Bob Jones teaches this session of MIT's 15.393 Nuts and Bolts of New Ventures, an IAP course on startup fundamentals, focusing on how founders identify and reach their actual customer base. He walks through methods for market research, segmenting potential buyers, and testing assumptions about who will pay for a new product before scaling sales efforts. The talk draws on practical startup experience rather than abstract theory, addressing common mistakes founders make when they assume a market exists without validating it directly with prospective customers. Running nearly ninety minutes, the session gives students a working framework for sales strategy in an early-stage venture, treating customer identification as a discipline that precedes any pitch deck or product launch.