---
title: "Do You Know Who You're Building For?"
section: "Customers"
sectionId: "customers"
date: "2026-05"
---

## First Users vs. Ideal Users

There is an important distinction between your **first users** and your **ideal users**:

- **First users** — could be a friend from college, a neighbour, your grandma. Anyone willing to try your product early.
- **Ideal users** — who your product ultimately solves the problem for, and who is willing to use it the most *or* pay you the most money.

## Finding Your Ideal Customer

A simple trick to identify early potential ideal customers:

1. Segment your users into cohorts based on an engagement metric (time on site, rides taken, workouts registered, etc.)
2. Focus on the **top 10% of engaged users**
3. Ask yourself:
   - What do these users look like?
   - What are their occupations?
   - Where are they located?
   - Why are they engaging with my product?
   - How much time are they spending on the platform?
4. Use this information to build a **blueprint for your ideal customer**

**Example:** A small business that needs help with web design but cannot justify hiring a full-time software engineer. This is the ideal customer blueprint for a marketplace of freelancers.

## Only Onboard Customers Who Fit

Winning founders understand their customers deeply. Superhuman is a great example of a company that takes this seriously.

CEO Rahul Vohra only onboards email "power users" because of the product's relatively high price point (~$360/year for an email client). His reasoning:

- If a customer is not the right fit, they will likely have a bad experience
- They will churn quickly
- The entire cost of acquiring that customer is wasted

**Superhuman actually rejects potential customers who are not a good fit.** Instead, Rahul spends time only on customers he knows will love and use the product. This is a disciplined application of ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) thinking.