You’ve built the product. Now you need customers. But when you’re starting from zero, there may be no marketing budget, established brand, or sales team to help you find them. So how do you get the first 1,000 people to take a chance on what you’ve built?
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Gamma CEO and co-founder Grant Lee, Engine founder and CEO Elia Wallen, and GV (Google Ventures) general partner Crystal Huang will take the Builders Stage for “The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget.”
They’ll break down how founders are using community building, product-led growth, founder-led sales, strategic outbound, and word of mouth to find those critical early customers.
Still working toward your first 1,000 customers? Secure your Disrupt pass now, save up to $100, and hear how founders are finding early customers when budget, brand, and scale aren’t available yet. Bring a co-founder, colleague, partner, or peer and save 50% on your pass.
From early users to nearly 100 million
Lee knows what it takes to grow well beyond those first customers. Before co-founding Gamma, he was COO of ClearBrain, which was acquired by Amplitude, and CFO of Optimizely. A Stanford-trained engineer with experience in finance and operations, he spent years creating the slide decks that eventually inspired him to rethink how people create and share ideas.
Gamma has since grown far beyond presentations. TechCrunch reported in March 2026 that the AI-powered visual communication platform was approaching 100 million users after reaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025. The company has continued expanding into websites, social content, and AI-generated marketing assets.
For an early-stage founder, the interesting part of that story starts well before 100 million users. How do you convince the first people to try a product from a company they’ve never heard of — and turn that early traction into momentum?
Get your ticket to Disrupt and hear Lee’s perspective on what it takes to start building a customer base from zero. Save up to $100 on your pass, and get a second pass at 50% off.
Building without an established brand
Wallen brings another founder journey to the conversation. He started Travelers Haven in 2008 and bootstrapped it into one of the country’s largest corporate housing companies. He raised Engine’s first outside capital in 2019 and later shifted his full attention to the travel platform.
Today, Engine has served more than 30,000 businesses and one million travelers and is cash-flow positive. Its growth continued in July when Engine acquired Options Travel, a travel management company with more than 30 years in the business, along with its group-flights product, TempoTrip.
Wallen’s experience spans the stages early founders are trying to navigate: starting without an established brand, finding customers, building around what those customers need, and scaling from there.
If your startup needs customers long before it has a large marketing operation, add this Builders Stage session to your Disrupt agenda. Register now and save up to $100, and get a second at 50% off.
What does an investor see in early customer traction?
Huang brings the investor’s view. As a general partner at GV, she concentrates on SaaS, infrastructure, and AI, with a particular interest in product- and developer-led adoption strategies. Before GV, she invested at NEA and Notable Capital and began her career in technology M&A at Blackstone.
She’ll also be evaluating startups firsthand at Disrupt as one of this year’s Startup Battlefield 200 judges.
Huang adds the investor lens: how early-stage companies approach product-led adoption and build momentum before they have the resources of an established business.
Want to hear how a founder’s early go-to-market strategy looks from both sides of the table? Secure your Disrupt pass and hear from founders who have built customer bases and an investor who evaluates how companies grow. Save up to $100 on your pass, and get a second of the same pass at 50%.
Make more early-stage connections at Disrupt
“The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget” is one of 200+ sessions across six industry stages, roundtables and breakouts at Disrupt, October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. More than 10,000 founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders are expected, along with 250+ speakers and 300+ exhibiting startups.
And for founders trying to find customers, investors, partners, or simply other people who understand the zero-to-one grind, the conversations don’t end when the sessions do. Matchmaking, dealmaking, and ad hoc networking give attendees opportunities to make the connections that can move a young company forward.
You may not have a big marketing budget yet. At Disrupt, you can hear how founders are finding early customers through strategies that don’t depend on one — and meet thousands of people building, funding, and buying what comes next. Explore your ticket options and lock in up to $100 in savings. Plus, get a second pass at 50% off.
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