach. Your network already knows:

• You'll pick up the phone if something breaks
• You won't disappear after they pay you
• You actually care about their success

For my first customer at my current company, I manually triggered a Postman API call 400 times - with a stopwatch timing 55-second intervals because of API rate limits. That's the level of manual, obsessive work early customers deserve, and it's only possible when there's existing trust.

Here's the exact process that works: Step 1: List 10 people from your network who have the problem you solve Think about friends, family, former colleagues, people from local meetups, online communities you're part of. Focus on people who genuinely have the pain point. Step 2: Message them directly No fancy landing page needed. Text message, DM, email - whatever feels natural. Be human about it. Step 3: Offer white-glove service You do everything for them: setup, data migration, workflow creation. Even if you're selling a $20/mo product. I've spent days (sometimes weeks) doing background work so the customer experience feels instant. Step 4: Get obsessed with their success Onboard them personally. Check in weekly. Respond to questions within hours. Ask for feedback constantly. The feedback loop from your first customer is worth more than a thousand website visitors. Step 5: Ask for referrals Once they're happy, ask them to introduce you to others who might have the same problem. Your first customer becomes your case study, your reference, your proof point.

To be fair - directories aren't completely useless. Later in your journey (once you have 10-20 customers and a real website), submitting to directories can get you some early backlinks for SEO. But that's it. They're a low-priority SEO task, not a customer acquisition strategy. Use them for domain authority, not for getting your first paying customers.