The Tamnoon Guide to Customer Acquisition: Converting Dormant Networks into Enterprise Deals

Your next big enterprise customer might be hiding in a month-long project from years ago. In a recent Category Visionaries episode, Tamnoon co-founder Marina Segal revealed how they built their initial customer base by tapping into unexpected corners of their professional networks.

The Power of Dormant Connections

“What I learned is that you need to be able to just ask anyone in your network a question, whether they want to hear your story or not, and you would be surprised how many people are open and are curious about the stuff that you are building,” Marina explains. This mindset led to some of their most valuable early customer relationships.

One of their first major customers came from what might seem like an unlikely source: “He worked with me in one of the ad hoc projects that I was there for a month, and we never been in touch since then,” Marina shares. “And then I just, were connected on LinkedIn, and I just reached out and asked if he wants to listen to what we are building. And he is now benefiting with the entire cloud security journey from our engagement.”

Building Through Service

Tamnoon’s approach to converting these connections wasn’t based on hard selling. Instead, they led with value from day one. “First three months were very different from the second three months,” Marina notes, describing their early phase. “We were providing service even before we had any product built.”

This service-first approach helped them build trust and validate their market understanding simultaneously. The next phase focused on expanding these relationships: “The next three months were actually us starting to deploy very tiny product, and it had basically one dashboard and an integration screen and speak to more and more customers.”

Creating Advocates, Not Just Customers

The relationships they built through this approach proved more valuable than traditional sales could achieve. Marina notes that their first customers “are actually still our really dear advocates and great customers.” This transformation from dormant connection to active advocate didn’t happen by accident – it was built on a foundation of genuine problem-solving.

“We are in the greens, we are solving problems. We are not adding any overhead on the companies. We are actually their trusted advisor,” Marina explains. This positioning helped turn customers into advocates who could validate their approach to other potential clients.

Expanding Beyond Direct Connections

Tamnoon didn’t limit themselves to first-degree connections. “Another customer I’ve met at one of the webinar sessions of our partners and I just reached out,” Marina shares. This shows how even loose connections in your extended network can lead to valuable relationships when approached with the right mindset.

Their strategy focused on being proactive rather than waiting for introductions: “Don’t be shy, reach out to everybody and you would be surprised how curious people are,” Marina advises.

A Framework for Network Activation

Based on Tamnoon’s experience, here’s a practical framework for activating dormant networks:

1. Cast a Wide Net: Don’t pre-judge which connections might be valuable
2. Lead with Curiosity: Ask if they want to hear about what you’re building
3. Start with Service: Provide value before asking for commitment
4. Build Trust Through Execution: Use early engagements to prove your value
5. Convert Customers to Advocates: Focus on solving real problems

Maintaining Focus While Building Relationships

While building these customer relationships, Tamnoon maintained clear priorities. “You can be either raising or not raising. And having this definition in your mind whenever you are speaking to investors is super important,” Marina explains. This allowed them to focus on customer development without getting distracted by fundraising activities when timing wasn’t right.

For B2B founders, Tamnoon’s approach offers valuable lessons about customer acquisition. Their success suggests that the best enterprise deals might not come from aggressive outbound sales or formal networking events, but from thoughtfully activating existing professional relationships, no matter how brief or distant they might seem.

The key is to approach these connections with genuine curiosity and a focus on problem-solving rather than immediate sales. As Marina’s experience shows, sometimes a month-long project from years ago can turn into a valuable enterprise customer – if you’re willing to reach out and start the conversation.