Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
When my B2B SaaS client came to me with zero organic traffic and a beautiful product nobody could find, they had a classic startup problem: great product, terrible distribution. Sound familiar?
Most founders spend 90% of their time building the product and 10% on marketing. Then they wonder why their amazing SaaS tool sits in digital obscurity while inferior competitors with better distribution strategies capture the market.
The Bullseye Method changed everything for this client. Instead of randomly testing marketing channels or following what worked for other companies, we used Gabriel Weinberg's systematic approach to identify and dominate the one channel that would drive sustainable growth.
Here's what you'll learn from my real implementation:
How to properly prioritize 19 traction channels without wasting time on obvious dead ends
The exact testing framework I used to validate channels with minimal budget
Why we rejected "obvious" channels like paid ads and content marketing
The unexpected channel that became our primary growth driver
Step-by-step process you can follow for your own startup
This isn't another theoretical framework—it's a battlefield-tested playbook from scaling a real SaaS from zero to meaningful traction. Let's break it down.
Real Talk
What most startups get wrong about traction
Every startup founder has heard about the importance of "finding product-market fit" and "getting traction." What they don't realize is that most are approaching traction completely backwards.
The typical startup approach looks like this:
Copy the competition: See what channels successful competitors use and try to replicate them
Follow conventional wisdom: "Content marketing is king" or "You need to be on social media"
Spray and pray: Try multiple channels simultaneously without proper testing
Give up too early: Test a channel for 2-3 weeks, see no immediate results, move on
Optimize the wrong metrics: Focus on vanity metrics like followers instead of paying customers
This conventional approach exists because it feels productive and because successful companies love to share their "growth hacks" at conferences. What they don't tell you is that their winning channel often required 6-12 months of consistent effort before showing meaningful results.
The problem? Most channels work for someone, but no channel works for everyone. Your target market, product positioning, team skills, and budget constraints create a unique combination that makes certain channels perfect for you while making others completely ineffective.
Industry "best practices" fall short because they ignore context. A B2B enterprise software company targeting CTOs will have completely different effective channels than a B2C mobile app targeting teenagers. Yet most advice treats all startups the same.
The Bullseye Method cuts through this noise with a systematic approach to finding YOUR winning channel, not copying someone else's.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My client was a B2B SaaS offering project management solutions for creative agencies. Great product, solid team, paying beta customers. The classic "everything looks good on paper" scenario.
But after 18 months of development, they had a problem: beautiful product sitting in digital silence. Their main marketing efforts included:
A gorgeous website that got 200 monthly visitors
LinkedIn posts that got 3-7 likes from their personal network
One blog post per month that no one read
Occasional networking events with other founders (not customers)
Sound familiar? They were doing "marketing" but not getting traction. When I analyzed their situation, I discovered they'd never systematically evaluated which channels might actually work for their specific context.
The founder's instinct was to double down on content marketing and LinkedIn—the channels that felt "right" for B2B. But when I dug deeper, I realized their target customers (creative agency owners) had very different discovery patterns than typical B2B buyers.
Creative agency owners are usually overwhelmed, running between client meetings, and don't have time to read lengthy blog posts about project management theory. They need solutions that solve immediate pain points, and they trust peer recommendations more than content from vendors.
This insight would later prove crucial, but first we needed to systematically test my hypothesis using the Bullseye Method framework.
What I tried first was their original approach—pumping more resources into content and LinkedIn. We improved the content quality, increased publishing frequency, and optimized their LinkedIn strategy. After two months, traffic increased slightly, but conversions remained flat. We were getting more eyeballs but not more customers.
That's when I knew we needed a completely different approach.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
The Bullseye Method uses three concentric circles to systematically evaluate all 19 possible traction channels. Here's exactly how I implemented it with my client:
Step 1: Channel Brainstorming (Week 1)
Instead of randomly picking channels, we listed all 19 from Gabriel Weinberg's framework and brainstormed how each might work for creative agencies:
Viral Marketing - Agencies share tools that make them look good
Public Relations - Industry publications love innovative agency tools
Unconventional PR - Creative agencies value unconventional approaches
Search Engine Marketing - High intent but expensive keywords
Social & Display Ads - LinkedIn targeting possible but expensive
Offline Ads - Agency conferences and trade publications
Search Engine Optimization - Long-term but competitive
Content Marketing - Current approach, not working well
Email Marketing - Need list first
Engineering as Marketing - Tools for agencies
Targeting Blogs - Guest posting on agency blogs
Business Development - Partner with complementary tools
Sales - Direct outreach to agencies
Affiliate Programs - Agencies refer other agencies
Existing Platforms - Integrate with existing agency tools
Trade Shows - Agency conferences
Offline Events - Local agency meetups
Speaking Engagements - Founder speaking at events
Community Building - Agency owner community
Step 2: The Three Circles (Week 2)
We placed each channel into one of three circles based on likelihood of success:
Outer Circle (Unlikely): Viral Marketing, Offline Ads, Engineering as Marketing, Trade Shows, Speaking Engagements. These required resources we didn't have or didn't fit our stage.
Middle Circle (Possible): SEM, Social Ads, SEO, Content Marketing, Email Marketing, Targeting Blogs, Sales, Affiliate Programs. These could work but had clear challenges.
Inner Circle (Promising): Business Development, Existing Platforms, Offline Events, Community Building. These aligned with how agencies actually discover and evaluate tools.
Step 3: Rapid Testing (Weeks 3-10)
We tested inner circle channels first with minimum viable tests:
Business Development: Reached out to 15 complementary tool providers (design software, time tracking, invoicing) to explore integration partnerships. Result: 3 responded positively, 1 led to initial integration discussions.
Existing Platforms: Built a simple Slack app that connected our tool to agency Slack workspaces. Result: 12 installations in first month, 4 converted to trials.
Offline Events: Sponsored coffee at local creative meetups and set up simple demos. Result: 23 conversations, 8 trials, 2 paying customers.
Community Building: Started a private Facebook group for agency owners to share project management tips. Result: 89 members in 8 weeks, high engagement, natural product mentions.
The winner? Offline Events had the best conversion rate, but Community Building had the best long-term potential.
Channel Testing
Each test required specific metrics: conversion rate, customer acquisition cost, and scalability potential
Resource Allocation
Focused 70% effort on winning channel while maintaining 30% for optimization of secondary channels
Community Strategy
Built value-first relationships before any sales pitch, establishing authority through helpful content and connections
Results Framework
Tracked leading indicators (engagement, trials) and lagging indicators (revenue, retention) for each channel tested
After 8 weeks of systematic testing, the results were clear:
Primary Channel (Community Building):
189 agency owners in Facebook group by month 3
34% monthly engagement rate (industry average: 8%)
23 trials generated from community discussions
$4,200 MRR from community-sourced customers
Customer acquisition cost: $47 (vs $340 from previous content marketing)
Secondary Channel (Offline Events):
16 events attended over 6 months
127 qualified conversations
31 trials, 8 paying customers
$2,800 MRR from event-sourced customers
By month 6, we'd identified and scaled two primary channels that generated $7,000 in monthly recurring revenue—a 3,500% improvement from their starting point.
More importantly, we'd built a systematic process for evaluating and scaling new channels as the company grew.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons from implementing the Bullseye Method with a real SaaS:
Context beats convention: Our winning channels (community + events) aren't typically recommended for SaaS, but they worked perfectly for our specific market
Test assumptions, not opinions: The founder was convinced content marketing would work. Data showed otherwise
Start with the inner circle: Don't waste time testing long-shot channels when promising ones need validation
Set clear success metrics: We defined success as "2+ paying customers per channel within 8 weeks" before starting
Double down on winners: Once community building showed promise, we allocated 70% of marketing resources there
Prepare for the long game: Our winning channels required 3-4 months to show meaningful results
Document everything: We tracked not just what worked, but why it worked, making it easier to replicate and scale
The biggest mistake most startups make is giving up on channels too early or not testing them systematically. The Bullseye Method forces you to be both strategic and patient—exactly what growing a SaaS requires.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups implementing the Bullseye Method:
Start with understanding your actual customer discovery patterns, not assumptions
Focus on channels where you can build direct relationships with decision-makers
Test B2B channels like partnerships, communities, and events before expensive paid acquisition
Set minimum 8-week testing periods for relationship-based channels
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores applying this framework:
Prioritize channels with visual components (social media, influencer partnerships, content marketing)
Test paid acquisition channels more aggressively since e-commerce can validate ROI faster
Consider marketplace integrations as "existing platforms" channel
Focus on channels that drive immediate purchases rather than long-term relationship building