# First Dollar Offer Worksheet

**SKU:** `first-dollar-offer`  
**Price:** $9 USD, paid in USDC on Base  
**Format:** Fill-in worksheet (one sitting, 60–90 minutes)  
**Audience:** US indie hackers who have an audience or a list of peers, but no first sale yet  
**Promise:** Leave with a named buyer, a pain that already has a receipt, and a price you can collect this month.

This is original instructional copy. It is not a starter-kit clone, not ad-spend advice, and not a fake case study. Do not invent revenue. Write from people you can already message.

## 0. Guardrails

- First dollar is a **sale**, not a waitlist, not “interest,” not a like.
- If you cannot name 20 people who might buy, the offer is too vague.
- You will pick **one** offer. Park the rest.
- “US indie hackers” is a channel, not a customer. Get more specific.

## 1. Inventory: who you can already reach

List 8–12 real contacts (first name + context). Context examples: “bought my last Notion pack,” “replied to my thread about Stripe webhooks,” “runs a $4k MRR Chrome extension.”

| # | First name | How you know them | What they ship | How you can reach them this week |
|---|------------|-------------------|----------------|----------------------------------|
| 1 |  |  |  |  |
| 2 |  |  |  |  |
| 3 |  |  |  |  |
| 4 |  |  |  |  |
| 5 |  |  |  |  |
| 6 |  |  |  |  |
| 7 |  |  |  |  |
| 8 |  |  |  |  |
| 9 |  |  |  |  |
| 10 |  |  |  |  |
| 11 |  |  |  |  |
| 12 |  |  |  |  |

Circle the **cluster** that shows up more than twice (same job, same stack, same revenue band). That cluster is your candidate “who.”

**Working who (one sentence):**  
`US [role] who already [existing behavior], typically at [revenue or company size].`

Worked example (fictional; do not copy as *your* offer):  
`US solo SaaS founders who already charge monthly, typically $2k–$15k MRR, who still send onboarding checklists as Google Docs.`

## 2. Pain that already has a receipt

A pain is valid only if the buyer **already pays** with money, billed time, or a tool they resent. Rank each candidate 1–5.

| Pain (plain English) | Evidence I have heard | Money/time they already spend | Frequency | Score 1–5 |
|----------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------------|-----------|-----------|
|  | quote / screenshot / call note | $ or hours / month | weekly / monthly / launch-only |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |  |

Keep the pain with the **highest score that you can personally reduce in under 14 days**.

**Working pain:**  
`They lose [amount or hours] when [trigger], because [broken method].`

## 3. Promise vs. product (keep them different)

If these two lines are the same sentence, you are selling a feature.

- **Promise (outcome in their words):**
- **Product (what you actually hand over):**
- **Not included:**

## 4. Five first-dollar shapes — pick one

Score feasibility (you) and urgency (them) 1–5. Highest combined total wins. Tie-breaker: fastest to deliver.

| Shape | What they buy | Typical first price band | Your feas. | Their urgency | Total | Notes |
|-------|---------------|--------------------------|------------|---------------|-------|-------|
| A. One-time pack | Markdown/HTML/Notion kit they keep | $9–$79 |  |  |  |  |
| B. Setup sprint | You configure their stack in 3–5 days | $150–$750 |  |  |  |  |
| C. Audit | Written teardown + 7 actions | $99–$399 |  |  |  |  |
| D. Done-with-you | 2 calls + async review | $250–$900 |  |  |  |  |
| E. Tiny paid tool | Single job, checkout | $9–$29/mo or $49 lifetime |  |  |  |  |

**Winner:** shape ___  
**Why the others wait:**

## 5. Price that can clear this month

Do not “feel” a number. Bracket it.

1. **Floor:** hours to deliver × $50 (indie wage). Floor = $______
2. **Ceiling they already pay:** closest substitute (contractor, SaaS, their own time). Ceiling = $______
3. **Ask:** a round number between floor and 60% of ceiling. Ask = $______

If floor ≥ ceiling, you are slower than the substitute. Change the shape or the who.

**Chosen rail:** one rail you can settle in 24 hours (card, USDC on Base, invoice).  
**Chosen price:** $______

## 6. Proof you can show before they pay

Check at least two. If you cannot check two, the offer is a speech.

- [ ] Screenshot of the deliverable (blur secrets)
- [ ] 90-second Loom of you using it on a realistic fake example
- [ ] Named result from a past project (numbers you can defend)
- [ ] Public teardown of a generic pattern (not a private customer dump)
- [ ] Written scope so they know what “done” is

Proof I will attach:

## 7. Objections — write the reply now

| They will say | True part | Your reply (one sentence) |
|---------------|-----------|---------------------------|
| I can do this myself |  |  |
| I need to think |  |  |
| Can you do it for equity / exposure |  |  |
| Will this work for my niche |  |  |
| I already have a tool for this |  |  |

## 8. The one-page offer (paste-ready)

**Headline:**  
`[Who] — stop [pain trigger] without [hated workaround].`

**Subhead:**  
`A [shape] that gives you [artifact] in [time], so you can [outcome].`

**For:**  
**Not for:**

**You get:**
1.
2.
3.

**You do not get:**

**Price:** $______ · **How to pay:** ______ · **Memo/reference:** ______

**How to start:** 1) pay  2) send ______  3) I deliver ______ by ______

**Guarantee (optional, only if you will honor it):**  
`If [objective condition] is missing, I refund within 7 days.`

## 9. First 20 asks

Write the 20 names **before** you polish the landing page.

| # | Name | Channel | Sent? (date) | Reply | Next step |
|---|------|---------|--------------|-------|-----------|
| 1 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 2 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 4 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 5 |  |  |  |  |  |
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| 7 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 8 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 9 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 10 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 11 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 12 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 13 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 14 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 15 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 16 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 17 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 18 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 19 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 20 |  |  |  |  |  |

## 10. Done definition

- [ ] Who is specific enough that a stranger could find 10 of them on LinkedIn or X
- [ ] Pain cites money or billed time
- [ ] One shape is chosen
- [ ] Price sits between floor and ceiling
- [ ] One-page offer is filled with no brackets left
- [ ] Twenty asks are named

**Offer name:**  
**Date locked:**