How do I figure out who my target customer is?
19 September 2026 · by Nordva, who make Nordva Launch
The short answer
Look at the people who already use and pay, not at who you imagined. Sort your users by what they do, where they came from and who they are (job, company size, situation), and find the group that uses it most and pays most often. Describe them in one sentence, then go where more of them are. With no users yet, start from who has the problem worst.
Why “everyone” doesn’t work
A product for everyone who needs a to-do list competes with every to-do list, and you can’t afford to reach everyone. A product for freelance video editors who juggle client revisions can be found where video editors talk, described in their words, and priced for what it saves them. Narrow isn’t small: it’s reachable.
Start from who already came
If you have signups or users, the answer is partly in your data:
- List your most active users and your paying customers. Twenty is enough to start.
- For each, write down: where they came from, what they do (job or situation), how often they use it, and what they asked you for.
- Look for the group that repeats. Often it’s one job, one company size, or one situation (“just hired their first employee”) that shows up far more among payers than among everyone else.
- Check where that group came from. The source tells you where to find more of them.
Describe them in one sentence
Who they are, the situation, and the problem: “Solo bookkeepers with ten to thirty small-business clients, who lose hours every month chasing receipts.” If you can’t write it, you don’t know yet; talk to five more customers.
If you have no users yet
Start from who has the problem worst: people who already spend money or hours on a bad fix (a spreadsheet, a contractor, three tools stitched together). They’re the easiest to find and the quickest to say yes or no.
Keep checking
Your first guess is a hypothesis. Every month, look again at who pays and who stays. Founders often discover their real customer is a neighbour of the one they aimed at.
With Nordva Launch
Every waitlist signup and visit keeps its source, and with Stripe connected (read-only, every plan) paying customers are traced to theirs. On Indie, contacts put a person’s signup, feedback and payments on one record, with a stage and a note you set, which makes step 2 a list rather than a spreadsheet. Feedback (Indie) keeps each person’s own words, which you can reuse when you describe them.
When Launch is the wrong tool
If you have no users at all yet, the data part of this page doesn't apply; start with conversations with people who have the problem, and come back when a few dozen people use it.
- How do I define my ideal customer profile?
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- How do I find my niche?