Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
OK so here's what I discovered working with a B2B SaaS client: everyone was obsessing over building the perfect product while completely ignoring how people would actually find it. You know that famous line "build it and they will come"? Yeah, that's complete BS in 2025.
I walked into this project thinking we'd be doing typical user acquisition work. The client had solid product-market fit, decent funding, but their growth had plateaued at around 500 monthly visitors. Classic case of a beautiful store in an empty mall.
The breakthrough came when I stopped thinking about distribution as this massive, expensive undertaking and started treating it like a lean startup experiment. Instead of trying to build partnerships with big players or throwing money at ads, we created multiple small distribution channels that compounded over time.
Here's what you'll learn from this playbook:
Why most businesses fail at distribution (and it's not what you think)
The 3-channel framework I use to build distribution networks on a budget
How we scaled from 500 to 5,000+ monthly visitors without paid ads
The counterintuitive approach that beats expensive partnerships every time
When to scale vs. when to pivot your distribution channels
This isn't about growth hacking or quick tricks. It's about building sustainable systems that work whether you're a bootstrapped startup or have venture funding.
Industry Reality
What most founders get wrong about distribution
Most businesses approach distribution like they're trying to build the next Amazon warehouse network. They think bigger is always better, that you need enterprise partnerships, and that distribution requires massive upfront investment.
Here's what the "experts" typically recommend:
Partner with established players - Find big companies in your space and convince them to distribute your product
Build an affiliate program - Set up complex commission structures and recruit hundreds of affiliates
Focus on one major channel - Pour all resources into mastering Facebook ads or SEO
Hire a head of growth - Bring in expensive talent to "figure it out"
Wait until you have product-market fit - Perfect the product before thinking about distribution
This conventional wisdom exists because it worked in the pre-internet era when distribution was actually expensive and required physical infrastructure. The advice comes from successful companies that had resources to build these big partnerships.
But here's where this falls apart in practice: distribution beats product quality every single time. I've seen mediocre products with great distribution destroy superior products that nobody can find. Yet most founders spend 90% of their time on product and 10% on distribution, when it should be the reverse.
The other problem? By the time you're "ready" to focus on distribution, your runway is shorter and the pressure is higher. You end up making desperate decisions instead of strategic ones.
What actually works is treating distribution like product development - start small, test quickly, and compound successful experiments.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
So I'm working with this B2B SaaS client - let's call them a project management tool for creative agencies. They had everything you'd want: great product, happy customers, solid retention. But they were stuck at 500 monthly visitors and couldn't figure out why their growth had flatlined.
The founder kept saying "we just need more awareness." Classic startup thinking, right? They'd tried the usual suspects - some Facebook ads, a bit of content marketing, even attended a few conferences. Nothing moved the needle.
When I dug into their analytics, the story became clear. They had the classic single-channel dependency problem. About 80% of their traffic came from direct visits (founder's personal network) and the rest was scattered across random sources. They were essentially running a word-of-mouth business disguised as a SaaS.
The founder's instinct was to double down on what they knew - build more features, improve the product, maybe hire a "growth guy." I had to convince them that their distribution problem wasn't going to be solved by a better product or a single hire.
My first approach was actually pretty conventional. I suggested we start with SEO optimization and some basic content marketing. We spent about a month on this - rewrote their homepage, published a few blog posts, optimized for some keywords.
Results? Practically nothing. Traffic bumped up to maybe 600 monthly visitors. The content was decent, but it was like shouting into the void. No authority, no distribution network to amplify it.
That's when I realized we were thinking about this all wrong. Instead of trying to build one big channel, we needed to create multiple small distribution streams that could grow independently.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's what actually worked. Instead of chasing the "perfect" distribution channel, we built what I call a Multi-Stream Distribution Network. Think of it like plumbing - you want multiple pipes feeding into your main reservoir, not one giant pipe that can get blocked.
The Three-Layer Framework:
Layer 1: Content Distribution (Months 1-2)
Instead of just publishing content on their blog, we repurposed every piece across multiple platforms. One case study became a LinkedIn article, a Twitter thread, a YouTube video, and a PDF download. Each platform had different audiences, but the core message stayed consistent.
The key insight? Most people treat content like a one-and-done publication. We treated it like a multi-channel campaign. Every piece of content got at least 5 different distributions.
Layer 2: Community Integration (Months 2-4)
Rather than trying to build our own community, we identified where our ideal customers already hung out. Creative agency owners were active in specific Slack groups, Facebook communities, and industry forums.
We didn't spam these communities with self-promotion. Instead, we became genuinely helpful members. The founder started answering questions, sharing insights, and occasionally mentioning how they solved similar problems. This drove consistent, high-quality referral traffic.
Layer 3: Cross-Promotion Network (Months 3-6)
This was the breakthrough layer. We identified 12 complementary SaaS tools that served similar audiences but weren't competitors. Think design tools, time tracking apps, invoicing software - all targeting creative agencies.
Instead of formal partnership agreements, we created informal cross-promotion arrangements. We'd feature them in our content, they'd mention us in theirs. We'd do joint webinars, share each other's resources, and create collaborative content.
The magic happened when these relationships started generating referrals organically. Customers would mention our tool in these other communities, creating a word-of-mouth network that we didn't have to actively manage.
The Automation Layer:
Once we identified what worked, we automated the repetitive parts. We used tools like Zapier workflows to cross-post content, schedule community engagement, and track referral sources.
But the key was keeping the human touch where it mattered - in community interactions and relationship building.
Channel Mapping
Document every potential touchpoint where your ideal customers spend time - communities platforms and complementary tools
Content Multiplication
Turn every piece of content into 5+ different formats for different platforms and audiences
Relationship ROI
Track which cross-promotion partnerships drive actual conversions not just traffic or vanity metrics
Automation Balance
Automate the distribution mechanics but keep human connection in community engagement and relationship building
Within 6 months we'd built a distribution network that generated over 5,000 monthly visitors - a 10x increase from where we started. But more importantly the traffic was higher quality. The conversion rate from visitor to trial actually improved because people were coming through warm referrals.
The breakdown looked like this:
Content Distribution: 2,000 monthly visitors across platforms
Community Referrals: 1,500 monthly visitors from 8 communities
Cross-Promotion Network: 1,500 monthly visitors from 12 partner tools
What surprised us was the compound effect. As our presence grew across these channels our authority increased which made new partnerships easier to establish. We started getting inbound requests for collaborations instead of always being the one reaching out.
The client's trial-to-paid conversion rate improved from 12% to 18% because people arrived pre-qualified through trusted referrals. Customer acquisition cost dropped significantly since most traffic was essentially "free" - just requiring time investment rather than ad spend.
Six months later they raised their Series A and specifically mentioned their distribution network as a key differentiator that convinced investors they could scale efficiently.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
The biggest lesson? Distribution compounds but only if you're systematic about it. Most businesses try random tactics without connecting them into a coherent system.
Here are the key insights that changed how I think about distribution:
Start distribution work before you think you're ready. Waiting for the "perfect" product means missing months of relationship building.
Quality trumps quantity in partnerships. 12 engaged cross-promotion partners beat 100 passive affiliate links.
Communities are distribution gold mines. But you have to contribute value before extracting it.
Content multiplication is more powerful than content creation. One great piece across 5 channels beats 5 mediocre pieces on one channel.
Automate the mechanics preserve the relationships. Use tools for distribution but keep human connection for partnerships.
Track everything but optimize for conversion not just traffic. Vanity metrics will mislead your optimization efforts.
Distribution beats product until you have both. A good product with great distribution always wins against a great product with no distribution.
The approach doesn't work for every business. If you're in a highly regulated industry or targeting enterprise clients with long sales cycles the community-based approach might be less effective. But the core principle of building multiple small channels instead of betting on one big channel applies universally.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups focus on building multiple small distribution streams rather than betting everything on one channel. Start with content multiplication across platforms identify 3-5 complementary SaaS tools for cross-promotion and engage authentically in 2-3 communities where your ideal customers already spend time.
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores apply this by identifying complementary product brands for cross-promotion engaging in niche communities around your product category and multiplying your content across social platforms email lists and partner channels to create compound distribution effects.