Can you share the journey of acquiring your first 1000 paid customers?

Along with a few others; this one for sure - What do you believe is your right to build this (in other words, what is the differentiation that you see for yourself from other products in this space)

"What made you want to build this product?" I want to the story behind the creation, the real "why", and the need it was designed to solve. This often also tell you know likely the creators/ founders are likely to stick with it, and the direction in which they are headed.

last week I wrote a blog on my concerns and what I’d like to ask them. 🙃

How do you decide which feature to prioritise when building? How do you define success? How do you get customers to stay?