I care more about making one dollar than I do about making a million. More specifically, I care deeply, intensely, obsessively about the first dollar—the one uniquely capable of validating everything: my idea, execution and vision. So much so that I’ve named it “First Dollar”. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
Before my founder’s journey - as a corporate leader, I never thought about First Dollar —by the time I was hired, it had long passed its tenure. When I worked at OkCupid, we were focused on the 64 millionth dollar; at WeWork, the 64 billionth. At these massive corporations, First Dollar existed only in myth-bound memory. No active employee could remember what it took to earn that crucial first payment walking through the door—its invitation a relic of the past.
First Dollar arrives the moment a customer looks at what you’ve created and says, “Yeah, I’d pay for that”—and then actually does it. For your ship to be christened and the winds of “holy shit, we’re doing this” to fill your sales—sorry, sails—the dollar must exchange hands. Anything less, and you’re just collecting compliments, false hope, and a case of chimney-bum (smoke up your… chimney). If a customer is going to pay, they’ll pay. If they pay once, they’ll likely pay again. If they won’t pay now, they probably never will.
Be vewwy, vewwy quiet - it spooks easy.
First Dollar validates your business model and proves you’re solving a problem people value enough to pay for. Without First Dollar, you can’t sleep at night because your business model isn’t real.
VCs will ask: “How much will you make with 11 million customers? What’s your churn after Year 5? What’s the revenue by the 102nd moon cycle after you hit $10MM ARR?” These questions matter, but not until you’ve earned First Dollar. If you haven’t done so, you’ve got one job: forget the projections. Clear your mind like a Men In Black neuralyzer and laser focus. This is your new bible: How will I make it? How quickly can I get there? How reproducible is it? Nothing else matters until that dollar crosses the line.
First Dollar is about validation. You have no brand, no reputation, no promises to dine on. To get there, you must solve a real problem— something your customer values enough to pay for. So, focus on creating the most basic, effective solution that gets the job done. First Dollar doesn’t have to be fancy. It just has to be real. Real enough to get some sleep, anyway.
~ Brandon