You don't need an audience, in fact you never did
Howdy everyone,
Raunchy title in 2021 I know, hell I never thought I'd write something like this as well, but after watching way too many live examples I wanted to bring this to attention
Let's face it, building an audience is bloody hard, despite having 9k on dev(.)to or 14k on Linkedin or 4k on my newsletter etc etc, I didn't get there overnight, its been a journey since 2017 (literally)
So I can understand that it can be daunting to anyone looking to start, when the whole world is shouting you need an audience first
I think the wording is very wrong here, you don't need an audience, you need distribution
"But that's the same thing dingus"
Yes, it may be the same thing, but to MANY people an audience usually means a following they "own", but in my opinion, you need distribution (if you have an audience as well, more power to you)
Distribution is easier to engineer than an audience, which takes time.
Examples like:
Diony and Dean who run Paperform who do $2M in ARR bootstrapped, have NO social media presence
The founder of Stamped, 26, sold his company for 120M
His company had Shopify as a distribution engine and a product viral coefficient greater than 1, he's got little to no social media presence as far as I can see
Preetam Nath, built his Whatsapp tool to 26k MRR, he built it off Shopify's market place, he's got a social presence nowadays and he built it along the way, but he's documented the success being the Shopify app marketplace
Or even as recent as Howitzer who hit 1.5k MRR as a result of their own product selling it for itself
TBH Smartwriter my own product acquired its first paying customers, using itself to sell itself
What I'm trying to get to is, don't use audience building as a deterrent, that is important, without a doubt, instead, focus on distribution engines and how you can leverage that
"But having an audience can get me validation"
Yes, again, I'm not saying its mutually exclusive, build an audience, without a doubt, however, focus on a distribution cycle first instead. If you want to validate, use tools to reach out to customers via cold email or LinkedIn to see if they'll pay. In fact if you find paying people during validation, you've done yourself a big favour and found yourself a validated sales channel (which is more important tbh)
"Most startups don't fail because they can't build a product, its because they can get traction"
Look into affiliate partnerships, marketplace integrations, launching on LTD platforms, influencers
"Distribution is easier to engineer than an audience, which takes time." = 100%. I agree with you!
Thanks my G!
Imo, if you are:
Selling a product: you don't need an audience - but it helps
Selling a course: you almost certainly need an audience as credibility sells courses
Some wise words. Distribution > Audience. The audience for your product is gained through your Distribution means. Then whatever additional audience you bring to the table is just a bonus.
"Then whatever additional audience you bring to the table is just a bonus." on the money
I think distribution is the most important thing.
An audience helps with distribution and is great if you can leverage it for future launches etc but it's not a pre-requisite i'd say you can maybe just see it as one distribution channel and if that's your main one probably makes sense to double down on it, if not might as well explore others.
100% distribution first products!
Thanks for sharing Vaibhav!
No worries at all mate :)
I almost fell into this trap. I think this ties in nicely with @robwalling 's Stairstep Approach.
My takeaway is that early on you should focus on leveraging another platforms audience. i.e. Wordpress plugins, Shopify plugins, Chrome Extensions. Then work your way up to recurring revenue products like courses and SaaS that area easier to successfully launch with an audience.
You can also use the #BuildInPublic trend to build your audience while you build your product.
Now if only I could choose one of my countless ideas and focus on just one to actually build. <sigh>
I think the difference between audience & distribution is:
Plenty of tools offer distribution - but for a single time, or at the expense of having no control.
An audience offers full control and high chance of repeat sales.
This is something I wanted to hear. Audience or community or following is not everything. Getting your thing out there in front of many people is what needs to be done.
Community and followers will grow if what you're offering is dope.
"But having an audience can get me validation"
As always It depends. If you target indie hackers (like many), yep you need 128721829 twitter followers. If you target e-commerce... they don't care if you target their pains nicely.
Personally I'm going B2B and I think who you know matter more than how many followers and email signup you have. Quality > numbers
Would love to be proven wrong though
Awesome article but won't this only go for platforms that are tools? How would a community platform grow without an audience?
What's an LTD platform?
Probably Limited Time Deals, I think AppSumo is one.
Correct!
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Did you write somewhere about how you went about finding customers?
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Interesting. I didn't know Google takes into account the time users spend on your site in their SERP algorithm, but it totally makes sense. I guess they do it if you've set up GA on your site.
They track which links you click on the search page. So if a user clicks on another link right after clicking on a first link, google knows you didn't find what you were looking for on the first one.
... or that you use a web scraper :D
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Ah yes that's right. I remember now that I've read something like that. Really nice work, man.
I imagine getting the landing page to that point this is like tending a garden. Have you used any tools or strategies to measure what works or have you been "tweaking in the dark" until signups and conversions start looking right?
I like your whole attitude towards indie hacking. Very relatable to me.
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I knew you're human. Had a feeling. ;)
Makes sense. I like that approach too, and it's something I'll keep trying.
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Congrats... This gives me hope one day, cause I have zero presence too. This is also one of those things where it could be like a chicken vs egg problem. Maybe building the product first will eventually build the audience after
This thread has been extremely helpful and encouraging. Knew it had to be possible. Thank you very much!
Amazing, have read about your stuff before, good on you mate!
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Vomit is very valid! Solid article mate
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