Personal Customer Onboarding
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The Collison Installation is a high-intensity approach to customer acquisition where founders personally onboard early customers instead of relying on automated processes. This concept comes from Stripe's early days and demonstrates the power of hands-on, intense execution.
Core Philosophy
- Big things come from accumulation of smaller things
- Startups take off because founders make them take off
- Manual effort early on creates momentum that leads to automated growth later
The Collison Method
- When someone shows interest, immediately offer to help them set up
- Ask "Do you have your laptop? I can set you up right now"
- Physically sit with customer and install/configure the product
- Guide them through the entire onboarding process personally
- Focus on getting customers activated immediately vs future follow-up
Why Others Don't Do This
- Shyness
- Fear of rejection
- Misconception that big results require big actions
- Preference for scalable solutions too early
Impact of This Approach
- Creates immediate customer activation
- Builds strong early relationships
- Provides direct feedback loop
- Forces product improvement through direct observation
- Demonstrates commitment to customer success
Key Insight
- How you do one thing is how you do everything
- This level of intensity in customer acquisition likely reflected in all aspects of business
- The approach seems obvious but requires overcoming natural tendencies to automate too early
Results
- Stripe onboarded first 100-200 customers manually this way
- Led to deep understanding of customer needs
- Created foundation for future growth
- Demonstrated difference between common knowledge and committed execution
07:00 - 09:16
Full video: 24:13SP
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.