The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers
A Sleep-Deprived Founder’s Guide to Revenue
From one of North America’s top sales development leaders comes a powerful three-stage blueprint designed to guide startups to predictable revenue.
Are you a startup founder with a great product but no sales? Do prospective clients say your product is interesting, but no one’s buying?
Collin Stewart, founder and CEO of Predictable Revenue, shares hard-earned lessons about navigating the chaos of a startup and the daunting task of finding your first customers. The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers is a straight-talking guide for founders focused on tackling the essential steps to growth in the right sequence.
This is an invaluable resource for any founder, organized into informative, practical sections covering the three major steps in a startup’s journey: finding product-market fit, closing your first customers, and building a scalable revenue engine. It offers clear milestones, practical benchmarks, complete with real stories of successes and pitfalls to help founders learn from mistakes and make lasting impact. With advice that starts with the uncommon art of actually listening to prospective clients, Stewart leads you from measuring the strength of your product-market fit through to hiring your first sales rep, using language and techniques that will make sense to all regardless of their sales experience. Through step-by-step milestones and benchmarks, he demystifies the process of finding your first customers, empowering founders to move forward with clarity and confidence.
Reviews
For any founder looking to get traction fast, this book is a game-changer. The section on customer development funnel, in particular, is gold for founders trying to find that elusive product-market fit. If you’re struggling to get your first customers, this chapter will change the way you think about outreach, feedback, and refining your pitch. It nails the balance between strategic insight and hands-on tactics—exactly what you need in your early days.
Customers want outcomes, not products. As a founder, your first job isn’t selling—it’s understanding the outcomes your customers are looking for. Collin Stewart nails it: Before you build a repeatable sales engine, you must bring in those first customers and ensure they love your product enough to stay, pay, and shout about it from the rooftops. If you can’t do that, no one else will.
The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers is a must-read for anyone starting a new business. Collin Stewart’s wealth of experience and insights learned from helping founders find predictable revenue is as deep and valuable as you’ll find. As I often say, nothing happens until someone sells something, and this book serves as the how-to guide to selling something.
$24.95 CAD • $19.95 USD
Published OCTOBER 28TH, 2025
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