When I started working with one of my first startups earlier in the day, I thought money solved everything but later on I realized it wasn’t and I was glad I learned this early enough in my career then as a growth guy.
Because money doesn’t fix distribution. It only amplifies what’s already working or broken.
Then reality hits:
🚫 Ads don’t fix a weak channel strategy.
🚫 Influencers can’t sell what users don’t understand.
🚫 PR can’t replace distribution systems.
Here’s the truth no one wants to admit, funding is not momentum. Distribution is.
Your product can be brilliant, your story inspiring, but if your users can’t find you or can’t tell others about you, you’re dead in the water.
Instead of chasing investors, I chased distribution levers: partnerships, communities, referral loops, and organic creator growth just to build early traction that an idea stage startup should have and we outdid ourselves. Within weeks, the traction looked better than months of paid efforts.
The startup graveyard is full of teams that ran out of distribution energy long before they ran out of money.
If you’re building right now, ask yourself:
- What are your unfair channels?
- Who already has your audience’s attention?
- What would distribution look like if you had zero ad budget?
Because the best founders don’t just build products, they build pathways for those products to move.
In this market, distribution isn’t a department. It’s a survival strategy.
What’s the hardest channel you’ve ever cracked?
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