Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I walked into a potential client meeting with a $XX,XXX platform project budget and did something that shocked them: I said no.
Not because the money wasn't good. Not because I was too busy. But because their approach to go-to-market was fundamentally broken, and I knew building their platform would be like constructing a beautiful store in an empty mall.
Here's what happened: They wanted to test if their idea worked by building a complex two-sided marketplace. They had no existing audience, no validated customer base, no proof of demand. Just an idea and enthusiasm. Sound familiar?
This is the reality of most "go-to-market frameworks" today. They're built for companies that already have product-market fit, not for the scrappy startups who need them most. After working with dozens of B2B SaaS clients and e-commerce stores, I've learned something the frameworks don't tell you: your first MVP shouldn't be a product at all.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why traditional go-to-market frameworks fail for 90% of startups
The counterintuitive approach I used to help clients validate demand before building anything
A step-by-step framework that prioritizes distribution over development
Real examples of how distribution-first thinking transformed client outcomes
When to ignore popular advice and focus on growth fundamentals instead
This isn't another recycled framework from a business school textbook. This is what actually works when you're starting from zero.
Industry wisdom
What every startup founder has been told
Walk into any accelerator, read any startup blog, or talk to any business consultant, and you'll hear the same go-to-market gospel repeated like a mantra:
"Build your MVP, find product-market fit, then scale."
The traditional framework looks something like this:
Define your target market - Create detailed buyer personas and market segments
Build your minimum viable product - Get something functional to market quickly
Test and iterate - Gather user feedback and improve the product
Find product-market fit - Achieve sustainable growth metrics
Scale your go-to-market engine - Invest in sales, marketing, and distribution
This framework exists because it worked for successful companies we read about in case studies. It's clean, logical, and makes perfect sense in hindsight.
The problem? It's optimized for companies that already have distribution figured out. When you dig deeper into those success stories, you'll find that most "overnight successes" had one crucial advantage: they already had an audience, network, or distribution channel before they built their product.
The framework assumes you can build something, put it out there, and people will find it. In 2025, with millions of apps, thousands of SaaS tools, and endless noise, this assumption is not just wrong—it's dangerous.
Most startups fail not because they build the wrong product, but because they build the right product for an audience they can't reach.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When that client approached me with their marketplace idea, I recognized a pattern I'd seen too many times. They were classic product-first thinkers in a distribution-first world.
Their plan was textbook perfect: conduct user interviews, validate the concept, build an MVP, launch, and iterate based on feedback. They'd done everything the frameworks told them to do. They even had some promising early conversations with potential users.
But here's what they didn't have: a way to reach those users at scale.
I asked them a simple question: "If you launch this tomorrow, how will the first 100 users find out about it?" Their answer was a mix of "content marketing," "social media," and "word of mouth." All valid strategies, but none with any concrete plan or existing foundation.
This wasn't their fault. They were following conventional wisdom. The problem is that conventional wisdom was written for a different era—when building was the hard part and distribution was easier.
I've seen this pattern across multiple clients:
A B2B SaaS client who spent months perfecting their onboarding flow while ignoring the fact that their LinkedIn personal branding was their only real growth driver
An e-commerce store that invested heavily in product development but had no sustainable way to reach customers beyond expensive Facebook ads
Multiple service businesses with beautiful websites that sat empty because they treated their site like a product instead of a marketing laboratory
The common thread? They all started with the product instead of starting with distribution. They were building beautiful stores in empty malls.
That's when I developed what I call the Distribution-First Framework—a complete inversion of traditional go-to-market thinking.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Instead of building first and hoping people find you, I now help clients start with a simple question: "Where are your customers hanging out, and how can we add value there before asking for anything?"
Here's the framework that emerged from multiple client experiments:
Step 1: Audience Before Product
Instead of defining target markets in abstract, we identify specific communities, forums, newsletters, or platforms where potential customers already congregate. The goal isn't just to understand them—it's to become genuinely helpful in those spaces.
For example, with that potential marketplace client, I suggested they spend a month manually connecting buyers and sellers in LinkedIn groups and industry forums. No platform, no product—just pure value creation through manual processes.
Step 2: Manual Validation at Scale
Before building anything, we prove demand through human processes. This might mean:
Running manual outreach campaigns to validate willingness to pay
Creating simple landing pages that sell the outcome, not the product
Setting up basic automation to handle repetitive tasks without building full features
Step 3: Content as Distribution Infrastructure
Instead of treating content as a marketing afterthought, we make it the primary distribution vehicle. But not generic content—hyper-specific, experience-driven content that demonstrates expertise in real situations.
One client started documenting their actual customer conversations on LinkedIn instead of sharing generic growth tips. This became their primary lead generation channel, bringing in more qualified prospects than any traditional marketing campaign.
Step 4: Technology as Amplification, Not Foundation
Only after proving manual processes work do we build technology to amplify them. This ensures we're automating validated demand, not automating our way to failure.
Step 5: Scale What Works, Kill What Doesn't
Traditional frameworks assume linear progression. The Distribution-First Framework assumes most experiments will fail, so we run multiple small bets simultaneously and double down on what actually drives results.
The key insight: Your MVP should be your marketing and sales process, not your product. The technology comes later, once you've proven people will pay for the outcome you're delivering.
Manual Validation
Start with human processes to prove demand exists before building any technology. Sell the outcome, not the product.
Content Distribution
Use experience-driven content as your primary distribution channel. Document real work, don't create generic advice.
Audience Building
Focus on becoming genuinely helpful in existing communities before trying to build your own platform.
Technology Amplification
Build technology only to amplify proven manual processes, not as the foundation of your go-to-market strategy.
The results speak for themselves, but they don't always look like traditional startup metrics.
That marketplace client? They took my advice and spent six weeks manually connecting buyers and sellers in their industry. Within a month, they had a waiting list of 200+ people and had facilitated actual transactions worth over $50,000—all without building a single line of code.
More importantly, they discovered their initial assumptions were wrong. The real value wasn't in the marketplace platform—it was in the curation and relationship-building process. They pivoted to a consulting model that generated revenue from day one.
Across other clients, the pattern held:
A B2B SaaS client who shifted focus to their founder's LinkedIn presence saw a 300% increase in qualified leads within three months
An e-commerce client who focused on content-driven SEO instead of paid ads grew organic traffic from 500 to 5,000+ monthly visitors
Multiple service businesses who treated their websites as testing laboratories instead of static brochures improved conversion rates by 2-3x
The timeline is different too. Traditional frameworks assume a 6-18 month journey to product-market fit. The Distribution-First Framework can show traction within 30-90 days because you're solving real problems for real people immediately.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here's what I learned from watching dozens of go-to-market attempts succeed and fail:
1. Distribution beats product quality every time
The best product with no distribution will lose to a mediocre product with great distribution. Always. Build your distribution engine first.
2. Manual processes reveal truths that automation obscures
When you automate too early, you miss crucial feedback about what customers actually want versus what they say they want.
3. Content is distribution, not marketing
Stop thinking of content as "marketing material" and start thinking of it as your primary way to reach potential customers where they already are.
4. Audience building trumps product building in the early stages
If you have to choose between perfecting your product and building an audience, choose audience every time. You can fix a product with feedback from real users.
5. Most MVPs should be services, not products
Deliver the outcome manually before automating it. This validates both demand and your understanding of the solution.
6. Scale constraints force creativity
When you can't afford paid ads or big marketing budgets, you find distribution channels that your funded competitors miss.
7. The framework should adapt to reality, not force reality to fit the framework
Every business is different. Use frameworks as starting points, not rigid rules.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing this approach:
Start with founder-led content on LinkedIn before building product features
Validate through manual demos and consultations, not just surveys
Build distribution into your product roadmap from day one
Focus on becoming the go-to expert in your niche through documented expertise
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores using this framework:
Start with content-driven SEO instead of relying solely on paid ads
Build email lists before building extensive product catalogs
Test demand through pre-orders and manual fulfillment first
Create content that helps customers solve problems, not just showcasing products