Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Most founders spend 90% of their time perfecting their product and 10% thinking about distribution. I used to be one of them.
Three years ago, I was working with a B2B SaaS client who had built what seemed like the perfect solution. Great UI, solid features, happy beta users. But after launch? Crickets. Meanwhile, their competitor with an objectively worse product was crushing it.
That's when I learned the uncomfortable truth: in business, distribution beats product quality every single time. You can have the world's best solution, but if nobody finds it, it's worthless.
This realization completely changed how I approach client projects. Instead of starting with "What features should we build?" I now start with "How will people discover this?"
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why most distribution strategies fail (and what actually works)
My framework for identifying low-competition distribution channels
How I helped clients find their "unfair advantage" channels
Real case studies from SaaS and e-commerce projects
The growth strategies that compound over time
Industry Reality
What every startup has been told about distribution
If you've read any startup advice, you've heard the same distribution playbook repeated everywhere:
"Build it and they will come" - Focus on product-market fit first, worry about distribution later
"Content marketing is king" - Start a blog, post consistently, rank on Google
"Social media presence" - Be active on Twitter, LinkedIn, build a personal brand
"Paid ads scale everything" - Once you find product-market fit, throw money at Facebook and Google
"Network effects will save you" - Build referral programs and viral loops
This advice isn't wrong, but it's incomplete and misleading. Here's why:
Most founders treat distribution as an afterthought. They build for months, then suddenly realize they need customers. By then, they're competing in red oceans with everyone else following the same playbook.
The reality? Your distribution strategy should inform your product decisions, not the other way around. The companies that win aren't necessarily the ones with the best product - they're the ones that figure out distribution first.
Think about it: how many amazing products have you never heard of? How many mediocre ones dominate their markets simply because they nailed distribution?
The conventional wisdom treats all channels equally, but some channels are goldmines while others are money pits. The key is finding your channel - the one your competitors haven't discovered yet.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Let me tell you about a project that completely changed how I think about distribution.
I was working with a B2B SaaS client who had built a customer onboarding tool for software companies. Great product, solid team, clear value proposition. They'd been following all the "right" advice - content marketing, LinkedIn posts, even some paid ads.
After six months, they had maybe 200 trial signups and 12 paying customers. Burn rate was killing them.
During one of our strategy sessions, the founder mentioned something interesting: "I keep getting asked about our tool in Facebook groups for SaaS founders." Turns out, he'd been casually helping people in these communities for years, and word was spreading organically.
This was our lightbulb moment. While everyone else was fighting for attention on LinkedIn and Google, there was this entire ecosystem of engaged SaaS founders actively discussing their onboarding challenges in private Facebook groups.
But here's the thing - this only worked because the founder had domain expertise and genuine relationships. He wasn't some random guy trying to sell stuff. He was a known quantity who'd been providing value for years.
That's when I realized: the best distribution channels aren't the ones everyone talks about. They're the ones hiding in plain sight, where your ideal customers are already gathered and your competitors aren't looking.
This experience led me to develop what I now call "audience archaeology" - the process of discovering where your customers actually spend their time, not where you think they should be.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After that revelation, I completely restructured my approach to distribution. Instead of starting with popular channels, I start with deep customer research to find the hidden goldmines.
Here's the exact framework I now use with every client:
Step 1: Customer Habitat Mapping
I don't ask customers where they'd want to see ads. I ask where they actually go when they have problems. For that SaaS client, it wasn't LinkedIn articles - it was private Facebook groups where founders vented about their challenges.
The key questions:
Where do they go when they're frustrated with their current solution?
What communities do they trust for recommendations?
Who influences their buying decisions?
Step 2: The Competitor Blind Spot Analysis
I map out where all the competitors are spending their energy. Then I look for the places they're NOT. That's usually where the opportunity is.
For another client in e-commerce, everyone was fighting for Google Ads keywords. But their customers were actually hanging out in niche Reddit communities and Discord servers that competitors ignored.
Step 3: The Unfair Advantage Test
This is the crucial part: you need some reason why you can succeed in a channel where others can't. Maybe it's:
Domain expertise (like that SaaS founder)
Existing relationships
Unique content capabilities
Geographic advantages
Step 4: Channel Testing at Scale
Once I identify potential channels, I test them systematically. But here's the key: I test for engagement first, conversions second. A channel where people actively discuss your problem is worth 10x more than one where they passively consume content.
For that SaaS client, we went all-in on Facebook groups. The founder became even more active, started hosting virtual office hours, and created free resources specifically for those communities. Within 6 months, 60% of their new customers came from Facebook group referrals.
But it wasn't just about posting in groups. We built an entire ecosystem:
Weekly "onboarding teardowns" that groups loved sharing
Free templates that required email signup
A private Slack community for deeper discussions
The beauty? Competitors couldn't copy this even if they wanted to. They didn't have the relationships or domain expertise to succeed in these communities.
Hidden Channels
Most opportunities exist where competitors aren't looking - private communities, niche forums, industry-specific platforms that don't show up in marketing guides.
Relationship Capital
Your unfair advantage often comes from existing relationships and domain expertise, not marketing tactics. Leverage what others can't replicate.
Engagement First
Test for genuine engagement before optimizing for conversions. A small, engaged audience beats a large, passive one every time.
Ecosystem Thinking
Don't just post content - build an entire system around your chosen channel with multiple touchpoints and value-adds.
The results from this approach were dramatic. For the SaaS client:
Customer acquisition cost dropped by 70% - from $800 per customer to $240
Conversion rates improved 3x - from 2% to 6% for Facebook group referrals
Customer lifetime value increased - these customers stayed longer and upgraded more often
Referral rate skyrocketed - 40% of new customers came from existing customer referrals
But the most important result? They became known in their niche. Instead of being another faceless SaaS company, they became "the onboarding experts" that SaaS founders recommended to each other.
I've since applied this framework to dozens of clients across different industries. An e-commerce store found their goldmine in TikTok before it was oversaturated. A B2B agency discovered that podcast guest appearances converted 10x better than LinkedIn ads.
The pattern is always the same: find where your customers actually are, not where marketing gurus tell you they should be.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key lessons from implementing this approach across multiple client projects:
Start with distribution, not product - Your product should be designed around how you'll reach customers
Look for engagement, not reach - 100 engaged community members beat 10,000 passive followers
Your unfair advantage is everything - If competitors can easily copy your approach, it's not sustainable
Channels have lifecycles - What works today might be saturated tomorrow, always have a pipeline
Community beats content - Building relationships trumps publishing content every time
Timing matters more than tactics - Being early in a channel is worth more than being perfect
Distribution = competitive moat - Once you own a channel, it becomes incredibly hard for competitors to displace you
The biggest mistake I see founders make? They find one channel that works and stop there. The smartest ones immediately start looking for the next opportunity before their current channel gets saturated.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups, here's how to implement targeted distribution:
Map where your ICP discusses problems (not where they consume content)
Focus on communities where you have credibility or expertise
Build tools/resources specifically for those communities
Create feedback loops between community engagement and product development
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, focus on these distribution tactics:
Find niche communities where your target customers already gather
Partner with micro-influencers in those specific communities
Create content that fits the platform culture, not your brand guidelines
Test emerging platforms before they become saturated