Distribution

A customer acquisition framework: the four ways to get customers

There are only four ways to get a customer to know you exist: warm outreach, cold outreach, content, and paid ads. Alex Hormozi calls them the Core Four, and the mistake most founders make is spreading thin across all of them instead of picking one and going hard. Below is what each channel is, how to choose, and where operators disagree on whether to concentrate on one or build owned distribution for the long game.

Why this matters. "How do I get customers" is the question under most early-stage panic, and the advice founders get is a scattered list of tactics with no way to choose. The Core Four is the map that makes the choice tractable.

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The short answer

The Core Four channels

Every acquisition tactic is one of these four. Naming them this way turns "what should I try?" into "which one am I committing to?"

1

Warm outreach

Reach out to people who already know you: your network, past colleagues, existing users. The fastest first channel because trust already exists.
2

Cold outreach

Contact strangers directly, by DM, email, or call. Scales through volume and follow-up, not charm.
3

Content

Post free value publicly so the right people find you. Slow to start, compounding once it lands.
4

Paid ads

Pay a platform to put you in front of people. Fastest to test, but it exposes a weak offer instantly.

There are only these four. Pick the one that fits your product and your temperament, and go deep before you add a second.

The cited playbook

How operators actually get their first customers

Not "do a bit of everything." Here is how operators who have built real pipelines pick a channel and work it, each step linked to its source.

1

Pick one of the four and go all in

Spreading across all four channels dilutes every one of them. Choose a single channel, commit to it for an extended run, four hours a day for a quarter is the rule of thumb, and only add a second once the first is working. Depth beats a shallow presence everywhere.
Alex Hormozi · $100M Leads
2

Do things that don't scale to land the first users

Startups don't take off on their own. Recruit your earliest customers by hand and do the unscalable work that delights them, personal onboarding, manual setup, direct conversations, because early on that is the only thing that produces real users and real feedback.
Paul Graham · Do Things That Don't Scale
3

For cold outreach, work a small list hard

Pick a hundred specific names, spend thirty minutes a day, and follow up as many as ten times each. Expect roughly ten percent to reply. Cold outreach fails from too little volume and too few follow-ups, not from the wrong opening line.
Sam Parr · Cold Email Method
4

Make the ad or post survive its hook

Whatever channel you pick, most attempts die at the hook. Name the pain in about three words, deliver the substance, then make one clear ask. A great offer behind a weak hook never gets seen.
Alex Hormozi · Hook-Meat-CTA

Where experts disagree

Where operators disagree: concentrate on one channel or build owned distribution?

Alex Hormozi

says pick one of the four channels and grind it for a quarter before adding another. Focus and repetition on a single channel beat a thin presence everywhere, especially when you're small and short on time.

Greg Isenberg

argues the durable win is owned distribution: an audience, community, and channels you control, built mainly through content, so you stop renting attention from platforms. That's a slower, compounding play than grinding cold outreach.

ChatGPT blends this into 'try a few channels and see.' Gavel shows you the real tradeoff, fast concentrated effort now versus a compounding owned audience, so you pick against your runway and temperament.

FAQ

Customer acquisition questions, answered

What is Alex Hormozi's Core Four?

The Core Four is the claim that there are only four ways to get customers: warm outreach, cold outreach, content, and paid ads. Every acquisition tactic is a version of one of these, so the real decision is which one to commit to, not which clever hack to try.

Which acquisition channel should I start with?

Usually warm outreach, because trust already exists and it produces customers and feedback fastest. If you have no network in the space, cold outreach or content are the next choices. Pick the one that fits your product and that you'll actually do every day.

How long before a channel starts working?

Give it a real run before judging, on the order of a quarter of consistent daily effort. Content compounds slowly and cold outreach needs volume and follow-ups, so a week of half-effort tells you nothing. The common failure is quitting a channel too early, not picking the wrong one.

Warm outreach vs cold outreach, what's the difference?

Warm outreach goes to people who already know you and converts on existing trust; cold outreach goes to strangers and converts on volume and persistent follow-up. Start warm to get early wins, then add cold once you can handle the rejection rate and the process.

Can ChatGPT pick my acquisition channel for me?

It can list tactics, but it can't see your network, your product, or which channel you'll stick with, so it hands you all four with no way to choose. The Core Four is public; the value is applying it to your situation, which is the context Gavel asks for.

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