The Role of Being Social in Customer Acquisition with Courtney Krstich

Quitting a stable job to start a company is a bet on yourself. For Courtney Krstich, that bet started with a simple but widespread problem in the landscaping industry: Business owners didn’t have an easy way to track their finances.

With a background at PepsiCo and experience working with big-box retailers, independent garden centers, and lawn care businesses, Courtney saw firsthand how many companies relied on Apple Notes, Excel, or memory to run their operations. 

The reason? Existing software was too expensive, too complex, or just out of reach.

Instead of waiting for someone else to solve it, Courtney and her now-husband, a software developer, decided to build the solution themselves. That’s how EarthaPro was born. Named after their cat Eartha, the platform was designed to be an accessible, easy-to-use tool for landscaping businesses to manage their finances.

The insight was clear: there was demand for better tools, but the market wasn’t serving small business owners in an approachable way. The next step? Validating the idea and finding those first customers.

Validating the Idea

Coming from the industry gave Courtney an advantage. She already knew the problem existed. But knowing a problem isn’t enough. Would people actually pay for the solution?

To find out, she and her team took a structured approach to validation:

• They joined a pre-accelerator that forced them to refine their idea, conduct real customer interviews, and determine if the problem was truly worth solving.
• They conducted 50+ interviews with potential users, segmenting responses by business size, experience level, and pain points.
• They tested demand at industry events, attended trade shows, and spoke directly with landscapers to gauge real interest.

Why Customer Interviews Matter (and How to Do Them Right)

Many founders fall into the trap of getting vague, positive feedback. People say, “That sounds like a great idea!” but never actu 

Courtney avoided this by pushing beyond surface-level approval.

• Instead of asking, “Would this be useful?” she asked, “Would you try this today?”
• She filtered feedback, ignoring unrealistic feature requests (like building an entire Reddit-style forum into the platform).
• She paid attention to buying signals, and when prospects started asking, “Does it include [specific feature]?” it showed real interest.

The First Signs of Product-Market Fit

Before even launching an MVP, they saw early validation:

• People at trade shows said yes. They’d try it.

• Prospects asked about specific features.

• Conversations moved from “interesting idea” to “How does it work?”

These were the first indicators that EarthaPro was more than a nice idea. It was a needed solution.

Quitting your job is one thing…

Leaping into full-time entrepreneurship is hard enough, but convincing family and friends that you’re not making a terrible mistake is just as challenging for most founders.

Courtney knew EarthaPro had potential. She’d spoken to landscapers, validated the problem, and saw firsthand how disorganized their operations were. But that didn’t stop people from questioning her decision.

“Until you have customers, people will always wonder if you’re okay,” she said. “Then the moment you land clients, suddenly they ‘always knew you’d do well.’”

The reality is that early-stage startups don’t look successful from the outside. There are no big paychecks, no clear guarantees, and, at least in the beginning, no proof that the idea will work.

But for Courtney, validation came in a different form: her first paying customers.

Finding the Right Audience in the Right Places

Many founders make the mistake of choosing the wrong channels for customer acquisition. They push LinkedIn campaigns at an audience that barely logs in, or they run ads on Twitter when their buyers are on Facebook.

Courtney didn’t fall into that trap. Instead, she focused on where landscapers actually spent time:

• Instagram: She built a following by engaging with relevant profiles, liking posts, and reaching out with direct messages.
• Trade Shows: She met landscapers in person, had real conversations, and secured high-quality leads.
• Facebook: Many landscapers didn’t even have websites. Their entire online presence was a Facebook page, so that’s where they could be reached.

Getting the First Yes

The first customers didn’t come from ads or automation. They came from direct outreach and relationship-building.

• Sizzle reels and Instagram DMs brought in the earliest users.
• Trade shows became a major lead source once they started attending.
• Personal engagement (not cold automation) drove initial traction.

The biggest lesson? Early sales are for discovering what works and doing it manually until it’s time to scale.

Cold Outreach vs. Personal Connection

Courtney’s first customers didn’t come from cold emails. They came from in-person conversations and direct engagement on social media.

At first, Instagram worked. She built a following, engaged with landscapers, and converted some into customers. But after a while, traction slowed. That’s when she realized meeting people in person at trade shows made a bigger impact. (Something similar happened to Angelo Ferro.)

Landscapers weren’t just buying software. They were buying from people they trusted. 

The details mattered:

• They remembered meeting her and her team.
• They liked that EarthaPro was family-owned and built in the U.S.
• They felt a connection that cold email couldn’t replicate.

This isn’t to say cold outreach doesn’t work. It does. But it’s rarely the best way to land the first customers.

Early-stage sales require trust. It’s easier to build that by showing up where your customers already go, whether that’s a trade show, an industry Facebook group, or an active social platform.

Beyond Validation

There’s a difference between believing in your product and seeing customers believe in it, too. For Courtney, that moment came at EarthaPro’s first trade show. Their official launch.

Months of development, testing, and customer interviews led to this. But nothing prepared her for the experience of watching seasoned landscapers sit down, lean in, and engage.

One landscaper with 20 years in the industry spent over an hour at their booth. First, just talk, then actively evaluate the product, suggest improvements, and validate its value.

That was the shift. It wasn’t just a startup idea anymore. It was a real solution that customers wanted.

Product-Market Fit Isn’t a Destination

There’s no finish line for product-market fit. It’s not a box you check. It’s a constant learning, refining, and adapting process. Every new conversation, trade show, and customer interaction adds to it.

Conclusion

You don’t need to have the perfect product from day one to turn an idea into a business. it’s You need constant validation, adaptation, and execution. 

Product-market fit is a spectrum. It’s a process of proving demand, refining the solution, and earning customer trust.

The founders who succeed are the ones who listen, iterate, and meet their customers where they are. Every conversation, trade show, and interaction is a chance to get closer to what the market actually needs.

Want to see how EarthaPro is solving real problems? Visit EarthaPro or connect with Courtney Krstich.

Need help building a repeatable outbound sales engine? Predictable Revenue can help.

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