Getting early adopters makes the product development process easy.
We started onboarding only a few early adopters on a module basis.
It saved a lot of our time and money.
We had a customer waiting to consume it. Some early adopters also paid us because they were keen to solve their pain points.
Everyone has free time to give advice, but a few use the product. So be very mindful of whose advice you are building the product.
We had a few instances where we asked the organization if they co-build and pay in advance. We onboarded a few and left many for any future advice.
As a founder in the early days of building a startup, you are very vulnerable, and everyone will take you for a ride. Be mindful of where to put the limited time you have in your hand. Everyone around will sweet talk and offer you a shit load of advice.
Take advice from those who are committed to your journey, not those who spin any ideas that come to their mind at an instance and are not willing to put skin in the game.