1 - Give away your product for free to your first customer - If nobody is willing to try your product even for free, then that is a problem - Once you get a customer using your product, do a great job, fix all the bugs, make sure your product is perfect, overwhelm with all the goodness your product can produce and make them give you references
2 - Now that you have a customer, tell other prospects that you have a customer that is using your product and provide references. Also if your idea is unique and if it solves a pain then it is much easier to sell your product
3 - Grow from here, keep going to the next one and tell you have 2 customers, again the more unique your product is and if it solves a serious problem the more success, quick success you are going to have.
4 - Then see what is that is resonating well with these customers in your product, is it ease of use, or cost savings, or what is the benefit that all these guys like the most, based on that come up with a value prop statement, that needs to be one phrase that is simple and easy to understand and that hits the nail in the head.
5 - Market the heck out of that message in all possible ways, write blogs towards your target market, publish your blogs in such industry verticals, make videos that articulate the value prop, get customer testimonials etc
6 - Now go for strategic partnerships - you have a story to tell, you can share references from your customers with the strategic partner, have your customers tell your strategic partner why your product is the greatest
Also check out my book Puga Sankara's Supply Chain Blog - that is a must read before spending Hundreds & Thousands of $$$ on your MBA or Masters Degree to get the best ROI or before starting your Entrepreneurial journey.