💓 Distribution affects everyone
There’s a pattern that repeats in almost every new project: someone spends weeks on the product, publishes it, and hears nothing. No sign-ups, no comments, no complaints. Not because the product is bad, but because nobody knows it exists. The first job after building is to get a heartbeat: any sign that someone outside your circle cares.
📈 Why this got worse, not better
When building required a team and months of work, few competitors arrived at the same time. Today, with coding agents, dozens of similar products appear in the same week. The result is launch inflation: audiences see something "new" all day and start ignoring almost everything.
In this environment, distribution isn't the final step in the plan. You need to think about it alongside the idea. You should have an answer to "How will the first hundred people discover this?" before writing the first line of code.
✓ Signs there's a pulse
- ✓Strangers sign up without you asking.
- ✓Someone comes back the next day.
- ✓Questions and complaints come in (that's a good sign).
- ✓One person refers another.
✗ Signs it isn't there yet
- ✗Only friends and family have tested it.
- ✗All the traffic comes from your own post.
- ✗No one complains about anything.
- ✗Numbers rise only on launch day.
💡 A question to keep handy
Before starting any product, write this sentence: "The first 100 people will find me through ____". If the blank stays empty, you don't have a plan yet; you only have an idea.
🧵 Reddit and communities
Communities like Reddit have a metric called karma: points you earn when other people upvote your responses. Accounts with high karma get more visibility and are less likely to be filtered as spam. In other words, reputation is literally what opens the channel.
The four-step approach
Map where your audience asks questions
List 5 to 10 forums, groups, or subcommunities where people discuss the pain points your product solves. Read before you write.
Answer without selling
For weeks, solve real problems. Write complete answers with step-by-step instructions. That’s what builds karma and recognition.
Mention it in passing
When the question is exactly what the product solves, end your answer with something like “I use X for that.” One sentence, not an ad.
Measure and repeat
Use a link with a source parameter to see which answers brought people in. Double down on the forums that work.
✓ Works
- ✓Answer the entire question, even without mentioning the product.
- ✓Show a concrete result (“I did it this way, and this happened”).
- ✓Come back to answer questions in the comments.
✗ Burns the channel
- ✗Posting the same link in ten threads.
- ✗Creating a new account just to promote your product.
- ✗Replying with “check out my app.”
⚠️ Time horizon
This channel takes time to build. It takes weeks to earn a reputation and months to become a steady source of traffic. Don’t expect results in the first week, and don’t give up in the second.
🎯 Guerrilla marketing and small bets
Guerrilla marketing is the name for tactics outside the traditional playbook: instead of paying for attention, you show up where attention already is. The principle is the asymmetric bet: it costs little if it fails and can pay off big if it works.
🐴 Example: the $22 domain
An entrepreneur predicted the name of a product a large company would launch the next day. They bought a domain with that name for about US$ 22, then built a small catalog of assistants for that platform in three hours using a coding agent, and spent another twelve hours polishing it.
If the prediction was right, the site would get some of the traffic from people curious about the new product. And inside it, there was a discreet highlight for the entrepreneur’s main SaaS. It’s a traffic “Trojan horse”: ride someone else’s wave to bring people to you.
| Tactic | Cost | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Ride a predicted launch | Low | You know the market well and can anticipate what’s coming. |
| Reply to a trending thread | Zero | A viral discussion touches on exactly the problem you solve. |
| Free lead magnet tool | Low | A small utility related to your product that people share. |
| Cold calls and cold emails | Time | High-ticket sales; they work, but take a lot of repetition. |
✓ Good bets
- ✓A cost you can afford to lose without much pain.
- ✓Relevant to your actual audience.
- ✓Quick to build and measure.
✗ Bad bets
- ✗Misleading users about what they’re accessing.
- ✗Using someone else’s brand in a way that could cause legal confusion.
- ✗Spending weeks on an effort that depends on luck alone.
💡 Think outside the box, but measure
Cold calls and cold emails work; entire agencies make a living from them. But in a world where being first in front of people matters, short windows of attention often deliver more per dollar invested. Make several small bets and track which one brought people in.
🤝 Two-sided affiliate program
A typical affiliate program pays a commission to anyone who brings in a customer. The two-sided model goes further: the person who refers someone earns a commission and also gets credits, a discount, or free months of the product. The incentive becomes more than money; it becomes “use it for free.”
🎧 Example of how this works
A user of a voice dictation tool referred the product to their audience. With the referrals they’d accumulated, they earned enough credits to keep their subscription free through 2027. They don’t even use the tool that much anymore, but they keep referring people because each new referral keeps their account free.
For the company, the cost of these credits is small compared with the value of the customers they bring in. For the person making referrals, there’s a concrete reason to keep talking about the product.
📊 Do the math before setting the percentage
- •If the subscription is R$ 50 and you pay a 40% recurring commission, each referral costs you R$ 20 per month for as long as they stay.
- •If it costs R$ 10 to serve that customer, you’re left with R$ 20 in margin. It’s still profitable.
- •Usage credits cost what it takes to deliver the service, not the list price. That’s why they’re an inexpensive incentive.
✓ Program that works
- ✓An easy-to-find link inside the product.
- ✓A dashboard showing how much the person has already earned.
- ✓A bonus for people who join through the link, too.
✗ Program nobody uses
- ✗A separate, bureaucratic signup process.
- ✗Payout only after reaching a high threshold.
- ✗Commission only on the first sale.
💡 Practical tip
Show the referral prompt right after the user gets a good result (“your report is ready”). That’s when they’re most likely to share it with someone.
🩸 “Blood in the streets” moments
There’s a classic saying in finance: “buy when there’s blood in the streets”. It means the best opportunities show up during a panic. For products, the version is: show up in a big way when the problem you solve makes the news.
🛡️ Example: a wave of app attacks
Imagine a security product for apps built with AI. One day, several apps get hacked, a well-known AI service goes down, and the incident makes headlines. For a few weeks, everyone is worried about security.
At that moment, the product announces: “we’ve expanded the free plan 10 times; anyone can check their app now, at no cost.” The result: goodwill, new users, more data (if data is valuable to the product), and a positive impression of the brand.
📊 What happens during these spikes
- •Small SaaS products making around 600 per month reached 7, 15, or 20 thousand in monthly revenue within a few months.
- •The leap rarely comes from a paid campaign. It comes from being ready when attention arrives.
- •A free entry point is what turns curiosity into use.
How to prepare before the spike
List the events that make your problem urgent
Data leaks, a change in the law, a major service outage, a competitor launch. Write these down before they happen.
Have the offer ready
Have copy, a page, and an expanded plan setup ready to turn on in minutes.
Make some noise that day
Post, reply to threads, send it to your list. The spike lasts days, not months.
⚠️ Opportunism has its limits
Helping in a moment of fear is different from exploiting that fear. Offer something that truly solves the problem, and be generous. Alarmist ads tied to a tragedy destroy the trust you wanted to earn.
🎬 Accelerators and content creators
If organic traction isn't coming, there's a key question: is the product good enough to get into an accelerator? Programs like Y Combinator, or accelerators in your region, accept ideas with merit and some initial traction, even if that's only a handful of users.
📱 Content creators are a channel
On short-form video platforms, the posts that work best show a tool, a repository, or a feature that few people know about. Creators are always looking for these discoveries to share with their audiences.
The products they choose have one thing in common: they can be demonstrated in seconds. "Paste your link here, click here, see what happens. I did this for free in 15 seconds. Comment BANANA and I'll send you access."
✓ Easy-to-show product
- ✓A single input field.
- ✓A visual result in seconds.
- ✓Anyone can understand it without an explanation.
✗ Hard-to-show product
- ✗Requires signup, setup, and integration before the first result.
- ✗The value only shows up after weeks.
- ✗Needs a paragraph to explain what it does.
Accelerator
Bring the idea, whatever traction you have, and a clear explanation of the problem. The idea's merit matters even with few users.
Content creator
Give them free access and a ready-made 15-second script. Make their job easier.
Your own videos
Short-form video platforms don't require followers. Even a new account can get a video with tens of thousands of views.
💡 Quick test
Record a 20-second video of yourself using the product on your phone. Show it to someone who doesn't know the project. If they understand what it does, the product is ready for this channel.
🧪 Quick module quiz
Three questions. Click an option to see the answer.
1. What's the first distribution goal right after building?
2. On a forum like Reddit, when should you mention the product?
3. What defines a two-sided affiliate?
📋 Module summary
Next module:
3.2 - Positioning and the customer journey