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- 📢 The Best Product Doesn’t Win. The Best Known One Does.
📢 The Best Product Doesn’t Win. The Best Known One Does.
If you’re building in silence, you’re not building a business. You’re building a secret.
PATRICK FRANK
June 26, 2025
⭐️ Today’s Highlights:
⭐️ Today’s Highlights:
📣 Why “build it and they will come” is the most dangerous startup myth
🧭 The difference between product-led vs. distribution-led growth (and which to start with)
📬 Four founder-led distribution tactics you can use before you launch
🚀 Real examples of how indie founders used cold DMs, partnerships, and ads to go from 0 → traction
(Total read time: 5 minutes)
Let’s kill a myth today:
“If your product is good enough, it will market itself.”
No it won’t.
This is the biggest lie keeping smart founders broke and invisible.
Your problem isn’t the product.
Your problem is distribution.
In 2025, the best product rarely wins.
The best known product does.
🚫 The “Build It and They Will Come” Lie
You can spend 6 months perfecting your product.
But if you have no one waiting to buy it…
You just built in a vacuum.
This isn’t a product problem.
It’s a distribution problem.
🧭 Product-Led vs. Distribution-Led
Category | Product-Led Company | Distribution-Led Company |
Core Focus | Features, experience | Acquisition, awareness |
Growth Flywheel | Word-of-mouth, usage loops | Channels, reach, partnerships |
Big Risk | Being invisible | Being noisy with a weak product |
🔥 The dream: Be both.
But if you had to choose at the beginning?
Start with distribution.
You can always improve the product. You can’t un-launch to no one.
Founder-Led Distribution Playbook w/ Examples
Start Building an Audience, Yesterday
You don’t need to be an influencer.
But you do need to be findable.
Start sharing what you’re building, learning, or solving.
✅ Post 3x a week on LinkedIn or Threads
✅ Talk about the problem, not just your product
✅ Use your content to attract the right people
Example:
Dan Rowden built and sold multiple SaaS tools by sharing every step of his progress publicly on Twitter.
Cold Outreach Still Works — If You’re Human
DMs > ads when you’re starting from scratch.
✅ Find 50 people with the problem you’re solving
✅ Reach out with context and value
✅ Don’t pitch — start a convo
Example:
Ryan Doyle used personalized Loom videos to land his first 100 customers at Arrows.
Borrow Distribution via Partnerships
No audience? No problem.
Find people who already have one.
✅ Offer to guest post, collab, bundle, or sponsor
✅ Trade value (not just “can you share my link?”)
✅ Tap into communities that align with your niche
Example:
SavvyCal partnered with newsletter creators and B2B tools to grow faster than Calendly clones.
💡 Try: Guesting on podcasts like Indie Hackers or offering bonus templates to Notion creators.
Validate With Paid Ads (Cheaply)
Most people spend money after they build.
The smarter move: test before it’s done.
✅ Set up a pre-launch waitlist or pricing page
✅ Run $50–$100 in Google/Meta traffic
✅ See which message pulls
Final Thought:
Product is the engine.
Distribution is the fuel.
You can build the best rocket in the world —
but if it sits on the launchpad with no fire underneath…
it’s not going anywhere.
Start selling before you finish building.
Talk before you launch.
Make noise before you’re “ready.”
Because when distribution > product, you win.
When you have both? You scale.
👉 Want the Full Distribution Toolkit?
The Business in a Box course includes launch calendars, distribution roadmaps, influencer outreach templates, and pre-launch testing tools that you can copy and paste into your process today. Get The Business In a Box Course For $1!
Let’s make your product known.
— Patrick
Patty’s Picks
These are a few of my favorite finds this week. Real tools and resources I actually use — no sponsorships, no fluff. Just stuff that helps you grow faster and get seen. Enjoy.
📕 Article: My $10M Journey — and the Power of Audience-Led Growth
In this breakdown, Justin Welsh shares how building an audience-first business helped him scale to $10M solo. It's a must-read if you're serious about distribution, not just product.
→ Read it here
🛠 Tool: Carrd – The Easiest Landing Page Builder on the Internet
If you're testing product ideas or offers, Carrd is a no-brainer. One-page sites that take under an hour to build and are perfect for early traffic tests, pre-sales, and MVP validation.
📘 Free Resource: My Launch Messaging Swipe File
A free Notion doc of 25+ proven hooks, headlines, and CTA structures you can plug into your landing pages, ads, cold emails, and LinkedIn posts.
→ Grab it here
🛠 Tool: SparkLoop – Grow with Other People’s Newsletters
If you’re launching with a waitlist or pre-sale offer, SparkLoop helps you get featured in other creators' newsletters. Massive distribution without needing your own massive list.
👋 Got an idea you’re building and want a PMF gut check?
I’ll give you my honest take — no fluff, no pitch.
Let’s make sure you’re building the right thing, for the right market, in the right way.
– Patrick
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